Wolverine Pitching Trio Shuts Out George Washington

Friday, March 17

Rock Hill, S.C.

12:30 PM

Michigan

5-6

George Washington

4-12

George Washington

Michigan

3/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- The University of Michigan baseball team scored once in the first inning and twice in the fifth to beat George Washington 3-0 on a combined five-hit, 10-strikeout shutout performance Friday afternoon (March 17) in the first game of the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by Winthrop University.

Freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS), making his first career start for the Wolverines, allowed one hit and recorded four strikeouts before reaching his pitch limit after four innings, while fifth-year senior Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) and sophomore/freshman RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) closed out the shutout.

Hammond (1-2) earned credit for his 10th career win and Fetter notched his first career save in the first shutout for U-M since early last season (March 25, 2005) against Oakland University. The three pitchers (Putnam 4, Hammond 1 and Fetter 5) matched the team season strikeout best of 10 at Georgia Southern (March 4).

Putnam recorded his first career strikeout by getting the leadoff hitter 2B Mickey Shupin swinging, and he retired the first eight batters he faced before issuing back-to-back walks with two outs in the third inning. However, he fanned LF Whitey Wallace for his fourth strikeout to end the frame.

The Wolverines grabbed a 1-0 in the first inning as junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) beat out a bunt down the third base line for his sixth consecutive hit. He stole both second and third for his fifth and sixth stolen bases of the year. Rose scored on an infield grounder by sophomore RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice). Pickens leads U-M with 12 RBI, and it was his second "gamer" of the year.

GWU starter LHP Dan Pfau (1-3) settled down and retired 11 straight after the Rose leadoff bunt single before sophomore DH Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) doubled to right-center with two outs in the fourth. Pfau retired junior SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) on a fly to center to end the inning.

GWU SS Michael Parker collected the first hit for the Colonials off Putnam with one out in the fourth, and he stole second base and reached third on a grounder to short as he was attempting to steal third. Putnam retired GWU DH Chris Marsicano on a grounder to 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Lahser HS) to end the inning still leading 1-0.

Co-captain Hammond replaced Putnam in the fifth inning and gave up a leadoff single to RF Gavin Swanson, but Scheidt caught a foul bunt that was popped up to the right of home plate and caught a Colonial line drive for the first two outs, and Hammond retired leadoff hitter Shupin on a fly to Rose in center to end the inning.

The Wolverines scored twice in the fifth inning as sophomore 1B Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) led off with a single. With one out VanBuskirk stole second base, and he moved to third on a line-drive single to left by fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest).

With freshman 2B Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) at the plate, Kunkel and VanBuskirk pulled off a double steal with Kunkel taking third on a throwing error to the plate by SS Parker. Christian put down a squeeze bunt to plate Kunkel and make the score 3-0.

Hammond retired the first two batters in the sixth but injured his leg covering first base on 3-1 play and he was replaced by Fetter. Fetter walked SS Parker but got the final out on a foul pop to catcher Kunkel.

Swanson singled to center with one out in the seventh inning for his second hit of the game, and he stole second base. On the next play 3B Doug Eisen hit a sharp grounder to the left of U-M 3B Scheidt. The U-M co-captain scooped up the ball and caught Swanson off the bag at second and retired him on a 5-4-6 play with SS Mahler making the tag. Fetter got a flyout to end the seventh inning.

Fetter recorded four of his career-best five strikeouts in the last two innings to record his first career save. Fetter has seven strikeouts in 11 innings of work and he dropped his ERA to 4.09.

The Wolverines used their "short game" in the win with five stolen bases and two bunts to help account for all three runs in the game. Rose and VanBuskirk each had two steals and Kunkel had one. Rose leads the team with six stolen bases and has 30 for his career.

VanBuskirk, who has seven hits in the past four games (7-for-14, .500), was the only Wolverine with more than one hit against George Washington. He has jumped his batting average to .265 (9-for-34) after a slow start.

Michigan's next game is Saturday (March 18) against host Winthrop in the second day of the Coca-Cola Classic, with senior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) listed as the tentative starter with his 2-0 record and team-leading 1.98 ERA.

N O T E S

When CF Eric Rose, making his 100th career start,  led off the game with a bunt single it was his sixth consecutive hit. Rose was coming off a 5-for-6 game in the win over Pacific last Sunday (March 12) in Waco, Texas, when he finished the game with five straight singles.

In 2004, the last time the Wolverines played in the Coca-Cola Classic at Winthrop, Michigan's current pitching coach Bob Keller was in the opposing dugout as the pitching coach when U-M beat Birmingham Southern.

The combined shutout by RHP Zach Putnam, LHP Paul Hammond and RHP Chris Fetter was the first shutout by the Wolverines since Jim Brauer and Clayton Richard combined to blank Oakland University 10-0 at Fisher Stadium last season (March 25, 2005).

Co-captain Paul Hammond has been the winning pitcher in each of the last two neutral-site combined shutouts for the Wolverines. The previous combined neutral-site shutout was March 13, 2005, when Derek Feldkamp, Hammond and senior RHP Jeff Niemiec (Livonia, Mich./Catholic Central HS) topped Central Connecticut State by a 9-0 score in tournament action hosted by Lamar in Beaumont, Texas.

A.J. Scheidt and Leif Mahler had hit streaks snapped at six games in the George Washington game. Wolverines with hits in the last two games are CF Eric Rose, C Jeff Kunkel and 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel.

Michigan's leading hitters after 11 games are: 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (11-for-31, .355), SS Leif Mahler (14-for-40, 350), CF Eric Rose (15-for-45, .333), RF Doug Pickens (14-for-42, .333) and 3B A.J. Scheidt (9-for-33, .273)

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423