Wolverines Slide Past Vikings on Kunkel Single in 14th

Wednesday, April 21

Ann Arbor, Mich.

3:00 PM

Michigan

19-14

Cleveland State

7-19

Cleveland State

Michigan

Wolverines Slide Past Vikings on Kunkel Single in 14th

4/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior/sophomore catcher Jeff Kunkel's (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) bases-loaded single with two outs in the bottom of the 14th inning provided the University of Michigan baseball team with a 2-1 win over Cleveland State in a non-conference baseball game Wednesday afternoon (April 21) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Kunkel's game-winner came 4:10 after the opening pitch.

The Wolverines (19-14) and Vikings (7-19) played the equivalent of a doubleheader, with nine pitchers -- six for Michigan and three for Cleveland State -- working in the game that started at 3:10 p.m. and ended at 7:20 p.m. There were several delays for lightning and rain as the game started 10 minutes late and was stopped twice later for a total of 56 minutes.

Junior RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Calif,/William S. Hart HS), the sixth Michigan pitcher, worked a 1-2-3 14th inning and collected his fourth win of the season.

The winning rally for the Wolverines came against LHP Ryan Dukovich (0-1) and started with a leadoff single by junior RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic), who moved around to third base on walks to junior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) and sophomore 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS).

With the bases loaded and no outs junior 2B Nick Rudden (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) and freshman LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) each hit a fly ball to rightfielder Mike Sikora, but due to the windy conditions the drives did not appear deep enough to score the winning run.

Kunkel, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning and was robbed of a game-winning hit by CSU 1B Jim Waller, singled to left on the first pitch he saw in the 14th. It was Kunkel's second game-winning hit of the season.

Cleveland State opened the scoring in the third inning off Wolverine starter freshman LHP Michael McCormick (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) on back-to-back singles by 2B Brian Lombardi and 3B Steven Chinn, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by catcher Dominic Erney.

The Wolverines tied the game in the fifth inning as freshman CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS) singled to deep short to drive in freshman SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) from third base to make the score 1-1. Mahler had singled with two outs and raced to third on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by starting pitcher Matt Kaltenbach.

Butler and Mahler were the only Wolverines with two hits in the 14-inning contest.

The Wolverines used three freshman pitchers -- McCormick, RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS) and RHP Dan Lentz (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice HS) -- to work the first nine innings. McCormick and Hess each fanned three batters and Lentz had two as each pitched three innings.

Junior/sophomore Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) worked the first three extra innings with junior/sophomore Ali Husain (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti HS) pitching the 13th and Tognetti the 14th.

Michigan heads to Columbus, Ohio, for a four-game Big Ten weekend series against Ohio State. The series opens Friday night (April 23, 6:35 p.m.) in Bill Davis Stadium.

N O T E S

Michigan has played six games 11 innings or longer this season with a 2-4 record in those games. The 2-1 win over Cleveland State lasted 4:10 (starting at 3:10 and ending at 7:20), but with rain and lightning delays the game officially lasted 3:14.

The last time Michigan played a 14-inning game the score was also 2-1, but it was a loss at Central Florida on March 10, 1990, with Bill Freehan as Michigan's coach.

Wednesday's 2-1 win over Cleveland State was the 49th win for head coach Rich Maloney (49-41) in his two seasons at Michigan. He is 305-185-1 in nine seasons as a head coach and is 1-0 vs. CSU. Michigan is 17-0 in the series vs. CSU's Vikings.

Wednesday's winning pitcher, Phil Tognetti has been a factor in four of the last five Michigan victories as he has collected wins at Iowa (April 11), at Central Michigan (April 14) and vs. Cleveland State (April 21) and saved the series opener against Illinois (April 16).

Sophomore 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) extended his overall hitting streak to a team season-high 12 games with a third-inning single against Cleveland State. He has a nine-game streak in Big Ten games.

Getz and CF Eric Rose played the first 12 innings before leaving the game to get to a class.

Michigan's leading hitters after 33 games include: 1B Kyle Bohm at .397 (50-for-126), Jeremy Goldschmeding (Allegan, Mich./Allegan HS) at .359 (33-for-92), Matt Butler at .339 (41-for-121), OF Eric Rose at .329 (26-for-79), Jeff Kunkel at .319 (29-for-91), Chris Getz at .318 (41-for-129), 3B A.J. Scheidt at .316 (42-for-133) and Brandon Roberts (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) at .314 (32-for-102).