Michigan
Indiana
Brauer, Penn Fire Complete Games in Sweep of Indiana
5/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ray Fisher Stadium)
Scores: Michigan 6, Indiana 2; Michigan 5, Indiana 2
Records: U-M (33-14, 12-11 Big Ten), Indiana (25-25, 8-18 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, May 15 -- DH vs. Indiana (Ray Fisher Stadium), noon
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior RHPs Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) and Michael Penn (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian) pitched complete games and sophomore LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./River School) made the catch of the season in one game and knocked in the winning run in the second game as the University of Michigan swept a Big Ten Conference baseball doubleheader from Indiana 6-2 and 5-2 Saturday afternoon (May 14) at Ray Fisher Stadium.
With the sweep the Wolverines (33-14, 12-11 Big Ten) kept hold of sixth place in the Big Ten standings and reached the .500 mark in the Big Ten for the first time this season. After opening conference play 1-8, Michigan has won 11 of 14 games in Big Ten action. In overall play the Wolverines have won 14 of the last 16 games. Indiana drops to 25-25 in overall action, 8-18 in the conference.
The complete-game wins by Brauer (7-2) and Penn (6-2) marked the first time the Wolverines have had a pair of complete-game wins in a doubleheader since Penn and Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS) tossed a pair of four-hit shutouts at Iowa last season.
Roblin saved a two-run homer in the ninth inning with a perfectly-time leap to spear the ball as it sailed over the fence, and in the second game his RBI single snapped a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning for his second game-winning RBI of the season and his fourth career "gamer."
The Wolverines took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning of the opener against IU starter Brian Lortz (2-7) as freshman RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) singled with one out and moved to third base on singles by junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) and sophomore CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS).
With the bases loaded senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) lined a two-run single to left-center, driving in RBI 100 and 101 in his two years as a Wolverine. The hit proved to be Bohm's team-leading sixth "gamer" of the season and the 12th of his career. Senior/junior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) followed with a run-scoring single and the score was 3-0.
Brauer became the first Wolverine to pitch nine innings in a game this season as he went the distance for the second time in 2005 and the seventh time in his career. Brauer, who had twice gone eight innings this season, was in control most of the game as he had four three-batter innings and four four-batter innings.
Brauer allowed two runs on three hits to the Hoosiers in the sixth inning that cut Michigan's lead to 3-2, but after LF Jay Brant's RBI single in the sixth he retired eight straight batters and allowed just two singles in the final 14 batters.
The Wolverines used doubles by junior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) and Getz mixed in with a single by sophomore SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) and a wild pitch to score two more runs in the sixth inning. The final run came in the seventh on a double by Roblin and a two-out error.
IU starter Matt Saba and U-M's Penn matched zeros for the first three innings of the nightcap before Indiana CF Reggie Watson smashed his first homer of the year over the fence in left for a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
The Wolverines used their "doubles attack" again to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth as Bohm doubled with one out and moved to third on a sharp single to right by Kunkel. Senior DH Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) doubled to right-center to drive in the tying run.
Pickens singled with one out in the fifth -- his third hit of the day -- and he scored from first as Getz drilled the sixth Wolverine double of the afternoon down the leftfield line.
With two outs and nobody on in the sixth inning the Hoosiers got back-to-back singles by Brant, who had four of the 13 IU hits on the day, and RF Joe Kemp, putting runners on first and third. Kemp broke for second and was picked off by Penn, but during the rundown Brant broke for home and scored on a bang-bang play as Getz fired to Kunkel.
The Wolverines answered in the bottom of the sixth as Kunkel collected his fourth hit of the game with a single off IU LHP Adam Poole (1-4). Butler moved Kunkel to second with a sacrifice bunt and reached first and Kunkel raced to third on a throwing error. Roblin singled to center to snap the 2-2 tie. With runners on first and second it was 3B Scheidt who moved the runners up with a sac bunt.
With pinch-runner Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) on third and Roblin on second with one out SS Mahler hit a fly to short right that was caught by Kemp. He fired the ball home to hold Schmidt at third, but the ball took a bad hop over the catcher and bounced into the stands for a throwing error that brought in the final two runs of the game.
Penn closed out the win in seventh inning, allowing a base-runner on a Mahler error at short, but the slick fielding shortstop started a 6-4-3 double play with Getz and Bohm to end the game.
Catcher Kunkel, who has hits in eight straight games and in 19 of the last 20, paced the 21-hit Wolverine attack in the doubleheader with four hits, two in each game. Getz, Bohm, Roblin and Pickens each had three hits on the day for U-M.
Michigan and Indiana close out the weekend series with a doubleheader Sunday (May 15) starting at noon. The first game will be a seven-inning game, with the second game, the fourth game of the weekend, slated for nine innings. The Sunday doubleheader was caused by the rainout on Friday night (May 13).
The starting pitchers for the Wolverines Sunday are scheduled to be senior/junior lefties Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) and Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario./Upper Canada College). Hammond is 3-3 with a 3.95 ERA and Taylor is 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA.
N O T E S
In other Big Ten action on Saturday (May 14) Michigan State and Purdue each won twice, with MSU sweeping Penn State 10-6 and 6-5. Iowa beat Purdue 10-7 in a game suspended by rain on Friday and the Boilermakers won the two games started on Saturday by scores of 8-7 and 4-3. Northwestern and Ohio State split two games with OSU winning the second game 10-2 after NU took the opener 9-6. Minnesota beat Illinois 5-4 in the opener while the second game was rained out and it will be made up as part of a Sunday doubleheader in Minneapolis.
Big Ten Standings (includes 5/14/05)
1. Illinois 19-7 .731 2. Iowa 16-11 .593 3. Purdue 13-10 .565 4. Ohio State 13-11 .542 5. Minnesota 14-12 .538 6. MICHIGAN 12-11 .522 7. Penn State 11-16 .407 Northwestern 11-16 .407 9. Michigan State 9-14 .391 10. Indiana 8-18 .308
With the nine-inning complete game win over Indiana and with six strikeouts, fifth-year RHP Jim Brauer added to his career milestone chase. Brauer ranks third in innings pitched as a Wolverine with 278.0 and ranks fifth in career strikeouts with 225. He moved into a five-way tie for eighth place in career wins (21).
Senior RHP Michael Penn pitched his third straight complete game, and he has eight career complete games.
Junior 2B Chris Getz with 23 stolen bases has the fifth-best single season total in U-M history, two shy of Mike Watters (25, 1985) in fourth. Getz has 38 steals in two seasons as a Wolverine and ranks ninth on the career stolen base list, one shy of Chris Sabo (39, 1981-83) for eighth.
Michigan's leading hitters after 47 games are: 2B Chris Getz (69-for-171, .404), catcher Jeff Kunkel (54-for-135, .400), Kyle Bohm (67-for-174, .385), OF Matt Butler (64-for-169, .379), 3B A.J. Scheidt (43-for-140, .307), 3B/DH Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) at .300 (21-for-70) and OF Eric Rose (31-for-104, 298).
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
