Wednesday, June 1, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Willie Weiss ejected and suspended for use of foreign substances

IAN PAYNE
Daily Sports Writer

In the Michigan baseball team’s 
Big Ten Tournament victory over 
Iowa, senior right-hander Willie 
Weiss was caught with an illegal 
substance on his glove and ejected. 
His actions earned him a four-
game suspension from the Big Ten, 
right in the heart of the Wolverines’ 
postseason.
Just before he was caught, Weiss 
stood on the mound taking deep 
breaths as he played with the edge 
of his glove. In the fifth inning of an 
elimination game with a 4-1 lead, the 
stakes were high. 
But as he prepared to deliver, 
the home plate umpire raised his 
hands, motioning for him to stop 
and summoned his crew. They took 
Weiss’s glove, inspecting the edge 
Weiss had been rubbing. 
Moments later, Weiss was ejected 
for use of foreign substances.
This ejection and subsequent 
suspension could spell danger for 
the Wolverines’ postseason as they 
try to claw their way into the NCAA 

tournament. If they were to make it to 
regionals, the already limited bullpen 
needs all the help it can get. And any 
potential run could be overshadowed 
by the cloud of this issue.
Weiss’s season has been difficult. 
He has a 5.29 ERA on the year — far 
below the sub-3.00 ERAs he posted 
in both 2019 and 2021. 
However in the past few weeks, 
Weiss has stepped up and he began 
to rally. Since his three-run inning 
against Maryland on May 15, he’s 
only allowed one run. His three 
scoreless innings against Rutgers on 
May 20 signaled to the coaching staff 
that he was back.
“Oh, he’ll have a significant role for 
sure,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
said of Weiss’s position in postseason 
plans.
And the pieces seemed to be truly 
falling into place. Weiss tossed three 
innings of one-run baseball against 
Maryland on Friday, looking more 
and more like his old self.
However, against Iowa, all of those 
things were called into question. 
Weiss was not subtle in rubbing 
his glove, and was quickly suspected 
of using a foreign substance by the 

opposing dugout. The Hawkeyes 
informed the umpires of their 
suspicions, and as a result Weiss was 
investigated. He had only faced two 
batters at the time of his ejection — 
one of which he hit with a pitch — and 
he had thrown just five pitches. 
Any definitive detail on the 
situation 
is 
still 
uncertain. 
When 
asked 
for a statement, 
Michigan Athletics 
declined 
to 
comment. Bakich, 
however, spoke to 
Big Ten Network 
about the situation 
in 
postgame 
interviews.
“It’s like when 
you’re a parent and 
your kid makes a 
mistake,” 
Bakich 
said. “You don’t 
love them any less 
but you have to 
admit you made a 
mistake. … That’s 
not part of our 
program.”

Other than a brief post-game 
interview with Bakich, no one else 
affiliated with the Wolverines has 
commented.
Weiss is already charged with 
a four game suspension, but the 
implications of his actions could 
extend further. Not only are his 

actions 
worthy 
of 
individual 
ramifications, but it could also 
warrant action against Michigan as 
a team.
As the Wolverines hope to hear 
their name called during the NCAA 
Baseball Selection Show, this could 
impact that.

Willie Weiss will face a four game suspension after his ejection from Sunday’s game.
SARAH BOEKE/Daily

With everything on the line, Jacob Denner came through for Michigan

With one game standing between 
the Michigan baseball team and a 
Big Ten Championship, coach Erik 
Bakich needed his team to overcome 
its greatest struggle this season: the 
bullpen.
After an afternoon elimination 
game where the Wolverines used 
their strongest pitchers in the must-
win situation — and lost to an ejection 
and subsequent suspension — the 
depth of the pen would once again 
be tested against the Rutgers Scarlet 
Knights.
In previous situations, junior left-
hander Jacob Denner struggled with 
the pressure. On Sunday though, 
When his team needed him most, he 
proved to be a stable hand.
In 4.1 innings, Denner gave up just 
three hits and one run to a surging 
Scarlet 
Knights 
offense 
while 
striking out seven. It was more than 
Bakich could’ve asked for from a 
pitcher who threw39 pitches just one 
day prior, and it propelled Michigan 
to a 10-4 victory over Rutgers to win 
the Big Ten Championship.

“On the pitching side, Jacob 
really stepped up,” Bakich said. “He 
settled things down in the middle of 
the game and put zeros up against a 
dangerous offense.”
Entering the game in the second 
inning, Denner inherited a precarious 

situation.
Despite 
recording 
two 
outs, 
the Scarlet Knights had clearly 
rattled senior right-hander Walker 
Cleveland. After giving up a home run 
to Josh Kuroda-Grauer, Cleveland 
allowed back to back walks, putting 

the go-ahead run on base for Rutgers. 
With the Wolverines holding just 
a one run lead in the second inning, 
Denner’s first test had the ability 
to set the tone for the rest of the 
game. Instead of faltering under the 
pressure, Denner slammed the door 
shut on the Scarlet 
Knights, 
striking 
out Ryan Lasko — 
one of the Scarlet 
Knights’ 
most 
dominant hitters.
In 
the 
next 
inning 
though, 
that good feeling 
faded quickly, as 
Rutgers put the 
pressure back on. A 
double and a triple 
tied the game and 
positioned 
the 
Scarlet 
Knights 
just 90 feet away 
from taking the 
lead with one out. 
But once again, 
Denner found a 
way. 
With 
a 
full-
count 
strikeout 
and a flyout, the 

New Jersey native left the runner 
stranded on third, preventing a 
potentially game-defining play.
In the next two innings not only 
did Michigan bolster its lead with its 
bats, but s Denner also appeared to 
have found a groove. And as he did so, 
Denner faced his final and perhaps 
biggest test of the game in the bottom 
of the sixth. After a flyout, a single 
and two walks loaded the bases, a 
strikingly similar situation to the one 
Denner had found himself in to enter 
the game arose.
With 80 pitches thrown, the left 
hander looked ready to be relieved. 
In spite of that, though, his coach left 
him in the game, giving him the task 
of finishing what he had started.
Down in a 2-1 count, the outcome 
was trending poorly. With one last 
push, Denner found the zone on back 
to back pitches, catching left fielder 
Mike Nyisztor looking for an inning 
ending strikeout.
Instead of walking off the mound, 
Denner leaped, throwing his fists in 
the air in celebration — and perhaps 
in a gasp of relief. After a long and 
turbulent season, the left-hander, and 
the Wolverines at large, finally found 
what they had been looking for.
Jacob Denner’s dominant performance pushed Michigan to its Big Ten Championship on Sunday.
SARAH BOEKE/Daily

DAVID WOELKERS
Daily Sports Writer

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