Wednesday, June 8, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wolverines come up short against Louisville, end season

DAVID WOELKERS
Daily Sports Writer

On Sunday night, things looked 
bleak for the Michigan baseball 
team. After winning the first two 
games of the Louisville Regional, 
the Wolverines were blown out by 
Louisville to force a third and final 
game between the two teams.
In a back and forth affair on 
Monday, Michigan (34-28) came up 
just short, losing 11-9 to the Cardinals 
(42-19-1) and ending its season.
“If we had a few more innings 
there, we could’ve gotten a few more 
runs,” graduate center fielder Joe 
Stewart said. “Unfortunately the 
game is only nine.”
After recording only three hits in 
the entirety of Sunday’s game, the 
Wolverines needed just 10 pitches 
to match that total, hitting back-to-
back-to-back doubles to start the 
Regional Final and take a 2-0 lead.
Michigan looked primed to add 
another run to the score after a two-
out pickoff attempt went wild, but 
a flyout by senior shortstop Riley 
Bertram ended the inning.
Just as soon as the momentum 
looked to be with the Wolverines, the 
Cardinals ripped it right back to their 
side.

Despite sitting down two of his 
first four batters, sophomore left-
hander 
Connor 
O’Halloran 
fell 
apart in the first inning, hitting two 
batters and allowing three base hits 
— including a double. 
As the top of the Louisville lineup 
returned to the plate, O’Halloran was 
pulled from the game, leaving with 
the bases loaded and the Wolverines 
staring at a sudden two-run deficit. 
The Cardinals weren’t done yet.
Taking advantage of sophomore 
right-hander Chase Allen’s premature 
entry into the game, Louisville 
shortstop Christian Knapcyzk laid 
down a surprise bunt on the first 
pitch he saw, catching the Michigan 
infield by surprise and scoring a run. 
Allen then walked in a sixth run 
on four straight balls, before allowing 
the Cardinals’ seventh and final run 
of the first inning on a fielding error. 
Despite striking out the next 
batter, the damage had already been 
done — seven runs, all on two outs.
“We couldn’t really put a stop on 
it,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. 
“It seemed like it was spiraling very 
fast, and we just couldn’t get Chase 
ready quick enough. It’s a credit to a 
really good offense.”
Following 
the 
first 
inning 
fireworks, Louisville starter Garrett 
Schmeltz made easy work of the 
Wolverines’ lineup through his next 

two innings of work — striking out 
four of seven batters with the only 
exception being a solo home run by 
graduate third baseman Matt Frey.
As Allen appeared to be settling 
into the game, his day was suddenly 
cut short by the presence of lightning 
in the area, forcing a lengthy weather 
delay that ended up requiring both 
coaches to go to the bullpen.
While neither team immediately 
capitalized on the pitching change, 
momentum trickled in Michigan’s 
direction after junior outfielder Clark 
Elliott smashed a solo home run with 
two outs to keep the top of the sixth 
alive.
After a pair of singles by graduate 
center fielder Joe Stewart and 
graduate third baseman Matt Frey, 
junior catcher Jimmy Obertop turned 
the trickle into a flood, tying the game 
at 7-7 on a three-run missile sent over 
the right-field wall. 
“We regrouped during that break,” 
Obertop said. “We’ve scored more 
than seven runs before so we knew 
if we did it together we’d be able to 
come back.”
The comeback bid was completed 
in the next inning by junior second 
baseman Ted Burton, who blasted 
the Wolverines’ fourth home run of 
the game to break the tie. A chopper 
single by Stewart put the score at 9-7, 
putting his team in the driver’s seat 

heading into the home stretch.
With the shift in momentum, 
Michigan turned to junior right-
hander Cameron Weston to hold the 
fragile lead through the final innings. 
Weston started to do just that, 
retiring eight straight batters to start 
his outing.
But after walking the ninth batter 
he faced, Weston allowed a base hit 
to Jack Payton. Attempting to stretch 
it into a double, a play at second base 
was ruled safe by the umpire.
Burton and the Michigan infield 
called for an immediate review, but 
the play stood.
“I haven’t seen the review yet, but 

the rule is very clear,” Bakich said. 
“It has to be clear and conclusive 
evidence, and I’m sure that’s what 
was said. Had (the second base 
umpire) called him out and Louisville 
challenged it, it probably would’ve 
stood.”
With one last chance, the Cardinals 
flipped the script on the Wolverines, 
hitting a double, single and ultimately 
a two-run home run — scoring four 
runs and taking the lead.
Michigan could not find an 
equalizer in the top of the ninth, 
putting a stop to the Wolverines’ 
comeback — and with it, an end to a 
shot at the Super Regional.

