Wolverines Defeat Spartans, Move Into First-Place Tie

Sunday, April 30

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:05 PM

Michigan

26-15, 14-6

Michigan State

21-21, 9-11

Michigan State

Michigan

Wolverines Defeat Spartans, Move Into First-Place Tie

4/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan scored four times in the first inning and took a 10-0 lead in the third inning en route to an 11-5 win over Michigan State in Big Ten baseball action Sunday afternoon (April 30) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Fifth-year senior co-captain catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) had three hits and drove in a pair of runs to lead the offense, and fifth-year senior co-captain LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) worked four innings out of the bullpen to collect his third win of the season for the Wolverines (26-15, 14-6 Big Ten).

With the win Michigan took three of four games in the weekend series from Michigan State (21-21, 9-11 Big Ten) to claim a full point in the Challenge Cup race, and Sunday's win moved U-M back into a first-place tie in the Big Ten standings with Northwestern, which split a doublehader at Iowa Sunday.

The Wolverines are 14-5 since losing three straight to Northwestern during the opening weekend of the Big Ten season (March 31-April 2).

The Wolverines scored four times in the first inning against MSU starter Chris Cullen (3-2) as junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) walked to start the bottom of the first inning and moved to second on a grounder by junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep).

Kunkel collected his 50th hit of the season to move Rose to third base, and sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) singled to center to make the score 1-0 and claim his team-leading sixth "game-winning" RBI of the year.

Sophomore 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) extended his hitting streak to seven games with a double to the gap in left-center that scored Kunkel and Pickens to make the score 3-0, and sophomore RF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) singled with two outs to drive in the fourth run.

The Wolverines took advantage of a two-out infield error to score six unearned runs in the third inning, with Rose and Mahler collecting bases-loaded walks to drive in runs followed by a two-run single by Kunkel as he earned RBI 100 and 101 in his career on the play. Pickens singled to make the score 10-0.

Junior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) allowed three runs in the fourth inning with two scoring on 3B Oliver Wolcott's first home run of the season. Hess was replaced by Taylor after walking the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning.

Taylor allowed six hits and one run on a long solo homer by catcher Sean Walker to earn his 16th career win as a Wolverine.

The defense sparkled behind Taylor as Rose made a great diving catch and defensive replacement 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) started a 4-6-3 double play to close out the sixth inning that had started with back-to-back singles by SS Troy Krider and 1B Steve Gerstenberger, one of his three hits for MSU on Sunday.

The Wolverines added the final run in the fifth inning as senior LF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) was hit by a pitch and scored following singles by Rose and Mahler.

Sophomore/freshman RHP Ben Jenzen (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the win in a non-save situation.

Kunkel led the Wolverines with three hits on Sunday, while Recknagel and Pickens each had two of the 11 U-M hits. For the weekend Michigan had 46 hits, led by Mahler with eight and Pickens with seven.

The Wolverines host Western Michigan in a non-conference single game Wednesday evening (May 3, 6:35 p.m.) with sophomore/freshman RHP Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake) or freshman RHP Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) as potential starters.

N O T E S

In Big Ten baseball action Sunday Michigan used its 11-5 over MSU to jump back into a tie for first place with Northwestern, which dropped the first game of a doubleheader at Iowa 16-2 but won the second game 7-6. Purdue took the fourth game at Ohio State 7-6 to keep from getting swept, while Penn State blanked Indiana 11-0 to gain a weekend split. Illinois beat Minnesota 16-8 to win three of four in the Metrodome and move into fourth place alone at .500 (10-10).

Big Ten Standings (Through 4/30/06)

 1. Michigan 14-6 .700 Northwestern 14-6 .700 3. Ohio State 12-8 .600 4. Illinois 10-10 .500 5. Michigan State 9-11 .450 Minnesota 9-11 .450 Penn State 9-11 .450 Purdue 9-11 .450 9. Iowa 7-13 .350 Indiana 7-13 .350

Sophomore 1B Nate Recknagel extended his hitting streak to seven games with his two-run double in the first inning on Sunday.

Michigan's leading hitters after 41 games are: SS Leif Mahler (49-for-134, 366), C Jeff Kunkel (52-for-143, .364), CF Eric Rose (45-for-125, .360), 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (47-for-135, .348), 2B/ OF Doug Pickens (47-for-148, .318) and OF/DH Adam Abraham (30-for-101, .297).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423