Korecky, Koman Combine to KO McNeese State

Saturday, March 10

Lake Charles, La.

4:00 PM

Michigan

4-6

McNeese State

13-8

Michigan

McNeese State

3/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Junior RHP Bobby Korecky (Saline, Mich./Saline HS) pitched a complete-game five-hitter and sophomore 3B Brock Koman (Pueblo, Colo./South HS) drove in all the runs as the Michigan baseball team topped McNeese State 3-1 Saturday afternoon (March 10) at Cowboy Diamond. The win snapped a four-game Wolverine losing streak and marked the first home loss for the Cowboys (13-8) in nine games.

Korecky evened his record at 1-1 as the Wolverines (4-6) evened up the series. He pitched the first Wolverine complete game of the season and it was his sixth career complete game. Korecky struck out six, including Cowboy pinch hitter Jack Newark for the final out with the tying runs on second and third base.

Koman snapped a scoreless tie in the eighth inning with a single to right-center, scoring co-captain senior 2B Scott Tousa (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highlands HS). It was Koman's first game-winning RBI of the season, the fourth of his career. Tousa had walked, stolen second base and continued to third base on a wild pitch.

Koman added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning with a two-out, two-run double that plated sophomore catcher Jason Wuerfel (Cedar, Mich./Glen Lake HS) and sophomore LF Jordan Cantalamessa (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS). Wuerfel and Cantalamessa had reached base on singles sandwiched around a pair of strikeouts.

Koman and sophomore CF Gino Lollio (Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner HS) were the only players in the game with two hits. Lollio, making his third start of the season, was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.

There was added drama in the bottom of the ninth inning as Korecky was one out away from a shutout when McNeese State DH Tim Lemke hit a fly to centerfield. The ball was lost in the early evening sky and fell between four Wolverines for a run-scoring double, allowing Newark, who knocked in the winning run Friday night, to pinch hit representing the winning run. Korecky fanned him on a 3-2 pitch.

Korecky had four 1-2-3 innings and faced three batters in an inning five times. Three of his six strikeouts came in the last two innings and he closed out the eighth and ninth innings with strikeouts with the tying run in scoring position.

Senior SS Bill LaRosa (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) had his hitting streak snapped at 18 games. LaRosa's best bid for a hit came with a two-out drive to right in the seventh inning, the final out recorded by McNeese State starting and losing pitcher Chris Howay (2-2).

Howay and Korecky had gone head to head for seven scoreless innings before Michigan scored in the eighth after Howay walked Tousa on four pitches, his only batter of the inning. In his previous start, Korecky had tossed six shutout innings at South Florida in a game that ended up a 13-8 win for the Bulls.

Michigan concludes the McNeese State series Sunday (March 11, noon CST) in Lake Charles, La. Freshman RHP Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), who was slated make his first start a week ago when it was rained out vs. Boston College in Lakeland, Fla., is the scheduled starter vs. the Cowboys. Brauer is 0-0 with a save and a 0.00 ERA in two relief appearances thus far in 2001.

N O T E S

Michigan's hitting leaders (for players with at least 10 at bats) after 10 games are: sophomore LF Jordan Cantalamessa (.417, 10-for-24); sophomore 3B Brock Koman (.341, 15-for-44); sophomore OF Gino Lollio (.333, 4-for-12); senior/junior OF/DH C.J. Ghannam (Farmington, Mich./Harrison HS) at .308 (4-for-13) and junior/sophomore DH Nate Wright (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew HS) hitting .300 (3-for-10).

Michigan's hit leaders after 10 games are Koman (15), Tousa (10) and Cantalamessa (10).

Bill LaRosa, who reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth inning, collected his team-leading fifth stolen base.

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423