Wednesday, May 11, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Allen’s shaky Sunday caps off series loss
DAVID WOELKERS
Daily Sports Writer
In his first three appearances
since transitioning into the Michigan
baseball team’s full-time Sunday
starter,
sophomore
right-hander
Chase Allen looked electric — giving
up just three earned runs in 19.1
innings. With the fate of the series
against Indiana still up in the air
heading into Sunday’s game, the
Wolverines expected more of the
same.
Instead, they received a shock:
a near-total collapse from their
newfound starter, one that ultimately
led to a 10-8 defeat at the hands of the
Hoosiers.
“They made every base runner
count today,” Michigan coach Erik
Bakich said. “They got baserunners
in more ways than just giving up hits,
but when they got hits, they were big
hits in big spots.”
As Allen let in six runs in six
innings, all of which earned, he set
a personal season-high and saw his
earned run average jump from 3.24
to 3.85.
While extra-base hits played a
significant role in the day’s result,
Allen’s control of his pitches made the
most visceral impact. Most notable
stood his three hit batters, which tied
a season-high for any pitcher on the
roster.
All three batters would end up
reaching home plate in the contest,
two of which came in the fifth inning
alone. After Allen plunked back-
to-back batters, Indiana left fielder
Carter Mathison blasted a ball over
the right-center wall, turning a 4-2
Michigan lead into a 5-4 deficit.
“All the mistakes he made ended
up costing him,” Bakich said. “At
one point he had
five runs on two
hits. They made
him pay for his
mistakes with big
blasts.”
Allen’s
performance
on
Sunday capped a
weekend
series
that saw less than
stellar
outings
from all three of
the
Wolverines’
weekend starters
—
an
unusual
occurrence
for
a group that as
of
recent
has
consistently
set
the table despite
an
inconsistent
bullpen to back
them.
On Friday, the Hoosiers took
sophomore
left-hander
Connor
O’Halloran deep for three home runs
and an RBI double. On Saturday,
junior right-hander Cameron Weston
allowed eight hits in just 5.1 innings of
work, giving up three runs.
With the difference between being
in and out of the Big Ten Tournament
sitting at just two games, Michigan
needed a series win — and in turn, a
strong performance from its starting
pitchers.
Instead, they walk away with
more questions than answers for yet
another weekend.
“The biggest thing we need to do
is just play — just play better,” Bakich
said. “If we’re gonna be a team that
has any chance of playing to our
potential, then the execution behind
the lines needs to be better. There’s
just no way to sugarcoat that.”
After clinging to their weekend
starters thus far, the Wolverines now
find themselves precariously closer
to a nightmare end of the season. A
slump from Allen, O’Halloran and
Weston could be the last straw for any
hopes of a postseason run.
Sophomore right-hander Chase Allen struggled to produce on the mound against Indiana, allowing six earned
runs in six innings pitched.
GRACE BEAL/Daily
Wolverines prolong championship drought, fall in
fifth-consecutive quarterfinal loss
At their last home meet of the
season, the Wolverines hoped to
beat California — something they
had failed to do in the previous two
meetings.
And on Friday, they fell short once
again.
In its final match-up of the year,
the No. 7 Michigan water polo team
(26-9 overall, 12-0 CWPA) fell to No.
3 Golden Bears (17-6) amidst hopeless
“Let’s go blue!” chants.
The Canham Natatorium stands
filled with fans in maize and blue
as Ann Arbor hosted the NCAA
Women’s Water Polo Championship
for the first time since 2011.
“We focus on our vision and
we focus on the process which got
us to our sixth championship in a
row,” Michigan coach Dr. Marcelo
Leonardi said. “We made it to the
year where we hosted the NCAA
Championships — there’s pressure
involved in that.”
Early game pressure amounted
to success for California that never
wavered. In the two regular season
games against the Golden Bears, the
Wolverines found themselves at a
loss against steady pressure in each
quarter, unable to find or maintain a
lead.
The same strategy was used
to defeat Michigan, 10-4, in the
quarterfinal round of the NCAA
Championship, ending an otherwise-
successful season.
The Wolverines were in trouble
from the first half. With a missed
shot at an empty net as the end of
the first quarter neared and three
consecutive
California
goals
to
conclude the second, it was clear that
Michigan was outmatched.
The second half began with a
feasible three-goal deficit for the
Wolverines, but previous strategies
Michigan employed to find success
failed to work. The Wolverines
previously displayed strong defensive
strategies to pressure their past
opponents, yet the Golden Bears
remained
unphased.
They
had
surpassed Michigan at their own
game and used it to secure their own
victory. California led the match with
eight steals to the Wolverines’ four
and held them to four goals — the
lowest of their season.
Although Michigan’s success in
the CWPA has led to six consecutive
NCAA appearances, none of those
trips have brought home hardware —
making it clear that dominating the
CWPA is just not enough.
“Teams are coming in from
different
areas,
venues
and
championships,” Leonardi said. “The
key is timing when we peak.”
Peaking at the right time is a
common key to success in most sports.
But, with national championship
matches
following
CWPA
championship results, it seems that
the conference the Wolverines belong
to leaves them woefully unprepared
for their true competition.
During
the
regular
season,
Michigan regularly appeared out-
matched against the teams that
normally
dominate
the
NCAA
Championships. Early losses against
California, Stanford and UCLA —
top-four ranked teams competing in
the championships — were evidence
of this.
In order to find success in
the NCAA Championships, it is
imperative that the Wolverines first
find the key to victory against the
three teams that have held a monopoly
on the crowning achievement since
the start of the tournament in 2001:
Stanford, UCLA and USC.
During the offseason, rebuilding
will focus on the new players added
to the roster in hopes of finally
finding the right formula to put
the Wolverines on the map against
higher-level opponents.
“It’s
about
training,
playing
and getting better,” Leonardi said.
“Expectations and standards are
high, (players) want to come back and
win a seventh championship in a row
and qualify for NCAAs.”
And if Michigan can excel at that,
the Wolverines may finally have the
opportunity to find success beyond
the CWPA.
For the third time this season, Michigan lost to No. 3 California.
SARAH BOEKE/Daily
KELSEY RUFF
Daily Sports Writer