Murray, Michigan Down Northwestern in Big Ten Opener

Friday, March 31

Ann Arbor, Mich.

3:05 PM

Michigan

12-7, 1-0

Northwestern

3-16, 0-1

Northwestern

Michigan

3/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South HS) made his first Big Ten start memorable as he pitched a nine-hit, nine-inning complete game as the University of Michigan baseball team defeated Northwestern 6-2 in the conference opener Friday afternoon (March 31) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

The win was Michigan's seventh straight victory and ninth in the last 10 games. The game was played during mostly sunny conditions after a day that had a wet beginning and later featured postgame early-evening heavy showers.

Murray (3-1) made his fourth start of the season and just the seventh of his career and he was facing a "hometown" team in Northwestern. The Wildcats (3-16, 0-1 Big Ten) scored twice on four hits in the top of the first, but Murray settled down and threw eight shutout innings, allowing just five more hits, as he recorded his team-leading third win of the season.

After giving up the two runs in the first Murray yielded a leadoff single in the second inning and then retired eight straight and 15 of the next 16 Wildcats, allowing the Wolverine offense to score six runs and take command of the game.

Sophomore 1B Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) doubled in the second inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) to cut the NU lead to 2-1.

The Wolverines (12-7, 1-0 Big Ten) tied the game in the third inning on consecutive singles by junior SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) and sophomore DH Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) and a sac fly by fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest).

VanBuskirk and Scheidt opened the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles to put runners on second and third, and VanBuskirk scored the eventual winning run on a groundout by freshman 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi). Junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) made the score 4-2 with a sacrifice fly. Michigan had three sac flies in the first four innings.

Michigan added the final two runs of the afternoon in the fifth inning as catcher Kunkel singled and advanced to second on a fielding error. Kunkel scored as sophomore RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) drilled his first career triple off the fence in right. Pickens scored on an infield grounder by senior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) and the score was 6-2.

Murray pitched out of a bases-loaded jam with one out on the seventh inning, getting his sixth strikeout and a groundout to end the rally. He recorded his career-high seventh strikeout in the ninth. He leads the Wolverines with 22 strikeouts.

Pickens and VanBuskirk each had two hits to pace the nine-hit attack for the Wolverines vs. Northwestern.

Michigan hosts Northwestern in a Big Ten doubleheader on Saturday (April 1) with fifth-year senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio, Mason) at 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA slated to start the opener. The second game starter for the Wolverines will be either fifth-year senior LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) at 1-2 with a 7.08 ERA or sophomore/freshman RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) at 1-0, 3.38 ERA.

N O T E S

Catcher Jeff Kunkel extended his hitting streak to six games with his fifth-inning single that led to the tying run, while RF Doug Pickens and 3B A.J. Scheidt each extended streaks to five games during Friday's Big Ten opener.

Michigan jumped into first place in the Big Ten with the 6-2 win over Northwestern. The other first-day winners included Michigan State with a 17-7 win over Indiana, Illinois with a 9-7 win over Purdue, Ohio State with a 12-5 at Iowa, and Penn State, which scored five in the ninth to beat Minnesota in the Metrodome, 7-3. Michigan, Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State are all 1-0, while Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Purdue are 0-1.

U-M head coach Rich Maloney evened his record in Big Ten home openers with the win over Northwestern. Maloney is 2-2 in home Big Ten openers with wins over NU (2006) and Minnesota (2004) and losses to Iowa (2005) and Minnesota (2003). He is also 2-2 in Big Ten overall openers as well, with the wins over NU (2006) and Minnesota (2004) as overall openers and losses at Iowa (2003) and Minnesota (2005).

Michigan's leading hitters after 19 games are: SS Leif Mahler (26-for-68, 382), OF Doug Pickens (22-for-65, .338), 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (20-for-60, .333), CF Eric Rose (18-for-55, .327), OF Mike Schmidt (11-for-35, .314), C Jeff Kunkel (20-for-64, 313), 1B/OF Derek VanBuskirk (20-for-64, 313) and 3B A.J. Scheidt (18-for-61, 295).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423