Offense disappears in rubber game loss

Blown opportunity: Michigan falls short in NCAA Regional final, 

wasting talented senior class

The No. 24 Michigan baseball 

team entered the bottom of the 
ninth down by four runs — not 
an insurmountable deficit by the 
Wolverines’ standards. When 
slugger Griffin Mazur came to 
bat with one on and only one 
out, he needed just one good 
swing to put Michigan back in 
the game. 

Instead, the fifth-year catcher 

swung at the first pitch of the 
at-bat and produced a weak 
grounder to the left side. The 
Maryland infield handled it 
cleanly, turning a game-ending 
double play that secured its 
7-3 win over the Wolverines 
and 
mercifully 
ended 
one 

of 
Michigan’s 
most 
anemic 

offensive performances of the 
season. 

The Wolverines scored all 

their runs in the bottom of 
the second, when fifth-year 
shortstop Benjamin Sems and 
sophomore 
second 
baseman 

Ted Burton both hit safely and 
sophomore 
left 
fielder 
Tito 

Flores 
crushed 
a 
three-run 

homer. 

“After the three-run homer, 

I thought for sure we would 
just keep the scoring going,” 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
said. “But we didn’t have much 
going on offensively after the 
second inning outside of some 
lineouts and a few walks.”

Even during the productive 

second 
inning, 
Michigan’s 

hitters showed a crucial lack 
of discipline: Mazur struck out 
on three pitches and redshirt 
sophomore 
center 
fielder 

Jordon Rogers and sophomore 
designated hitter Joey Velazquez 
ended the inning with back-to-
back strikeouts. 

The Wolverines had another 

scoring 
opportunity 
in 
the 

third, when Sems batted with a 
runner on base. Sems got under 
the pitch from Terrapins’ starter 
Sean Burke and popped out in 
foul ground to end the inning, 
a rare occurrence for one of the 
team leaders in batting average 
and quality at-bat percentage.

Burke continued to dominate 

Michigan in the fourth and 
fifth and the Wolverines’ hitters 
didn’t 
make 
the 
necessary 

adjustments in their second 

and third at-bats against him. 
Burton struck out on three 
pitches and Mazur popped out 
in foul ground. Rogers and fifth-
year third baseman Christian 
Molfetta managed to work full 
counts before striking out, at 
least.

Sophomore right fielder Clark 

Elliott and Sems both made hard 
contact in the sixth, but the 
Maryland defense was perfectly 
positioned to make the play both 
times. 

“Maryland was pitching fine,” 

Bakich said. “Our fault for not 
making more hard contact, and 
the hard contact we made was 
caught.”

Michigan’s poor performance 

continued against the bullpen, 
which, like Burke, forced nearly 
every hitter into two-strike 
counts. Mazur struck out on 
three pitches again and Flores 
grounded into a double play. In 
the eighth, the Wolverines put 
two runners on for sophomore 
first baseman Jimmy Obertop 
but a breaking ball missed his bat 
for an inning-ending strikeout.

“We weren’t really able to 

string 
something 
together,” 

Elliott said. “We were taking 

good at-bats sporadically.”

Altogether, 
Michigan 

managed only four hits and 
three walks and struck out 11 
times. Molfetta, Mazur and 
Sems, typically three of the 
Wolverines’ 
best 
and 
most 

consistent hitters, went 1-for-11 
in their last home game.

“You’d like to see all the 

seniors hit home runs and have 
awesome days on senior day,” 
 

Bakich said.“But it seems like it 
never goes to script that way.”

Regionals are only two weeks 

away, and for Michigan to 
survive and advance, it will need 
to hold the strike zone, work 
deeper into at-bats and move 
runners around in stressful 
situations. 

Today isn’t the first time 

the 
offense 
has 
completely 

abandoned 
its 
successful 

approach in a rubber game, 
which doesn’t bode well for the 
pressure-packed games on the 
horizon.

SEATTLE — Michigan was up 

four. The lead was more runs than 
Washington had scored against the 
Wolverines in the past two games 
combined. There was an .88 ERA 
pitcher in the circle for Michigan 
and a pitcher who had just thrown a 
complete, seven-inning game on the 
rubber for the Huskies.

There was no reason to lose.
Then they blew it.
They bottled it, fumbled the 

bag, dropped the ball, shit the 
bed — however you want to put it, 
Michigan let an NCAA Regional 
victory fall through its hands. 

The Wolverines (38-8), who 

entered the day only needing one 
out of two games to advance to the 
Norman Super Regional, crumbled 
at the brink of triumph at the hands 
of Washington (45-12) by a score of 
10-5.

Michigan took the lead early. 

A Lexie Blair single opened up 
the game, and a bunt from senior 
infielder 
Natalia 
Rodriguez 

advanced the junior outfielder into 
scoring position.

Senior first baseman Lou Allan 

ripped a ball to center field in the 
next at-bat, scoring Blair. Standing 

up from her slide, Blair shouted 
towards the Michigan dugout and 
the team shouted back with just as 
much conviction.

After 
senior 
third 
baseman 

Taylor Bump drew a walk, a flyout 
advanced 
sophomore 
Audrey 

LeClair — pinch-running for Allan 

— to third. Sophomore designated 
player Lauren Esman stepped up to 
the plate. In three pitches, Esman 
was rung up.

“We made a couple of miscues,” 

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins 
said, “They got a little over-amped 
and over-anxious.”

In the bottom of the frame, 

Washington answered with a series 
of hits that resulted in a sacrifice fly 
scoring Klingler from third.

All tied up, the Wolverines struck 

again, this time more decisively. A 
flurry of well-worked counts and 
balls finding gaps saw Michigan 
with bases loaded. More small ball 
saw the Wolverines scoring four 
one-by-one.

In the bottom of the third, the 

Huskies found their own bases-
loaded opportunity. A two-RBI 
double by Kelley Lynch was all they 
could muster before ending the 
inning on a pop out and a strikeout.

Michigan still had a two-run 

lead. It was in the driver’s seat 
heading into the fourth despite the 

slip-up. Then it began to unravel.

Washington outfielder Jadelyn 

Allchin opened up the frame with 
a home run, cutting the deficit to 
one. Hutchins had seen enough, 
deciding to bring in senior left-
hander Meghan Beaubien for junior 
right-hander Alex Storako.

She didn’t fare any better.
Sophomore 
second 
baseman 

Julia Jimenez took her time on the 
throw and Washington’s Sis Bates 
beat it out. A Klingler double scored 
Bates, tying the game at five apiece.

A grounder back to second was 

thrown home, Jimenez trying to 
get the force out at the plate, but 
the runner beat the throw and the 
Huskies took their first lead of the 
game. A gap shot fell in shallow 
right-center field scoring another.

Then, a double from outfielder 

Madison Huskey scored two more, 
making it 9-5, Washington. A short 
bunt froze Bump on the decision 
and yet another run scored.

 JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

 NICHOLAS STOLL

Daily Sports Writer

Thursday, May 27, 2021

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS 13

Read more at michigandaily.com

BECCA MAHON/Daily

An anemic offensive performance cost Michigan the win against Maryland. 

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily

Michigan fell short in the NCAA tournament and let down its talented senior class.

