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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