Wednesday, May 25, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan exhausts bullpen options in regular season finale

IAN PAYNE
Daily Sports Writer

With its postseason hopes locked 
in, the regular season’s end took 
a new purpose for the Michigan 
baseball team.
Entering the day locked into the 
fifth seed of the Big Ten Tournament 
thanks to wins in their previous 
two games, the Wolverines took the 
opportunity to rest most of their 
typical arms — and struggled in their 
absence.
Of course, that bullpen day was a 
byproduct of Thursday’s and Friday’s 
games, in which the Wolverines went 
all in with their best arms. 
“We are going to treat every 
week … from here on out like 
it’s tournament baseball, double 
elimination 
baseball,” 
Michigan 
coach Erik Bakich said on Thursday. 
“(Treat) every individual game like 
it’s the only game of the week.”
As a result of that mentality, when 
Saturday rolled around there wasn’t 
much experience left to put on the 

mound. 
Senior left-hander Jack White got 
the start in his fourth appearance of 
the season. White has struggled this 
season battling back from injury, and 
as a result he has not been the high-
leverage innings-eater as Michigan 
hoped him to be.
Though he allowed two runs 
and only lasted 1.1 innings, it was a 
sentimental note for the senior to get 
the chance to play one last regular 
season game after all the years he has 
given to Michigan. And White wasn’t 
the only upperclassmen given that 
respect.
In addition to White, some other 
graduating players got time on the 
mound. Senior right-hander Keaton 
Carattini — who, like White, has been 
sidelined by injury — made his second 
appearance of the year in the fourth 
inning. However, he also gave up two 
runs in his inning of work.
That 
performance 
could 
be 
expected as better arms rested. 
But some consistent relievers made 
their way into the game, like when 
graduate left-hander Angelo Smith 
made 
his 
final 
regular 
season 

appearance in the fifth inning.
Still, the Wolverines got creative 
with their pitching selections. Even 
senior infielder Jack Van Remortel 
got in on the action, taking the 
mound for the first time in his career. 
Though he predictably struggled on 
the mound, he did notch the last two 
outs in the top of the ninth inning.
Apart 
from 
the 
seniors, 
underclassmen also got a chance to 
take the bump. Sophomore right-
hander Brandon Lawrence — who 
also played Friday in the infield — 
had the Wolverines’ best outing of the 
day. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings 
while allowing no hits and no walks. 
His outing wasn’t the only quality 
performance, though. Junior right-
hander John Torroella also had a 
scoreless inning of work in just his 
second outing of the year.
In the end, though, some of the 
more established pitchers had less 
successful outings and that led to the 
game being blown wide open. 
Sophomore 
left-hander 
Logan 
Wood gave up three runs without 
recording an out, and sophomore 
right-hander Ahmad Harajli did 

the same while only recording one. 
Even freshman right-hander Jake 
Keaser gave up four runs in one of his 
toughest outings of the season.
Michigan’s playoff attitude worked 
in the first two games of the series, 
but after all its pitching resources 

were exhausted, it struggled to put 
anything resembling a lid on Rutgers’ 
offense. 
The regular season is officially 
over, and the attention shifts to 
whether Michigan’s rested arms can 
deliver in true playoff baseball.

After using its best arms to win its first two games against Rutgers, the Michigan baseball 
team turned to its depth on Saturday.

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

Michigan’s season ends in NCAA Quarterfinals 
against Ohio State

CHAMPAIGN 
— 
Without 
a 
moment’s 
hesitation, 
graduate 
student Nick Beaty took a return off 
serve and smashed a ball that took one 
bounce over the fence. His smooth 
move halted Ohio State’s fiery start 
by giving the Michigan men’s tennis 
team its first doubles win.
And although Beaty’s success 
carried over to junior Ondrej Styler 
at the No. 3 doubles court — who 
delivered a furious return off serve 
to clinch the doubles point for the 
Wolverines — that momentum didn’t 
extend into singles.
Splitting the season series in 
four total matches, Michigan (25-4 
overall, 8-1 Big Ten) came up short 
against Ohio State (28-3, 7-0), 4-2, to 
suffer its first postseason loss and end 
its season in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
“I don’t think (Styler, senior 
Andrew Fenty and sophomore Nino 
Ehrenschneider) played to the level 
they’re capable of,” Michigan coach 
Adam Steinberg said. “I know they 

didn’t want to play that way … maybe, 
in some respects, the moment got too 
big for them.”
These players comprised one 
side of the courts, and each of them 
struggled to break away from their 
Buckeye opponents.
After Ohio State’s Cannon Kingsley 
grabbed the first break point at the 
No. 1 singles court, Styler recovered 
with a break in straight points, tying 
the first set at three games apiece. But 
that mid-set success did not translate 

to Fenty and Ehrenschneider. Even 
then, Styler could not sustain his 
high-energy backcourt play, and Ohio 
State earned three first-set victories 
over Styler (6-4), Fenty (6-2) and 
Ehrenschneider (6-2).
On the other side, sophomore 
Jacob Bickersteth looked to galvanize 
his teammates by jumping out to a 5-0 
lead in his first set. Before his match 
was moved indoors due to inclement 
weather, Bickersteth dropped the 
ensuing three games, but he knew he 

could give the Wolverines their first 
first-set win.
“(The move inside) didn’t really 
affect too much,” Bickersteth said. “I 
was serving, so I knew I could come 
out on the winning side.”
On either side of Bickersteth stood 
senior Patrick Maloney and Beaty, but 
after holding for one service game, 
Maloney fell in a 6-1 first-set loss. 
Moments later, Beaty was unable to 
break on a crucial deciding point that 
contributed to his 7-6 (11-9) first-set 
loss.
“Beaty has been a role model for 
me for two years,” Bickersteth said. 
“He does everything right and is the 
heart of our team … that’s how you 
want to be as a college tennis player.”
Before 
Beaty 
and 
Maloney 
were the last Michigan players left 
standing, Fenty lost in consecutive 
sets to the Buckeyes’ JJ Tracy — 
ranked No. 19 by the Intercollegiate 
Tennis Association — 6-2 and 6-2. 
Bickersteth broke the 1-1 tie by giving 
the Wolverines their only singles 
victory in the match, winning 6-3 and 
6-3.
The Buckeyes, however, translated 

their 
first 
set 
success 
against 
Ehrenschneider 
and 
Styler 
by 
winning their second sets, 6-3 and 
6-4, respectively. It brought them 
within one point of clinching an 
appearance in the NCAA Semifinals. 
With the season on the line, Beaty 
was unable to break Ohio State’s 
Andrew Lutschaunig, falling 6-4 in 
his second set.
“I didn’t want Beaty to be (our final 
losing player),” Steinberg said. “He’s 
made me a better person and coach … 
but, without Beaty, we’re not here — 
we’re not even close.”
To that point, Michigan will not 
allow its final loss this season to 
define it.
“They fight so hard for each other, 
and … I’m impressed with them 
everyday,” Steinberg said. “You don’t 
get this far without having a special 
group of guys with character and 
heart that love Michigan more than 
anything.”
Looking beyond their record-
setting 
season 
and 
the 
singles 
troubles that ended it, the Wolverines 
will hope that dedication to each 
other will stick long into the future.
Michigan associate head coach Benjamin Becker speaks with senior Patrick Maloney 
during his singles match at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship in Urbana-Champaign.

TAYLOR PACIS/Daily

ABHIJAI SINGH
Daily Sports Writer

BASEBALL

TENNIS