Michigan
Michigan State
Wolverines Slide Past MSU, Sweep Weekend Series
5/2/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site:Â East Lansing, Mich. (Kobs Field)
Score:Â Michigan 8, Michigan State 7
Records:Â U-M (25-20, 12-8 Big Ten), MSU (24-20, 7-12 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Tuesday, May 4 -- at Ball State (Muncie, Ind.), 3 p.m. EST (4 p.m. EDT)
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team took an 8-3 lead into the ninth inning and held on for an 8-7 victory over Michigan State on Sunday (May 2). The win gave the Wolverines a sweep of the four-game weekend series and improved their record to 25-20 on the season and 12-8 in the Big Ten, good for third place in the conference standings. Michigan State fell to 24-20 and 7-12.
Seniors Mike Cervenak (New Boston, Mich./Dearborn Divine Child HS) and Bobby Scales (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS) highlighted the Sunday action at Kobs Field. Cervenak collected three hits to tie Michigan's all-time record with 267 and Scales, with a 2-for-4 game, became the ninth player in Wolverine history to collect 200 career hits. Bryan Besco (Westland, Mich./John Glenn HS) and Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS) also added 2-for-4 performances to fuel the Wolverine attack.
Cervenak, who knocked in the game-winning run with his U-M career-best 56th double, tied Ken Hayward's school hit record with his third hit of the game. Hayward, who played at Michigan from 1982-87, was on hand at the game.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Michigan bunched its hits together to score twice in the second, three times in the third and three times in the fifth inning in building an 8-2 lead. Cervenak and Besco were instrumental in all three innings. Cervenak singled home Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS), who opened the second inning with a double, for Michigan's first run. Besco followed by doubling home Cervenak.
In the third inning, Cervenak hit a two-out double to rightfield to drive in Michigan's third and fourth runs and then scored on a passed ball. Cervenak, 3-for-5 on the game, added his fourth RBI of the day with a single in the fifth inning to score Bush. Besco drove Cervenak in with triple but was erased two batters later on a failed double steal attempt.
Luke Bonner (Taylor, Mich./Dearborn Divine Child HS) started for Michigan and went five strong innings to up his record to 4-5. Bonner struck out four, walked one and allowed only six hits, but got into trouble in the sixth inning when the first two Spartans reached base on an error and a single. Bryan Cranson (Bronson, Mich./Bronson HS) replaced Bonner in the sixth inning and got out of the jam without any damage. Cranson worked the remainder of the game for his first career save.
Michigan takes to the road for two non-conference games, at Ball State at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (May 4) and at Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m. on Thursday (May 6), before returning home to face Indiana on Saturday, Sunday (DH) and Monday, all at 1 p.m.
