Michigan
Connecticut
Michigan Doubles Up UConn Behind Strong Pitching
3/13/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site:Â Homestead, Fla. (Homestead Sports Complex)
Score:Â Michigan 6, Connecticut 3
Records:Â U-M (5-5), UConn (3-5)
Next U-M Game:Â Sunday, March 14 -- vs. Southern Illinois (Homestead, Fla.), noon
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Junior/sophomore Bryce Ralston (Tacoma, Wash./Curtis HS) and freshman Bobby Korecky (Saline, Mich./Saline HS) combined for a four-hitter as the University of Michigan baseball team defeated Connecticut 6-3 Saturday night (March 13) in the Big Ten-Big East Challenge, part of the 35-day Homestead Challenge tournament. The Wolverines evened their record at 5-5, while the Huskies dropped to 3-5.
Ralston (2-1) went seven innings and allowed four hits and three earned runs, with two walks and two strikeouts. Korecky pitched the final two innings, fanning four to earn his second save of the year.
Michigan scored a single run in the second on a double by Jay Dines (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS) and Bryan Besco's (Westland, Mich./John Glenn HS) RBI single, and the Wolverines added a pair of runs in the third. Singles by Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS), Bobby Scales (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS) and Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) produced one run, and Scales scored when Alcaraz was caught in a rundown trying to steal second base.
Connecticut cut the lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Michigan added a run in the fifth as back-to-back, two-out doubles by Bush and Scales made it 4-2 Wolverines. After the Huskies got back within a run in the sixth, Ralston and Korecky shut them out the rest of the way.
The Wolverines scored two insurance runs in the ninth, with David Parrish (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) starting the rally with a double and coming around to score when Scott Tousa (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highlands HS) rapped an RBI single off the first baseman's glove. A hit-and-run single from Bush put runners at first and third, and Scales drove in the final run with a base hit.
Bush and Scales both had three-hit outings to lead Michigan's 12-hit attack, with Bush going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored and Scales going 3-for-5 with a double, one run and two RBIs. Scales has now hit safely in all 10 games this season and in his last 14 contests dating back to 1998.
Michigan closes out its trip to Florida by facing Southern Illinois at noon Sunday (March 15). Junior Bryan Cranson (Bronson, Mich./Bronson HS) is the probable starter on the mound for the Wolverines.
