Wolverines Rap 16 Hits, Beat Flames in Season Opener
2/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The University of Michigan pounded 16 hits and beat Illinois-Chicago 7-5 in the baseball opener played Friday afternoon (Feb. 25) at the New York Mets training complex. The game had been scheduled for Friday evening but was moved up due to bad weather.
The opening win was the first at Michigan for third-year head coach Rich Maloney and the first season-opening win for the Wolverines since beating Western Michigan in 2001.
The Wolverines (1-0) used a five-run third inning to spark the win and a solid five-inning start by senior RHP Michael Penn (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian HS). Penn fanned five while allowing two runs on four hits as he recorded his 11th career victory.
The Wolverines scored five times in the third inning on six hits as junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) singled to drive in the tying run and junior DH A.J. Scheidt (West Bloomfield, Mich./Lahser HS) gave Michigan its first lead of the season with a two-run single moments later.
Junior 3B Alex Martin (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS), in his first game as a Wolverine, knocked in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly and senior/junior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) drove in a run with the sixth hit of the inning.
The Wolverines closed out the scoring with two runs in the fifth inning as Scheidt, who was making his 62nd consecutive start, doubled to open the rally. Martin was hit by a pitch and Kunkel dumped a single to left to load the bases, and junior CF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) stroked a two-out single to center, pushing the lead to 7-2.
Junior RHP Jeff Niemiec (Livonia, Mich./Catholic Central) worked 2.1 scoreless innings in relief and senior/junior LHP Ali Husain (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti HS) worked the ninth inning to collect the save, recording a strikeout to end the game with the tying runs on base.
Freshman LF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice), "Mr. Baseball" as a high school senior a year ago, collected his first career hit and the first Wolverine hit of 2005 with a first-inning single. Pickens, Getz and senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) all had three hits in the opener for the Wolverines.
UIC LF Bart Babineaux had three hits to lead the Flames and he drove in two runs, and UIC starter Jason Foster (0-2) pitched five innings in the loss.
With bad weather in the forecast the Wolverines and the Flames will attempt to play two games on Saturday (Feb. 26) with the first game slated for the Mets complex at 2 p.m. The doubleheader would replace the single games slated for Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 26-27).
Maloney announced that fifth-year senior RHP Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), the only Wolverine still on the roster the last time the Wolverines won a season opener (2001), and senior/junior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) will be the Saturday starting pitchers. Brauer was 7-3 with a 4.27 ERA in 2004, while Hammond was 5-1 with a 3.82 ERA.
N O T E S
Senior 1B Kyle Bohm has first-inning singles in each of his two season openers with the Wolverines.
Senior RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) started Michigan's five-run third inning with a double, the first Wolverine extra-base hit of the season.
Junior 3B Alex Martin, making his first start as a Wolverine after transferring from Detroit Mercy when the Titans dropped the baseball program, was hit by pitches twice and hit a sac fly in his first three plate appearances as a Wolverine.
Michigan's leading hitters after the season opener include catcher Jeff Kunkel (2-for-3, .667), 1B Kyle Bohm (3-for-5, .600), 2B Chris Getz (3-for-5, .600), LF Doug Pickens (3-5, .600) and DH A.J. Scheidt (2-for-5, .400).
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Penn, Michael (1-0)
L: Jason Foster (0-2)
S: Husain, Ali (1)
Batting:
2B: Jeff Gremley 1
RBI: Bryan Russo 1 ; Bart Babineaux 2 ; Mike Bruszer 1
SH: Bryan Nolte 1
SF: Mike Bruszer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Larry Gempp Jr. 1 ; Mark Hallberg 1 ; Bryan Russo 1 ; Jeff Gremley 1 ; Mike Bruszer 1
SB: Larry Gempp Jr. 1 ; Bart Babineaux 1
CS: Larry Gempp Jr. 1 ; Bart Babineaux 1
HBP: Jeff Gremley 1 ; Bryan Nolte 1

Batting:
2B: Butler, Matt 1 ; Scheidt, A.J. 1
RBI: Getz, Chris 1 ; Scheidt, A.J. 2 ; Martin, Alex 1 ; Kunkel, Jeff 1 ; Schmidt, Mike 2
SF: Martin, Alex 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Butler, Matt 1 ; Pickens, Doug 1 ; Getz, Chris 1 ; Bohm, Kyle 1 ; Scheidt, A.J. 2 ; Martin, Alex 1
SB: Getz, Chris 1
HBP: Martin, Alex 2 ; Kunkel, Jeff 1