Wolverines Collect Season-Opening Win Over Broncos

Friday, February 23

Lakeland, Fla.

7:00 PM

Michigan

1-0

Western Michigan

0-1

Western Michigan

Michigan

2/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Jim Schneider

Site: Lakeland, Fla. (Joker Marchant Stadium)
Score: Michigan 4, Western Michigan 1
Records: U-M (1-0), WMU (0-1)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Feb. 24 -- vs. Western Michigan (Lakeland, Fla.), 7 p.m.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- University of Michigan seniors C.J. Ghannam (Farmington, Mich./Harrison HS) and Bill LaRosa (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) sparked a four-run, eighth-inning rally in a 4-1 season-opening baseball win over Western Michigan Friday night (Feb. 23) in Joker Marchant Stadium.

Ghannam opened the eighth inning with a pinch-hit single and scored the tying run on a fielder's choice grounder by sophomore CF Blake Rutkowski (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South HS). LaRosa knocked in the winning run with a bases-loaded walk, his third free pass of the game, and sophomore 3B Brock Koman (Pueblo, Colo./South HS) followed with a two-run single to ice the win.

Senior co-captain LHP Nick Alexander (Alpena, Mich./Alpena HS) allowing just one run while working seven innings to keep the Wolverines in the game. Alexander yielded four hits and fanned six batters in the no-decision.

Junior RHP Bobby Wood (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) fanned two in a scoreless eighth inning to get the win and junior LHP Jeff Trzos (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington HS) worked a scoreless ninth to record his third career save.

WMU collected more than one hit in an inning just once in the contest, but the Broncos took advantage of it to grab a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Senior RF John Toner doubled to center and scored on a two-out single by junior CF Tim Bellestri.

Junior RHP Kody Naylor worked six scoreless innings as WMU's starter. He allowed four hits and walked five in the no-decision as the Wolverines stranded nine runners in the first six innings.

Sophomore LHP Pat Misch replaced Naylor to open the seventh inning and immediately ran into trouble, allowing back-to-back singles by senior co-captain Scott Tousa (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highlands HS) and LaRosa. The singles extended hitting streaks carried over from 2000, with Tousa moving his streak to 18 games and LaRosa to 11.

Misch escaped in the seventh inning but took the loss when Michigan scored its four runs in the eighth inning.

The Wolverines (1-0) will meet Western Michigan (0-1) again Saturday night (7 p.m.) in Marchant Stadium on the Detroit Tigers' spring training site. Junior RHP Bobby Korecky (Saline, Mich./Saline HS), whose last start for the Wolverines was a one-hit shutout over Iowa last May, is Michigan's probable starter.

N O T E S

• Sunday's (Feb. 25) contest with WMU has been moved to 2 p.m. (from 1 p.m.) and the game will be played in the Tigertown complex.

• Freshman RF Brandon Roberts (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) collected his first career hit and the first Wolverine hit of 2001 with his single to left to open the second inning. Roberts, the son of former Wolverine and Major Leaguer Leon Roberts, was 2-for-3 in his career debut and chipped in with a diving catch in the seventh inning.

• Senior LHP Nick Alexander had four 1-2-3 innings in the opener and faced the minimum three batters in five of his seven innings. Alexander retired 10 straight after allowing the two-out RBI single by WMU's Tim Bellestri in the fourth inning.

• Former Wolverines David Parrish (1998-2000), a first-round draft pick last June, and all-time hit leader Mike Cervenak (1996-99), both in the New York Yankees organization, made the trip from Tampa to take in the season opener.

• Scott Tousa has at least one hit in 18 straight games and in 30 of his last 32 games.

• C.J. Ghannam, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Brandon Roberts, had an interesting 2001 debut as he batted twice in the eighth inning. He started the winning rally with a single, scored the tying run and then made the last out.