Butler Ends 12-Inning Marathon Victory Over Minnesota

Friday, April 2

Ann Arbor, Mich.

3:00 PM

Michigan

10-9, 1-0

Minnesota

10-9, 0-1

Minnesota

Michigan

Butler Ends 12-Inning Marathon Victory Over Minnesota

4/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior LF Matt Butler's (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) run-scoring single in the bottom of the 12th inning snapped a 3-3 tie and provided the University of Michigan baseball team with a 4-3 win over Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference opener Friday afternoon (April 2) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Butler did it ... with the bat ... in the bottom of the 12th.

The Wolverines (10-9, 1-0 Big Ten), collected the first conference-opening win for second-year head coach Rich Maloney. He had dropped both the regular-season opener at Iowa and the home opener to Minnesota a year ago.

The Wolverines grabbed the lead in the first inning against Minnesota's preseason All-America LHP Glen Perkins as sophomore 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) singled to left in his first Big Ten at-bat. Getz, a transfer from Wake Forest, stole second base and advanced to third on Butler's grounder to second. Junior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS), a transfer from Auburn, drove in Getz with an infield groundout in his first Big Ten at-bat.

Minnesota (10-9, 0-1 Big Ten) scored an unearned run off Michigan senior/junior RHP Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1 on a sacrifice fly by CF Sam Steidl. The defending Big Ten champion Golden Gophers used three doubles to take a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning, with 1B Andy Hunter and 3B David Hrncirik collecting back-to-back two-baggers to drive in the runs after DH Mike Mee started the rally. Minnesota had five doubles in the game.

The Butler-Bohm "tag team" brought the Wolverines back quickly in the contest. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Butler singled to extend his hit streak to seven games and Bohm blasted a long homer to left for the tie. It was Bohm's second homer of the season and his team-leading 13th extra-base hit. Butler and Bohm share the team lead with 19 RBI. The homer marked the last scoring for seven innings before Butler's heroics in the 12th.

Perkins, the 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, went nine innings and allowed nine hits and three runs in the no-decision.

Freshman RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS), the fifth pitcher of the afternoon for the Wolverines, collected his second win of the season. Hess (2-1) entered the game with two runners on and one out in the 11th inning and he retired all five batters he faced.

The Wolverines put runners in scoring position in the seventh on a Getz single and stolen base and in the 10th when Butler walked and stole second base, but Perkins and reliever Andy Peters got out of the mini jams until the final inning. Peters (0-1) took the loss. Getz and Butler share the team stolen base lead with seven each.

Junior RF Chris Burhans (Alpharetta, Ga./Marist School), sophomore shortstop Jeremy Goldschmeding (Allegan, Mich./Allegan HS) and freshman CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS) all extended hit streaks to six games during Friday's contest.

The Wolverines face Minnesota in a Big Ten doubleheader Saturday (April, 3, 1 p.m.). Senior RHP Bobby Garza (Southgate, Mich./Anderson HS), with a 2-1 record and a 6.45 ERA, will pitch in the opener and sophomore RHP Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS), with a 2-2 record and a 2.08 ERA, will throw the nightcap.

N O T E S

In other league-opening action Friday, Michigan State defeated Iowa 1-0 in 11 innings; Northwestern shut out Indiana 2-0; Purdue, the only road team to win, defeated Penn State 7-3; and Ohio State downed Illinois 5-1.

Junior/sophomore LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) worked four shutout innings and recorded two strikeouts in Friday's Big Ten-opening win vs. Minnesota. Hammond has pitched six consecutive scoreless innings, and in six outings this season -- his first action since 2002 -- has 13 strikeouts in 10.2 innings.

Matt Butler's game-winning single in the bottom of the 12th inning against Minnesota was his team-leading fifth "gamer" of the season and his third in five home games this season. Butler shares the team RBI lead at 19 with 1B Kyle Bohm.

Kyle Bohm has hits in 17 of the 19 games this season.

The last time Michigan won in extra innings was 5-4 at Ohio State last year (May 3, 2003) when Matt Butler drove in the winner in the eighth inning in the first game of the doubleheader in Columbus.

Michigan, 1-1 in extra innings in 2004, dropped a 5-4 game in 11 innings to Illinois-Chicago during the spring trip to Florida (Feb. 28).

Michigan's hitting leaders after 19 games are 1B Kyle Bohm at .427 (32-for-75), Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) at .392 (20-for-51), Jeremy Goldschmeding at .380 (19-for-50), Matt Butler at .371 (23-for-62), 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) at .368 (28-for-76), OF Eric Rose at .361 (13-for-36) and Brandon Roberts (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) at .317 (19-for-60).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423