Feldkamp, Penn Toss Shutouts in Sweep of Hawkeyes

Saturday, April 10

Iowa City, Iowa

2:00 PM CT

Michigan

13-12, 3-3

Iowa

8-17, 1-5

Michigan

Iowa

4/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Duane Banks Field)
Scores: Michigan 6, Iowa 0; Michigan 4, Iowa 0
Records: U-M (14-12, 4-3 Big Ten), Iowa (8-18, 1-6 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Apr. 11 -- at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), 1 p.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Michigan righthanders Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS) and Michael Penn (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian) each pitched a four-hit shutout to lead the Wolverines to a 6-0, 4-0 Big Ten baseball doubleheader sweep of Iowa Saturday afternoon (April 10) at Duane Banks Field.

Penn retired the last seven batters to close out his win.

The Wolverines (14-12, 4-3 Big Ten) earned their first conference sweep since taking two at Ohio State last May and pulled into a tie for fourth place with Penn State in the second week of conference action. Iowa (8-18, 1-6 Big Ten) remains in 10th place after the sweep.

Sophomore Feldkamp (3-3) dropped his ERA to 2.06, tops in the starting rotation, as he pitched the first complete game of his Wolverine career. Feldkamp did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning, when Iowa 2B Jason White singled up the middle. Feldkamp earned his shutout in the seventh with a strikeout, his fifth, and a force play at second to end the game after Iowa put runners on first and third with one out.

Junior Penn (3-1, 3.95 ERA) collected his third career shutout with his four-hitter in the nightcap, his fourth career complete game. He retired the final seven Hawkeyes to collect the win but needed junior RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) to make the third-out catch to end the fifth inning after Iowa put runners on second and third with two outs in a 1-0 game.

Butler played an important role on offense in the twinbill, as did leadoff hitter Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS). Butler scored the winning run in the first inning of the opener with a single, a stolen base and the hustle to score on a two-out error, and later in the day Butler came up with a pair of sacrifice squeeze bunts, one in each game, as he pushed his team RBI lead to 27.

Getz knocked in two runs in each game and collected his first homer as a Wolverine. The homer in the second game proved to be the game-winning RBI.

The Wolverines broke open the first game with a four-run fourth inning that started as singles by sophomore shortstop Jeremy Goldschmeding (Allegan, Mich./Allegan HS) and freshman LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) combined with a walk to freshman CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS) loaded the bases with no outs against Iowa starter Austin Seward (0-3). Sophomore 2B Getz singled in two runs, Butler followed with one of his squeeze bunts to score Rose, and sophomore 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) singled in Getz.

Goldschmeding closed out the scoring in the opener as he singled, reached third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a groundout by Rose.

Getz homered to lead off the third inning of the second game to give Penn a 1-0 lead and the Wolverines scored three times in the sixth inning to provide late inning insurance.

Goldschmeding started the sixth-inning rally with a single, his fourth hit of the afternoon, and he advanced by stealing second base. Roblin followed with his fourth hit of the day to make the score 2-0. Rose forced Roblin on a sacrifice-bunt attempt but scored from first as Getz tripled into the rightfield corner. Butler squeezed in Getz with the final run.

Goldschmeding was 3-for-4 in the opener and junior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) was 3-for-3 in the second game as he moved his team-leading batting average to .392.

The Wolverines conclude the weekend series at Iowa with a single nine-inning game Sunday (April 11, 1 p.m. CDT) with senior RHP Bobby Garza (Southgate, Mich./Anderson HS) with a 2-1 record and a 5.88 ERA on the mound.

N O T E S

In other Big Ten action Saturday, Penn State swept a pair from Northwestern, 6-5 in 11 innings and 5-4, and Minnesota swept Indiana, 11-3 and 8-2. Purdue beat Ohio State 5-4 in the opener and OSU took the second game 9-5. Michigan State topped Illinois 5-3 in the opener, but the Fighting Illini took the second game 3-0.

MSU leads the league at 6-1 with Minnesota and Ohio State tied for second at 5-2. Michigan and Penn State are tied for fourth at 4-3. Northwestern and Purdue are both 3-4, while Illinois and Indiana are 2-5 and Iowa is 1-6.

Michigan head coach Rich Maloney collected career wins 299 and 300 with the doubleheader sweep at Iowa on Saturday. Maloney is 300-182-1 (.622) in nine seasons as a head coach, including 44-39 (.530) in two seasons at Michigan.

The last time Michigan pitchers had shutouts on the same day was March 30, 2002, when Bobby Korecky (3-0) and Rich Hill (6-0) threw shutouts against Iowa at Ray Fisher Stadium. The last time Michigan pitchers performed the feat on the road was April 17, 1988, when Chris Lutz (11-0) and Jim Abbott (8-0) defeated Purdue.

Michael Penn, who tossed a nine-inning shutout against Youngstown State (March 14) earlier this season at a neutral site in Lexington, Ky., was the last person to toss a complete-game shutout on the road when he blanked Iowa last season (March 30, 2003) for coach Rich Maloney's first Big Ten win. In fact, Penn has two career starts against Iowa, both in Iowa City, and both have been four-hit shutouts.

Derek Feldkamp has pitched 8.2 scoreless innings this week collecting a win (vs. Iowa) and a save (vs. Eastern Michigan, April 7). Feldkamp's shutout was his first, but it marks the second time he has pitched seven shutout innings this season. Feldkamp pitched the first seven innings in his first start of the season, an eventual 6-2 win over Oakland (March 27) in the home opener.

Sophomore 2B Chris Getz, who notched his first Michigan homer at Iowa in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, is 7-for-13 (.538) in the first three games of the series at Iowa with a double, a triple and a homer. Getz has scored five times and driven in four runs vs. the Hawkeyes.

Michigan's hitting leaders after 26 games are: 1B Kyle Bohm at .392 (40-for-102), Jeremy Goldschmeding at .360 (27-for-75), Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) at .343 (24-for-70), Matt Butler at .341 (31-for-91), OF Eric Rose at .339 (20-for-59), 3B A.J. Scheidt at .324 (34-for-105) and Chris Getz at .313 (31-for-99).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423