Broom Town: Michigan Completes Series Sweep of OSU

Sunday, April 16

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:05 PM

Michigan

20-12, 8-4

Ohio State

20-11, 6-6

Ohio State

Michigan

4/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior OF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) drove in a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning and caught the final out in the top of the ninth in the University of Michigan's 5-4 win over Ohio State in Big Ten Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon (April 16) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

The win for the Wolverines (20-12, 8-4 Big Ten) closed out a weekend sweep over Ohio State (20-11, 6-6 Big Ten) and keeps U-M in second place in the conference while OSU falls into a three-way tie for fourth place. Michigan has won six Big Ten games in a row and has taken seven of eight games from Minnesota and Ohio State the past two weekends.

Rose was hit by a pitch and scored the tying run in the bottom of the first inning, and he collected a two-run single to make the score 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth. The hit looked bigger when OSU scored two unearned runs in the ninth before Rose tracked down the final out in the 5-4 win.

Junior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS) allowed a run after just three batters in the top of the first inning on a walk to CF Matt Angle and back-to-back singles by LF Jonathan Zizzo and catcher Eric Fryer (RBI), but Hess retired one batter and allowed a bloop single that loaded the bases before ending the inning with a popup and a flyout.

The Wolverines bounced back against OSU freshman LHP J.B. Shuck as he hit Rose and allowed a hit-and-run single to junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep). Rose kept racing around third when the ball eluded OSU RF Wes Schirtzinger for an error and the score was tied at 1-1 and Mahler was on second base.

Sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) singled to left to move Mahler to third base, and sophomore 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) singled to center to make the score 2-1 as he collected his team-leading fifth game-winning RBI of the year.

Sophomore 1B Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) doubled to left-center to make the score 3-1, but Shuck (5-1) retired the next three batters. Shuck settled down and fanned seven and did not allow another run while pitching seven innings.

VanBuskirk contributed on defense for the Wolverines as he made a leaping grab of a Ronnie Bourquin drive near the fence in right in the third inning. In the fourth inning, after OSU had cut the lead to 3-2 on a sacrifice fly by Angle, VanBuskirk charged the ball on a two-out single by Zizzo and fired it to Recknagel, who relayed the ball to fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) for a 9-3-2 play to end the inning.

OSU's Dan Barker replaced Shuck in the eighth and he walked senior co-captain 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) to open the inning, and senior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) lined a two-strike pitch for a double to left-center. Schmidt was 6-for-12 in the series with two doubles and two home runs.

OSU's Rory Meister made his team-leading 16th appearance and gave up the two-run single to Rose on his first pitch, making the score 5-2.

Hess (2-0) pitched seven innings and allowed 11 hits and two runs to record the win. He turned over the ball to sophomore/freshman Ben Jenzen (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) in the eighth.

Jenzen, who collected his first save as a Wolverine, worked a 1-2-3 eighth and allowed a leadoff single by Angle in the ninth. Jenzen retired Zizzo and Fryer and looked to have the game wrapped up when Bourquin hit a fly to left but it was dropped for an error by Schmidt, allowing the run to score. Shortstop Jedidiah Stephen followed with a run-scoring single to make the score 5-4, but Jenzen retired DH Adam Schneider to end the game.

Freshman DH Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS), Mahler and Recknagel each two hits on Sunday, accounting for six of the 11 hits for the Wolverines in the game. Kunkel had seven hits and Schmidt and Mahler had six hits each in combining for 19 of U-M's 46 hits for the weekend.

The Wolverines play at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday evening (April 19, 6 p.m.) before heading to Purdue for a Big Ten weekend series (April 21-23). Fifth-year senior LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) with a 2-3 record and a 7.09 ERA is listed as the starter at EMU in a game that will feature several pitchers.

N O T E S

In Big Ten baseball action Sunday Michigan retained second place with its 5-4 win for the weekend sweep of Ohio State while first-place Northwestern lost at Illinois 3-1 in a game shortened by weather. Purdue blasted Indiana 25-8 to take over third place, while Minnesota beat Iowa 12-1 and Penn State beat Michigan State 12-11, winning in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Big Ten Standings (Through 4/16/06)

 1. Northwestern 9-3 .750 2. MICHIGAN 8-4 .667 3. Purdue 7-5 .583 4. Ohio State 6-6 .500 Michigan State 6-6 .500 Minnesota 6-6 .500 7. Iowa 5-7 .417 Penn State 5-7 .417 9. Illinois 4-8 .333 Indiana 4-8 .333

Michigan's sweep of Ohio State marked the first four-game sweep of the Buckeyes by the Wolverine since doing it three straight seasons from 1985 to 1987.

The weekend sweep gives Michigan 20 wins for the season, making it 32 consecutive seasons with 20 wins going back to 1974 (18-14-1).

The Wolverine pitching staff dropped its Big Ten ERA to 2.86 as Sunday starter Hess with two runs allowed was the only U-M starter to allow more than one run in a game this weekend. On Friday freshman Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) allowed one earned run in 7.1 innings, while on Saturday fifth-year LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) allowed one run in a complete-game (seven innings) win and in the second game sophomore /freshman RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) allowed one run in seven innings.

Catcher Jeff Kunkel extended his hit streak to six games in the Sunday win over Ohio State, while others extending streaks were OF/1B Derek VanBuskirk to five games and OF Mike Schmidt to four.

The stolen base for Eric Rose, his 40th career steal, snaps his tie for ninth place on U-M's all-time steals list with former Wolverine All-America third baseman Chris Sabo (39, 1981-83) and moves him into a tie for eighth with Steve Buerkel (40, 1989-92). He is four steals away from a tie for fifth place with former teammate Chris Getz (44, 2004-05) along with Barry Larkin (44, 1983-85) and Mike Watters (44, 1983-85).

Michigan's leading hitters after 32 games are: SS Leif Mahler (38-for-104, 365), CF Eric Rose (32-for-92, .348), 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (36-for-107, .336),C Jeff Kunkel (37-for-111, .333), 1B/OF Derek VanBuskirk (37-for-114, 325), 2B/ OF Doug Pickens (36-for-111, .324), OF Mike Schmidt (21-for-72, .292) and DH Adam Abraham (20-for-69, .290).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423