Nine-Run Fifth Inning Powers St. John's Past Wolverines

Tuesday, March 1

Boca Raton, Fla.

2:00 PM

Michigan

3-1

St. John's

3-4

St. John's

Michigan

Nine-Run Fifth Inning Powers St. John's Past Wolverines

3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Big East power St. John's scored nine runs in the fifth inning, seven after two outs, to snap a 6-6 tie in an eventual 17-12 win over the University of Michigan in college baseball action Tuesday afternoon (March 1) on Florida Atlantic's "B" Field. LHP Justin Muir (1-1), the second of six pitchers for St. John's (3-4), worked 2.1 innings to collect the win over the Wolverines (3-1).

The Red Storm jumped to a 6-1 lead in the top of the third inning on a three-run homer by Blake Hershelman, the first batter faced by Wolverine sophomore Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS).

Michigan battled back to tie the game at 6-6 to get starter Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio, Mason HS) off the hook, but Hess (0-1), the second of seven Wolverine pitchers, walked the leadoff batter in the fifth inning and St. John's scored nine times in the inning facing four Wolverine hurlers.

Key hits for the Red Storm in the winning rally included a two-run single for the "gamer" by LF Will Vogl that snapped the 6-6 tie, a two-run single by catcher Joe Burke, a run-scoring single by Hershelman and a three-run homer by CF Greg Thomson. Burke and Hershelman paced St. John's with four RBI while Thomson had three. St. John's leadoff hitter 3B Jim Martin was 3-for-3 with three walks and a hit by a pitch, reaching base seven times in seven plate appearances.

Senior co-captain Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) and junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) each had three hits to pace the 13-hit Wolverine attack. Michigan's 12-run total was more than the opponents run total (10) in the first three games, but not enough for a win vs. St. John's.

Butler, who scored three times, collected his team-leading fourth double to drive in a run in the fourth inning, and he stroked a two-run homer in the seventh inning to close out the Michigan scoring for the day. It was his fifth career homer.

Getz had a 3-for-4 game that included a run-scoring single to drive in Butler with the tying run at 6-6 in the bottom of the fourth. With his third multiple-hit game of the season and the 45th of his career, Getz extended his hitting streak to 12 games over the past two seasons. Getz has hits in 40 of his last 43 games.

After hitting just one homer in the first three games, the Wolverines hit three homers against St. John's with freshman 3B Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair HS) collecting his first round tripper in the third inning with his first career hit while making his first start. Senior/junior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) homered in the fifth inning and Butler hit his in the seventh inning.

Senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) and junior CF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) each had two hits including a double in the loss.

The Michigan defense that had sparkled during the first three games came up short in the St. John's game as the Wolverines made four errors and the Red Storm took advantage of eight walks, five hit batters, three wild pitches and a balk. Only nine of the 17 runs allowed by the Wolverines were earned runs and nine of the runs were scored by players reaching base on "free passes" that included six walks, two HBPs and one of the errors.

The Wolverines face East Carolina in first-round action of the Keith LeClair Invitational in the first game ever played in Clark-LeClair Stadium on Friday (March 4, 11 a.m.) in Greenville, N.C. The Wolverines will face top 10 foes Georgia (March 5) and North Carolina (March 6) to close out spring trip action.

Senior RHP Michael Penn (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian) is the probable starter for the Wolverines with a 1-0 record and a 3.60 ERA after working five innings to beat UIC in the season opener (Feb. 25) in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

N O T E S

 Ray E. "Buzz" Newton, who played for legendary Wolverine coach Ray Fisher and helped establish the Newton Family Scholarship for Baseball, was on hand for Tuesday's game vs. St. John's in Boca Raton, Fla. The scholarship this season is in the name of 2B Chris Getz and he was 3-for-4 in the game.

 Junior A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) had his streak of consecutive starts snapped at 64 when he didn't start vs. St. John's. The streak included the final game of 2003, all 60 games in 2004 and the first three of 2005. The new active leader is senior OF Matt Butler with 59 straight starts, followed by senior 1B Kyle Bohm (50) and junior 2B Chris Getz (46).

 The Wolverines used seven pitchers in the loss to St. John's and three of the seven were redshirt freshmen making career debuts, including RHP Steve Boge (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Mt. Pleasant HS), LHP Matt Petry (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) and LHP Brad Seddon (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair HS).

 Freshman 3B Derek VanBuskirk became the third player to collect his first career hit as a Wolverine this season with his two-run homer in the third inning vs. St. John's. The other first-hit Wolverines this season are freshman OF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice), who had the first Michigan hit of the season in the opener vs. UIC, and junior transfer 3B Alex Martin (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS), who doubled vs. UIC for his first hit.

 Senior RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Cailf./William S. Hart HS) pulled into a tie for 15th on Michigan's all-time pitching appearance list as he made his second outing of the season and the 54th of his career Tuesday vs. St. John's. He is tied with Brian Steinbach (54 appearances, 1995-98) and Tim Karazim (54, 1980, '82-83). Tognetti needs five more appearances to move into Michigan's top 10.

 Three Wolverines extended hitting streaks to include all four games this season during the loss to St. John's on Tuesday (March 1) including OF Matt Butler, 2B Chris Getz and 1B Kyle Bohm. Freshman OF Doug Pickens (0-for-4) and junior A.J. Scheidt (0-for-1) as a pinch hitter had streaks stopped at three games. Senior/junior catcher Jeff Kunkel extended his streak to three games in three starts.

 Michigan's leading hitters after the first four games include 2B Chris Getz (9-for-16, .562), 1B Kyle Bohm (8-for-18, .444), catcher Jeff Kunkel (4-for-9, .444), OF Matt Butler (8-for-19, .421), OF Mike Schmidt (3-for-8, .375) and DH A.J. Scheidt (5-for-14, 357).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423