The Michigan baseball team’s season ended in a loss to Louisville in the Regional Final.
SARAH BOEKE/Daily

Ian Payne: Eighth inning call upends Michigan’s momentum

The 
Michigan 
baseball 
team’s 
miraculous 
postseason 
run 
is over — and it 
ended on a sour 
note.
After 
a 
controversial call 
at second base kept 
the eighth inning alive, Louisville 
reclaimed the lead — and soon after 
won the game.
With two outs in the bottom of the 
eighth inning, junior right-hander 
Cameron Weston stood on the 
mound — closely guarding a two run 
lead. On the weekend, Weston tossed 
seven scoreless innings in relief, a 
true clutch factor for the Wolverines.
But the batter at the plate — 
Cardinals’ designated hitter Jack 
Payton — smacked the ball into left 
field and sprinted around the bases. 
As he approached second base, the 
cutoff throw from senior shortstop 
Riley Bertram found the glove of 

junior second baseman Ted Burton 
and he swiped at Payton as he slid 
into the bag head first. 
The umpire called him safe on 
the bang-bang play, and all of Jim 
Patterson Stadium waited with bated 
breath as the long review process 
played out. 
The call stood. 
With this new life, the Cardinals 
rallied — and after seeing their 
momentum hit a brick wall, a deflated 
Michigan could only watch. The next 
Louisville batter brought Payton and 
another baserunner home to tie the 
game. Then a game-winning two-run 
homer gave Louisville the lead.
“Had he called him out and 
Louisville reviewed it the call 
probably 
would 
have 
stood,” 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. 
“He called him safe … the rule is very 
clear it has to be conclusive evidence 
to over turn.”
However what the replay showed 
was clear: the runner was out.
While I can understand close calls 

being hard to overturn, the video was 
a clear case.
Burton’s glove could be clearly 
seen bouncing off of Payton’s hand, 
catching Payton’s fingers and tipping 
them up. His fingers were clearly not 
on the bag as the glove made contact. 
That’s an out. The inning should 
have been over.

That type of blown call is 
disruptive at the best of times, but 
in the postseason it can be — and in 
this instance almost certainly was — 
season altering.
The Louisville Regional was a tale 
of momentum. In the first two days, 
the Wolverines rode their Big Ten 
Championship energy to upset wins 
over Oregon and the Cardinals. And 
on Sunday, Louisville capitalized 
on its own win over the Ducks with 
a 20-1 evisceration of Michigan — 
forcing Monday’s tiebreaker. 
And coming out of a weather delay 
in Monday’s game, the Wolverines 
seized their own momentum. They 
overcame a four-run deficit with a 
six-run stretch in the fifth and sixth 
innings
“We regrouped during that break,” 
junior catcher Jimmy Obertop said. 
“We knew we would be able to come 
back.”
Winning 
teams 
create 
and 
capitalize on momentum shifts. It is 
how Michigan managed to make it as 

far as it did into the postseason.
Louisville certainly capitalized 
off of the eighth-inning momentum 
shift well, and undoubtedly earned 
the win. However, it did not reclaim 
the momentum on its own and that 
soured the game’s result.
If the call had been properly 
overturned then the Wolverines 
would have entered the ninth inning 
up two runs and with momentum 
on their side. Whether or not the 
Cardinals could have still found an 
energy shift on their own will never 
be answered.
“It sucks the way it ended,” 
Bakich said. “But congratulations to 
Louisville, they’ve got a great team.”
Michigan 
had 
a 
tumultuous 
season. It struggled to find its identity 
and live up to its potential, but it hit its 
stride and found a little magic in the 
postseason.
Now, that run’s dissonant final 
note — kickstarted in part by a poor 
review call — makes that magic a 
little harder to appreciate.

A controversial second base call ripped 
momentum away from the Michigan 
baseball team.

SARAH BOEKE/Daily

BASEBALL

BASEBALL

IAN PAYNE

