Butler, Feldkamp Help U-M Complete Weekend Sweep

Sunday, March 27

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:00 PM

Michigan

15-3

Oakland

1-13

Oakland University

Michigan

3/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior CF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) collected three more hits and junior RHP Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS) recorded his fourth win of the season as the University of Michigan beat Oakland 7-4 in collegiate baseball action Sunday (March 27) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

With the win the Wolverines have won nine straight for the first time since 1997, and the 15-3 start is the best since the 1985 team won its first 16 games of the year and had an 18-3 run to open the season.

Butler was 3-for-4 in the win for the Wolverines as he moved hit hitting streak to nine games. He has hits in 17 of the 18 games played this season. Butler, who leads the team with a .436 average (34-for-78), had 11 hits in the series vs. Oakland and reached base 11 consecutive at-bats over three games on Saturday and Sunday (March 26-27).

Feldkamp (4-0) allowed one hit and one run in his six innings as he lowered his ERA to 1.29 on the season.

The Wolverines scored once in the first inning as junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) collected his second game-winning RBI in a row. Butler opened the bottom of the first with his team-leading 10th double of the season, moved to third on a balk and scored as Getz hit a sacrifice fly.

Michigan added three runs on two hits in the second inning with Butler driving in a run with a bases-loaded walk and junior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) following with a two-run double just inside third base and down the line in left.

Oakland scored once off Feldkamp in the fourth inning and made the game close with two runs in the seventh inning off the U-M bullpen. UM senior RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Calif./William S. Hart HS), making his fourth appearance of the season and 56th of his career, shut the door in the seventh and Michigan added three runs in the eighth.

Senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) opened the eighth with a double, and senior/junior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) drove in a run with a pinch single. Kunkel was 4-for-8 in the series. Catcher Matt Rademacher (Bay City, Mich./Central HS) knocked in the sixth run with a sac fly and freshman RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) singled in the final run of the game for the Wolverines.

Oakland scored a run in the ninth as junior closer Jeff Niemiec (Livonia, Mich./Catholic Central HS) had an interesting inning. Niemiec allowed an earned run for the first time all season on three hits, but he struck out the side. Niemiec is 1-1 with a save and a 1.04 ERA.

The Wolverines head across town to face Eastern Michigan on Wednesday (March 30, 3 p.m.) in the final tune-up before opening Big Ten Conference play next weekend at Minnesota (April 1-3). The entire pitching staff will mostly likely see action against the EMU Eagles with sophomore RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS) making the start. Hess is 1-1 with a 6.48 after a 1-2-3 eighth inning Sunday vs. Oakland.

N O T E S

The four-game weekend sweep vs. Oakland combined with the three-game sweep at Ohio University last weekend (March 19-20) marks the first back-to-back weekend series sweeps for Michigan since 1988, when U-M took four from Ball State and then four against Northwestern.

OF Matt Butler was 11-16 (.688) for the weekend with a double, a triple and five RBI. His on-base percentage for the weekend series was .722 as he reached 13-for-18 with two walks. He reached base 11 consecutive at-bats (9-for-9 and two walks) in the series over three games after striking out in the first inning of the Saturday doubleheader and lining out to short in his last at-bat on Sunday.

Butler has a nine-game hitting streak, a seven-game streak of multiple-hit games and a three-game streak of three-hit games. He leads the team in hitting (.436), at-bats (78), runs (22), hits (34), doubles (10), triples (2), homers (3) and slugging (.731). He is second on the team with 21 RBI while batting leadoff.

Michigan's leading hitters after 18 games are OF Matt Butler (34-for-78, .436), 2B Chris Getz (28-for-67, .418), 1B Kyle Bohm (27-for-70, .386), catcher Jeff Kunkel (13-for-37, .351), OF Mike Schmidt (15-for-44, .341) and DH A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) at .333 (19-for-57).