Butler, Mahler Provide Late Heroics for Sweep of EMU

Wednesday, May 4

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:05 PM

Michigan

27-12

Eastern Michigan

15-28

Eastern Michigan

Michigan

5/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ray Fisher Stadium)
Scores: Michigan 9, Eastern Michigan 1; Michigan 6, Eastern Michigan 5 (8 innings)
Records: U-M (28-12), EMU (15-29)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 7 -- vs. Purdue (Ray Fisher Stadium), 6:35 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team won its fourth doubleheader of the season using late game heroics off the bench from regulars senior OF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) and sophomore SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) to win the second game 6-5 in extra innings after taking the first game 9-1 Wednesday (May 4) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Rademacher had a double and his second career home run in the 9-1 first-game victory.

The sweep pushes Michigan's (28-12) winning streak to nine games with wins in 10 of the last 11 games, while the visiting Eagles from Eastern Michigan drop to 15-29 on the season.

Butler, who missed his first two starts of the season, stroked his team-leading fifth home run of the season leading off the bottom of the seventh as a pinch-hitter. Butler's drive over the wall in right tied the game at 5-5 and sent the game into extra innings. The pinch homer was the third of the year for the Wolverines and it was Butler's second career pinch homer.

Junior RHP Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS) pitched three scoreless innings as he kept the Wolverines close pitching the sixth and seventh and he worked the eighth after Butler's homer and was on hand to earn his sixth win of the year.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth senior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) beat out an infield single and moved to third on a single to right by senior/junior DH Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS). The hit was Kunkel's third of the second game and put runners on first and third. Junior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) drew an intentional walk to load the bases and set the stage for shortstop Mahler.

Mahler, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the inning to replace Butler, saw one pitch in the doubleheader and he lined it to left-center for the "walk-off" game-winning RBI. It was the second "walk-off" single for the Wolverines in the last three games at Fisher Stadium including the 7-6 win over Michigan State on a Butler single last Saturday night (April 30).

The opening win was less dramatic as the first six Wolverines scored in the first inning and senior RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Calif./William S. Hart HS) had his best outing of the season, working five innings and allowing one run on four hits. The win for Tognetti (1-0) was his 11th career win as a Wolverine.

The six-run first-inning rally included three walks with the winning run scoring on a throwing error, and a run-scoring single by junior SS Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS), a two-run bases-loaded double by Schmidt and a run-scoring single by junior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) drove in the other runs.

Junior/sophomore catcher Matt Rademacher (Bay City, Mich./Central HS) provided power for the Wolverines in the opener with a run-scoring double in the third inning and a solo homer in the fifth. The homer was his second of the year. Rademacher has one of the three pinch homers of the year (against UIC in Florida) and Schmidt has one (vs. Central Connecticut State in Texas) and Butler (vs. EMU in the second game of the doubleheader) has the other.

The Wolverines had excellent bullpen action in the twinbill with sophomore/freshman LHP Clayton Richard (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon HS) working a 1-2-3 sixth inning and junior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) getting a pair of strikeouts as he closed out the opener in his first outing of the season.

The Eagles touched up second-game starter Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS) for three runs in the first inning of game two on a three-run homer by RF Ryan Arnett and they added two more runs in the third inning. Arnett has seven homers on the season and he knocked in four of the five EMU runs in the game.

After EMU chased Hess after two batters in the third inning, the Wolverine bullpen kicked in again as senior/junior LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, and Feldkamp matched it with three scoreless innings of his own.

The Wolverines scored once in the first inning of game two as leadoff hitter CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS) singled and eventually scored on a two-out single by Kunkel. Michigan scored three times in the fourth on a sac fly by Getz and a two-run single by Kunkel that cut the EMU lead to 5-4. The score remained 5-4 until Butler's dramatic pinch homer sent the game into extra innings.

Sophomore OF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./River School) paced the Wolverines with four hits in the doubleheader with two in each game, while Kunkel had three hits in the nightcap. Getz, Schmidt and Rademacher had two hits each in the opener, while Rose had two hits in game two.

Michigan hosts Purdue in the first game of the four-game Big Ten weekend on Saturday (May 7) with the starting time changed to 6:35 p.m. EDT (from 4:05 p.m.). The series runs Saturday through Monday due to final exams at Purdue.

Senior Jim Brauer (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) is listed as the Wolverine starting pitcher in the series opener with his 6-1 record and 2.21 ERA.

N O T E S

Catcher Jeff Kunkel had his team-leading and career-best hitting streak snapped at 11 games in the opener vs. EMU on Wednesday (May 4), but he bounced back with three hits in the nightcap.

The pinch homer by senior Matt Butler was the first for a Wolverine at Fisher Stadium since Eric Esper hit a pinch round tripper vs. Bowling Green on April 3, 2001, in a 16-4 Wolverine win in the second game of a doubleheader.

The start by senior RHP Phil Tognetti in the opener vs. EMU on Wednesday (May 4) was his 62nd career appearance. He ranks seventh in career pitching appearances by a Wolverine.

Michigan's leading hitters after 40 games are: 2B Chris Getz (60-for-146, .411), 1B Kyle Bohm (58-for-150, .387), catcher Jeff Kunkel (43-for-113, .381), OF Matt Butler (56-for-152, .368), 3B/DH Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair HS) at .328 (20-for-61, 317), OF Brad Roblin (30-for-96, .313), OF Eric Rose (25-for-82, 305) and 3B A.J. Scheidt (35-for-119, .294).