Putnam, Mahler Lead Wolverines Past Michigan State

Friday, April 28

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:35 PM

Michigan

24-14, 12-5

Michigan State

20-19, 8-9

Michigan State

Michigan

4/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) had four hits and freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) allowed one run in 8.1 innings to lead the University of Michigan baseball team to a 7-1 win over archrival Michigan State at Ray Fisher Stadium Friday night (April 28) in the opener of a four-game weekend series.

Michigan (24-14, 12-5 Big Ten) remains tied for first place in the conference with Northwestern as the Wolverines head to Lansing Saturday (April 29, 3 p.m.) for a doubleheader against the Spartans (20-19, 8-9 Big Ten) at Oldsmobile Park.

The pitching matchup in the series opener featured Michigan's Putnam vs. MSU LHP John Dwan, and the game was scoreless until the third inning and was a 1-0 game until Michigan added two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

Junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) walked with one out in the third inning and stole second base for his team-leading 21st steal of the season. He scored on Mahler's first hit of the evening to make the score 1-0. The stolen base was the 45th career steal for Rose to tie him with Bill St. Peter (45, 1986-88) for fourth on U-M's all-time stolen base list.

Putman, who pitched out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings when MSU had back-to-back singles with one out in both of those innings, earned his fourth win of the season while dropping his ERA to 2.15 as he took an eight-hit shutout into the ninth inning.

Freshman DH/RHP Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) recorded the final two outs with 3B Oliver Wolcott driving in the MSU run with a sac fly. MSU 2B Alan Cattrysse had opened the ninth inning with a double off Putnam, his third hit of the game. Cattrysse and LF Ryan Basham each had three of MSU's 10 hits in the game.

Michigan scored twice in the sixth inning as 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) and DH Abraham opened the inning with singles. Freshman 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) ran for Recknagel, and a sacrifice bunt by sophomore RF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) moved the runners to second and third.

Senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) hit a sac fly to make the score 2-0, and senior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) singled to drive in the third run of the game.

The Wolverines scored again in the seventh as Mahler doubled to open the inning and moved to third on sophomore RF Doug Pickens' (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) a sharp single to left, which was the hit that chased the MSU starter Dwan (1-4).

Cislo, who had stayed in the game to play second base while hitting in the cleanup position, singled to make the score 4-0, and later in the inning VanBuskirk dropped a hit over the infield for a two-run single and a 6-0 margin.

The Wolverines closed out the scoring in the eighth inning as Schmidt, Mahler and Pickens (RBI) had singles.

Mahler had his second four-hit game of the season and his career and LF Schmidt had three hits as the upperclassmen accounted for seven of U-M's 13 hits.

The Wolverines play a Big Ten doubleheader vs. Michigan State on Saturday at Oldsmobile Park (April 29, 3 p.m.) with fifth-year senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) slated to pitch the opener and sophomore/freshman RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) scheduled for the second game. Hammond is 3-3 with a 3.45 ERA, while Fetter is 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA.

N O T E S

It was learned during the game that former Wolverine LHP Steve Howe (1977-79) was killed in a car accident early Friday morning in Coachella, Calif. Howe was 27-8 in his career as a Wolverine and was the 16th pick of the MLB draft first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1979. He was National League Rookie of the Year with the Dodgers in 1980 and saw his last Major League action in 1996. He was 11-3 as a sophomore in 1978 when he helped lead the Wolverines to the College World Series. He pitched a one-hitter to beat Baylor 4-0 in the CWS opener for the Wolverines.

Former Wolverine and Detroit Tiger great Bill Freehan was on hand to throw out the first pitch before the U-M and MSU game on Friday night at Fisher Stadium. Freehan, who played football and baseball for the Wolverines before signing with the Detroit Tigers, still holds Michigan's single-season record with a .446 average in overall action in 1961 and .585 in Big Ten play. The .585 is also the Big Ten single-season record. Freehan spent 15 seasons with the Detroit Tigers and played on the 1968 World Championship team. He returned to Ann Arbor in 1990 and coached the Wolverines for six seasons.

It was an unofficial former Wolverine baseball coach night at Fisher Stadium on Friday as Don Lund (1959-62), who coached Michigan's 1962 national championship team, was at the game as were Bill Freehan (1990-95) and Geoff Zahn (1996-2001). Zahn will be part of the Comcast Local television announce team that will cover the final three games of the series. Former pitching coach Terry Hunter from the early 1980s was also on hand.

In Big Ten baseball action Friday Penn State beat Indiana 5-4 in the only day game, while Michigan's 7-1 win over MSU matched Northwestern's 9-5 win at Iowa to keep the two teams tied for first place. Ohio State beat Purdue by a 10-5 margin to stay alone in third place, while the 4-3 Illinois win at Minnesota helped create a five-way tie for fourth place.

Big Ten Standings (Through 4/28/06)

 1. Michigan 12-5 .706 Northwestern 12-5 .706 3. Ohio State 10-7 .588 4. Michigan State 8-9 .471 Illinois 8-9 .471 Minnesota 8-9 .471 Penn State 8-9 .471 Purdue 8-9 .471 9. Iowa 6-11 .353 10. Indiana 5-12 .294

Fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest), who went 0-for-3 with an intentional walk, had his hitting streak snapped at 11 games. DH Adam Abraham and 1B Nate Recknagel have four-game hit streaks after Friday's win.

Michigan's leading hitters after 38 games are: CF Eric Rose (42-for-114, .368), SS Leif Mahler (45-for-123, 366), C Jeff Kunkel (46-for-131, .351), 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (42-for-125, .336), 2B/ OF Doug Pickens (42-for-135, .311) and LF/DH Adam Abraham (28-for-90, .311).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423