Offense Pounds Out 19 Hits; Putnam Beats Ohio State

Friday, April 14

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:35 PM

Michigan

17-12, 5-4

Ohio State

20-8, 6-3

Ohio State

Michigan

4/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) made his first Big Ten start a winner as the Wolverines defeated league-leading Ohio State 14-3 in college baseball action in the first night game of the season at Friday (April 14) at Ray Fisher Stadium..The Wolverines scored five runs in the second inning and held an 11-1 lead after six innings

Putnam (2-0), who missed his start at Minnesota last weekend when he pitched the final two innings of the 8-6 comeback win for his first career save, worked 7.1 innings against Ohio State (20-8, 6-3 Big Ten), allowing eight hits and one run. Putnam, who dropped his ERA to 2.66, had two strikeouts in the game and they both came with two outs and runners in scoring position and fired up the crowd of 1,451.

The Wolverines (17-12, 5-4 Big Ten) jumped into a tie for third place in the conference standings with Purdue, while OSU fell into second place behind Northwestern.

Michigan scored five times in the second against OSU starter Dan DeLucia (5-2) with sophomore RF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) hitting a double to right-center for the first Wolverine hit. With one out, fifth-year senior DH Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) dropped a bunt single down the third base line with VanBuskirk taking third on the play. Senior co-captain A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) singled to give the Wolverines the lead at 1-0, and senior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) followed with a run-scoring double.

Junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) singled to make the score 4-0 and advanced to second on the throw from the outfield, stole third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher for the fifth run. Rose leads the team with 14 stolen bases.

OSU scored in the fourth with a double by SS Jedidiah Stephen followed by singles from DH Cody Caughenbaugh and RF Wes Schirtzinger (RBI) to make the score 5-1 with one out, but Putnam retired the next two batters on flyouts to end the threat.

U-M scored twice in the fifth with sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) driving in the first run with a single and sophomore 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) driving in the other run with a double.

The Wolverines chased DeLucia in the sixth inning as Scheidt walked and Schmidt blasted his team-leading sixth homer of the year to make the score 9-1. Junior SS Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) hit a single as the last batter faced by DeLucia, and Recknagel had his second RBI double in two innings and VanBuskirk's RBI single made it 11-1 after six innings.

Rose, Mahler and Pickens drove in runs in the seventh inning to close out the scoring for Michigan. OSU scored twice in the ninth inning against Wolverine senior LHP Ali Husain (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti).
 
Kunkel, Mahler and Scheidt each had three hits to account for nine of Michigan's 19 hits against Ohio State.

The Wolverines host Ohio State in a Big Ten doubleheader on Saturday (April 15, 4:05 p.m.) at Ray Fisher Stadium with fifth-year senior Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) with a 1-3 record and a 4.23 ERA slated for the opener and sophomore/freshman RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) at 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA listed for the second game.

N O T E S

Former Wolverine All-Big Ten pitcher Scott Kamieniecki (1983-86), who was 21-6 (.778) in his career as a Wolverine, was on hand to throw out the first pitch before Friday's series opener vs. Ohio State. Kamieniecki threw a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts against Cleveland State in his first start as a Wolverine and shared a no-hitter with freshman Jim Abbott when he was a senior. The Wolverines were 195-57 in Kamieniecki's four seasons, winning three Big Ten titles and three Big Ten Tournament championships and playing in the College World Series twice (1983 and 1984). He was a member of the 1985 team that set the Michigan record for wins in a season with 55.

In Big Ten baseball action Friday afternoon Indiana beat Purdue 8-4 and Penn State topped Michigan State 10-9 in 10 innings. In action Friday night along with the U-M win over Ohio State it was Minnesota winning at Iowa 9-0, while the Northwestern game was a slugfest at Illinois as the Illini led 10-1 in the second inning, trailed 11-10, led 18-14, yet lost to the first-place Wildcats 19-18.

Big Ten Standings (Through 4/14/06)

 1. Northwestern 7-2 .778 2. Ohio State 6-3 .667 3. MICHIGAN 5-4 .556 Purdue 5-4 .556 5. Iowa 4-5 .444 Michigan State 4-5 .444 Minnesota 4-5 .444 Penn State 4-5 .444 9. Illinois 3-6 .333 Indiana 3-6 .333

Sophomore 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel extended his hitting streak to eight games and SS Leif Mahler moved his streak to seven games in the opener vs. Ohio State.

The Wolverines had 19 hits for the second game in a row and for the fourth time this season. U-M is 3-1 with 19 hits, having beaten Oakland 14-5, Central Michigan 19-4 and OSU 14-3, but losing to Toledo 10-9.

Fifth-year senior LHP Ali Husain made his 68th career appearances in the opener of Ohio State series. Husain is in sixth place on U-M's all-time pitching appearance list, just one behind former teammate Phil Tognetti (69, 2002-05) in fifth place.

The stolen base for Eric Rose, his 38th career steal, snapped his tie with Greg McMurtry (37, 1987-89) and Scott Timmerman (37, 1990-93) for 10th on Michigan's all-time steals list and he is just one behind Chris Sabo (39, 1981-83) in ninth.

Michigan's leading hitters after 29 games are: SS Leif Mahler (35-for-95, 368), CF Eric Rose (29-for-84, .345), 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (33-for-98, .337 , 2B/ OF Doug Pickens (34-for-104, .330)1B/OF Derek VanBuskirk (34-for-104, 327), C Jeff Kunkel (33-for-102, .324) and 3B A.J. Scheidt (26-for-92, .283).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423