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Thursday, June 3, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Pitching and defense.
Those were the themes for 

both teams throughout the series 
as the Michigan baseball team 
(27-17 Big Ten) went 1-2 to close 
the regular season at Nebraska 
(31-12).

In 
game 
one, 
redshirt 

sophomore left-hander Steven 
Hajjar took the hill for the 
Wolverines. 
Hajjar 
tossed 
a 

complete game, giving up just one 
run on four hits. Hajjar picked 
up five strikeouts in the contest, 
dominating for much of the game.

“Steve was really good. He was 

throwing hard, he had all of his 
pitches working, he was using 
his change-up a lot,” Sophomore 
right-hander Cameron Weston 
said. He was using his changeup 
to get a lot of early outs and used 
our defense. He usually is a high 
strikeout guy but he was able to 
get early outs on Friday, which 
made him go deep into the game.”

But 
the 
Michigan 
offense 

did not fare much better than 

Nebraska’s. 
The 
Wolverines 

picked up four hits as well but 
were unable to push across a 
run and fell, 1-0. Sophomore 
outfielder Tito Flores led the 
way with two hits, but was 
thrown out trying to stretch a 
double into a triple, rendering 
graduate transfer catcher Griffin 
Mazur’s ensuing single useless. 
Sophomore 
outfielder 
Clark 

Elliott also reached twice in the 
game.

In game two, the Wolverines 

picked up a win in another 
close-fought, low scoring affair. 
Weston was electric, allowing 
just four hits over seven scoreless 
innings.

“(Hajjar and Weston) came to 

play,” Flores said. “You can see 
it in their eyes, they kept their 
composure. They just full-out 
played Michigan baseball, all the 
way, just competed all the way 
through and played for the eight 
letters across their chest.”

The 
defense 
was 
on 
full 

display as well. Graduate transfer 
infielder Benjamin Sems made 
a spectacular spinning play in 
the first to record an out, while 

graduate 
transfer 
infielder 

Christian Molfetta also made 
several nice plays. Meanwhile, 
the 
Huskers 
made 
several 

diving catches in the outfield 

and the third baseman made 
several diving stops to rob the 
Wolverines of multiple hits in 
each of the three games.

“I was just getting a lot of 

strikes,” Weston said. “Getting 
a lot of ground balls and just 
letting my defense work for me.”

Matt Frey: No regrets

Inside the Michigan baseball 

program, it’s customary for a 
senior to make a short speech to 
his teammates before each series. 
Before the Wolverines’ season-
opening series against Iowa, fifth-
year infielder Matt Frey took his 
turn.

In the speech, he told his 

teammates that they won’t know 
when they’ve played their last game, 
so they should always play and act in 
a way that will leave them with no 
regrets when that time comes. Frey 
considered the topic to be a little 
ironic, because he was about to enter 
his fifth season of college baseball 
and will likely play a sixth. But he’s 
also an expert on the subject.

In the fall of 2020, Frey was 

preparing for his best season yet. 
He had improved steadily and 
significantly during his four years 
at 
Davidson, 
progressing 
from 

a light-hitting bench piece as an 
underclassman 
to 
an 
everyday 

player as a junior to a five-tool 
standout as a senior, when he slashed 
.327/.507/.551 with five stolen bases 
in a shortened season. Then he used 
the spring and summer to get even 
better.

“Over quarantine, I decided to try 

to swing the bat harder,” Frey said. 
“And then balls that I was hitting 
that were outs when I was not 
swinging as hard started to fall or go 
over the fence.”

When the NCAA announced an 

extra year of eligibility for Division 
1 baseball players in response to 
COVID-19, 
Frey 
committed 
to 

Michigan. Davidson coach Rucker 
Taylor played under Michigan coach 
Erik Bakich at Vanderbilt, and sung 
Bakich’s praises to Frey.

“The culture that (Bakich) has 

built around here, the winning 
mentality that he’s built around 
here, the team performance, coupled 
with the academic side …. It was a 
no-brainer,” Frey said of his decision 
to commit to Michigan.

When he arrived in Ann Arbor, 

Frey continued to improve with the 
help of Michigan’s coaching staff 

and other program resources. He 
established himself as Michigan’s 
best hitter “by a landslide” during 
fall practices, according to Bakich, 
and was the frontrunner to be the 
team’s starting third baseman.

Then disaster struck. 
Frey was fielding a bunt during 

the last official fall practice when 
his cleat got stuck in the turf, 
making him fall and twist his knee 
awkwardly. He was able to get up 
and walk, and didn’t think the injury 
was very severe. But an MRI taken 
shortly after revealed that he had 
torn his ACL, ruling Frey out for the 
entire 2021 season. 

Frey had played his last baseball 

of the near future. So when he told 
his teammates that they’ll never 
know when time’s up, he knew what 
he was talking about.

Even though he can’t play, he’s 

found ways to contribute that are 
just as important. Frey has managed 
to become an indispensable part of 
Team 155 and has made the most of 
his time at Michigan.

Becca Mahon/Daily. Buy this 

photo.

***
Michigan 
takes 
its 
pitching 

machine with it on road trips. The 
machine is big and awkwardly 
shaped, and it always makes a 

loud crashing noise when it exits 
the luggage chute for the baggage 
carousel at the airport. 

Other passengers, waiting for 

their bags, furrow their brows 
as they try to make sense of the 
situation. Frey and his teammates 
find this hilarious. 

Little moments like that, he said, 

are what he has enjoyed most about 
this season. 

 JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan’s offense falls short as Wolverines drop close-fought series 

to Nebraska

STEEL HURLEY
Daily Sports Writer

KATE HUA/Daily

Michigan couldn’t overcome a sluggish offense and dropped a series to Nebraska, 2-1.

BECCA MAHON/Daily

An injury knocked Matt Frey out for the season. But he’s still found a way to be an 
important part of the team.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Read more at michigandaily.com

