The Scoop: Why There Was No Baseball Game Friday
5/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Big Ten Tournament Schedule and Results
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The convoluted Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament schedule gave Michigan a day off from competition Friday (May 23), even though the Wolverines had to spend all day at the ready. Penn State played two games Friday but by rule could not play a third, thus Michigan, scheduled to face PSU in the next game of the tournament, ended up with a day off in the tourney.
U-M (30-26), the No. 3 seed, will play the first game Saturday, facing No. 4 seed Penn State (28-27) at 12:05 p.m. CDT in an elimination game at Minnesota's Siebert Field. Michigan junior RHP Bobby Garza (Southgate, Mich./Anderson HS), with a 5-3 record and a 4.99 ERA, is the tentative starter for the Wolverines vs. Penn State.
Because rain Thursday pushed back the tournament schedule four hours and moved the Minnesota vs. Penn State winners bracket game to Friday, the Wolverines entered Friday not knowing if they would play at 3:35 p.m., 7:05 p.m. or not at all. It turned out to be the latter.
The Wolverines took batting practice and were prepared to play Indiana at 3:35 p.m. if Penn State had beaten Minnesota, but the Golden Gophers beat Penn State 4-3 in Friday's opener, putting the Nittany Lions in Game 6 to face Indiana as the lower seed of the Game 4 and Game 5 losers (No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Penn State).
Michigan now had to prepare for the 7:05 p.m. game, but only if Indiana won Game 6. If Penn State was victorious, the day's action would be truncated because the Nittany Lions would not be forced to play three games in one day. So when PSU broke a 4-4 tie with four runs in the bottom of the seventh and went on to beat the Hoosiers 8-4, that meant the Wolverines' frustrating day of waiting was all for naught.
The Michigan-Penn State game Saturday will be followed by the winners bracket final between the top two seeds, No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Ohio State, at 3:35 p.m., and the loser of that game will face the Michigan-Penn State winner at 7:05 p.m.
Sunday's championship game is scheduled for 12:05 p.m., with a second game to follow if necessary in the double-elimination format.
N O T E S
Wolverine senior 3B Brock Koman (Pueblo, Colo./South HS) moved up in several of Michigan's single-season stat charts with his 3-for-3 game that included two doubles vs. Ohio State on Thursday (May 22). Koman's team-leading total of 21 doubles marks only the sixth time a Wolverine has collected more than 20 doubles in a season, and it ties Derek Besco (21, 1997) for the fourth best season total. Koman extended his Wolverine career records for doubles to 72.
Koman was hit by a pitch in the OSU game and it was the 16th time this season to set a single-season mark, breaking the record of 15 set by former teammate Scott Tousa in 2001. The "plunk" vs. OSU pushed Koman's career record to 46 HBPs.
Koman's three hits vs. OSU pushed his team-leading season total to 80 hits, good for 10th on the single-season hit chart.
Koman and senior CF Gino Lollio (Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner HS) each have 216 official at-bats and have started in all 56 games this season. The 216 at-bats are tied for the 10th best U-M season total.
Michigan's hitting leaders after 56 games include (100 plate appearances minimum): senior 3B Brock Koman at .370 (80-for-216), junior C Jake Fox (.360, 73-for-203), fifth-year senior 1B Mike Sokol (.348, 69-for-198), senior OF Gino Lollio (.335, 72-for-216) and sophomore SS Nick Rudden (.329, 49-for-149).
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
