Purdue's Late Homers Eliminate Michigan From Playoffs

Friday, May 27

Champaign, Ill.

12:05 PM CT

Michigan

41-17

Purdue

26-29

Purdue

Michigan

Purdue's Late Homers Eliminate Michigan From Playoffs

5/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Shortstop Mitch Hilligoss and CF Mike Coles hit back-to-back homers on the first two pitches of the ninth inning to snap a 7-7 tie and lead Purdue to a 9-7 win over the University of Michigan on Friday (May 27) afternoon at Illinois Field. The loss eliminated the Wolverines from the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.

The homers came off sophomore/freshman LHP Brad Seddon (St. Clair, Mich./St.Clair) after he had retired five batters in a row, allowing the Wolverines (41-17) to come back with six runs to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Wolverines played three of the most exciting games ever in Big Ten Tournament play, losing in 13 innings to Ohio State in the opener, scoring six late runs to beat Iowa 8-2 on Thursday (May 26), and scoring two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth to tie Purdue at 7-7 only to lose 9-7.

Trailing 7-1 heading to the seventh the Wolverines scored twice as sophomore shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) opened the inning with a double to left-center, his second two-base hit of the game, and sophomore CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS) was plunked with the next pitch. Junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) collected a bad-hop RBI single, and senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) collected his 62nd RBI of the year with a fielder's choice grounder to cut the Purdue lead to 7-3.

After a 1-2-3 eighth inning by Seddon (1-1), the Wolverines rallied again as singles by senior RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) and junior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) to open the inning chased Purdue starter Mitch Prumer and junior DH Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) drew a walk against reliever Trae Dauby to load the bases with no outs.

Mahler singled to right-center for his third hit of the game to cut Purdue's lead to 7-5, and it brought in another pitcher for Purdue, closer Chris Toneguzzi. With one out Getz hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-6 and sophomore LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./River School) tripled down the line in right to tie the score at 7-7.

However, the Purdue homers made the score 9-7, and Toneguzzi (2-2) collected the win, getting Scheidt to ground into a game-ending double play.

Michigan senior/junior LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College), making his first start in a Big Ten playoff game since beating Indiana in the 2003 opener at Minnesota, retired the Boilermakers in order in the first inning.

Wolverine junior 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) opened the first inning with a single but was quickly erased on a double play.

Purdue scored in the second inning on a two-out double by RF Neal Gorka and a single by 2B Eric Osborn with Gorka barely beating the throw from RF Butler to catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest).

The second-seeded Boilermakers scored three times in the top of the third on a two-run single by 1B Eric Wolfe followed by a single by John Hunter, and Wolfe scored as the ball eluded Roblin in left.

The Wolverines got on the scoreboard against starter Prumer as sophomore Mahler started the third inning with a double in the gap in right-center, and he moved to third on an infield grounder by CF Rose. Getz grounded the ball up the middle to score Mahler and he kept running and turned the hit into a double. Prumer stopped the rally by striking out Roblin and Kunkel while sandwiching a walk to 1B Bohm.

Taylor settled down until giving up a pair of singles in the sixth inning, but he did make a great diving catch of a bunt to close out his 5.1-inning stint. Senior RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Calif./William S. Hart HS) replaced Taylor and got the first batter he faced and then catcher Kunkel picked a runner off first to end the inning.

Purdue chased Tognetti in the seventh with LF Andy Dahl starting the rally with a double and 3B Dane Wolfe dropped a bunt that was thrown away for three bases as Dahl scored on the play. Mike Coles and DH John Hinter had run-scoring singles and sophomore/freshman Seddon retired the two batters he faced and the score was 7-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Scheidt, Getz and Mahler each had three hits in the playoff finale to pace the 13-hit Wolverine attack against Purdue. Scheidt and Getz were the top tournament hitters for the Wolverines as each was 8-for-15 for a .533 average.

The Wolverines will now have to wait to see if a 41-17 record with a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten regular season and quality wins over North Carolina, Georgia, Florida Atlantic, Notre Dame and Lamar is good enough to get an at-large bid into the 64-team NCAA Tournament. The NCAA field will be announced Monday (May 30) at 11:30 a.m. EDT on ESPN.

N O T E S

Senior RH Phil Tognetti added his 69th career pitching appearance during the loss to Purdue as he ranks fifth on U-M's all-time appearance list.

Senior/junior LHP Ali Husain and junior RHP Derek Feldkamp each made his 60th career appearance in the Purdue game. Husain and Feldkamp are tied for 11th place on the school's all-time list.

Michigan's leading hitters after 58 games are: catcher Jeff Kunkel (69-for-177, .390), 2B Chris Getz (84-for-216, .389), 1B Kyle Bohm (82-for-218, .376), OF Matt Butler (73-for-205, .356), 3B A.J Scheidt (53-for-179, .304) and OF Eric Rose (41-for-136, .295).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423