Butler, Bohm and Brauer Pace U-M Over Illinois-Chicago

Saturday, February 26

Port St. Lucie, Fla.

2:00 PM

Michigan

2-0

Illinois-Chicago

0-5

Michigan

Illinois-Chicago

Butler, Bohm and Brauer Pace U-M Over Illinois-Chicago

2/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Seniors Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) and Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) sparked the University of Michigan's offense and senior RHP Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) pitched the first five innings to collect the win as the Wolverines topped Illinois-Chicago 11-4 in collegiate baseball action Saturday afternoon (Feb. 26) at the New York Mets spring training complex.

The Wolverines (2-0) collected 15 hits in the win and have 31 hits in the first two games of the season vs. UIC (0-5).

CF Butler opener the game with a double off UIC starter Ryan Zink (0-2) and with two outs Bohm drilled a single to left for a 1-0 lead.

Michigan scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning to push the lead to 4-0 as junior 3B Alex Martin (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) doubled down the third-base line for his first hit as a Wolverine. With two outs junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) drew a walk and the power-hitting Bohm hit a slow roller between short and third. UIC SS Jeff Gremley threw the ball down the rightfield line for an error as Martin and Getz scored with Bohm moving all the way to third base on the play. Moments later junior DH A.J. Scheidt (West Bloomfield, Mich., Lahser HS) singled to drive in Bohm.

Brauer (1-0) fanned seven in his five innings of work and was touched for two two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth inning that cut the Michigan lead in half, 4-2. UIC 3B Bryan Russo and DH Ted Rosinski collected the run-scoring singles for the Flames.

Michigan used a six-run rally in the seventh inning to put away the game as Butler collected his second double of the game to start the frame against UIC lefty reliever Tom Szalewski. Following an error that put runners on the corners, Getz, Bohm and Scheidt followed with RBI singles to make the score 7-2, and junior/sophomore catcher Matt Rademacher (Bay City, Mich., Central HS) blasted a three-run pinch-hit homer to make the score 10-2.

Senior/junior Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College), who replaced Brauer on the mound in the sixth inning, allowed two runs on five hits in three innings of work, his first action since losing a start to the same Flames last season. Taylor, Michigan's top pitcher in 2003 when he was 9-1 and earned All-Big Ten first team honors, was limited to just 4.1 innings a year ago with his 0-2 mark in two outings.

The Wolverines finished the scoring in the top of the ninth inning as junior OF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) opened the inning with a pinch walk and scored on a two-out double by sophomore SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep).

Sophomore LHP Michael McCormick (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) allowed one hit in working a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.

Butler had three hits in the win, while Bohm, Scheidt and sophomore LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) each had two hits. Sophomore OF Larry Gempp Jr. led UIC's 13-hit attack with a 4-for-5 effort, and 1B Mark Hallberg was 2-for-4 with a run-scoring triple.

The Wolverines and the Flames will attempt to complete the three-game weekend series in Florida on Sunday (Feb. 27) with a single game slated for the Mets complex at noon. Senior/junior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS), a third team All-Big Ten selection in 2004 with a 5-1 record with a 3.82 ERA, is U-M's scheduled starter.

N O T E S

Senior RHP Jim Brauer had seven strikeouts while collecting the 15th win of his Wolverine career (15-12). Brauer, who has won four straight starts over the past two seasons, is 9-1 since starting out 0-2 in 2004. In Saturday's (Feb. 26) 11-4 win over UIC Brauer recorded strikeouts to end each of the five innings and he struck out the side in the fourth. With three fielding assists on "1-3" grounders, Brauer accounted directly for 10 of the 15 outs in his five innings.

Senior RF Matt Butler, who opened Saturday's win with a double and scored the first run of Michigan's 11-4 win, has collected three doubles in the first two games of the year.

Junior/sophomore catcher Matt Rademacher's three-run pinch hit homer against UIC in the second game of the season was his first career round-tripper and Michigan's first pinch hit homer since Matt Butler's blast at Florida in the second game in 2004.

With a run-scoring single in the seventh inning 2B Chris Getz extended his hitting streak to 10 games over the past two seasons. He has hits in 38 of his last 41 games.

Brandon Roberts, captain of the 2004 Michigan baseball team, was at the Michigan-UIC game Saturday (Feb. 26) at Port St. Lucie, Fla. Also on hand for the weekend series was Gail Wright, mother of former Wolverine baseball captain Nate Wright (earned letters 1999, 2001-03) and current UIC freshman pitcher Zach Wright.

Michigan's leading hitters after the first two games include catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) at .600 (3-for-5), followed by 1B Kyle Bohm (5-for-9, .556), OF Matt Butler (4-for-9, .444), 2B Chris Getz (4-for-9, .444), DH A.J. Scheidt (4-for-9, 444) along with freshman OF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich., Brother Rice) at .444 (4-for-9).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423