Hammond Cheese: U-M Ace Strikes Out 12, Beats Iowa

Friday, May 19

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:35 PM

Michigan

35-18, 20-9

Iowa

23-30, 12-17

Iowa

Michigan

5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Fifth-year senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) struck out a career-high 12 batters and allowed just three hits as the University of Michigan baseball team defeated Iowa 2-1 in the final Big Ten series opener of the season for the Wolverines on Friday (May 19) night at Ray Fisher Stadium.

The Wolverines (35-18, 20-9 Big Ten) gained sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with the win over Iowa (23-30, 12-17 Big Ten) combined with Northwestern's (19-10 Big Ten) 11-3 loss at Purdue on Friday afternoon. The win gives Michigan a 7-1 record in series openers in the Big Ten this season, with Hammond collecting the last two series-opening wins.

Hammond moved his overall record to 7-3 with his sixth consecutive Big Ten win and his fifth complete game of the season. He dropped his overall ERA to 2.27 as the lone run he surrendered was unearned, and he pushed his team-leading strikeout total to 58.

Hammond dropped his Big Ten ERA to 1.32 and has not allowed an earned run in 27.2 innings. He has allowed just five earned runs in his last 53 Big Ten innings.

The Wolverines grabbed leads of 1-0 in the fourth inning and 2-1 in the fifth against Iowa senior RHP Luke O'Laughlin (2-6), who took the loss despite limiting Michigan to seven hits.

Senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser) and senior RF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) opened the fifth inning for the Wolverines with singles and Scheidt took third base on Schmidt's hit-and-run safety.

Junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) snapped the 1-1 tie as he knocked in Scheidt with the go-ahead run with a slow roller to third as he beat the double-play relay to first. It turned out to be the game-winning run, the second gamer of the year for Rose. Rose notched his team-leading 27th stolen base but did not score as O'Laughlin retired the next two batters.

Michigan had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning as sophomore 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) singled up the middle to open the inning. Iowa 1B Skyler Moss made a great diving grab of a line drive hit by fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Mich./Oak Forest) but the ball fell to the turf when he hit the ground. Moss was able to force Recknagel at second, but Kunkel scored from first base a moment later as sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) doubled to the fence in left-center to make the score 1-0.

Iowa tied the game in the top of the fifth as catcher Ben Geelan singled to left to open the inning. He advanced on a sacrifice bunt by 3B Kevin Hoef, who reached first on a fielding error by Hammond. Geelan advanced to third after a flyout and scored on a sac squeeze bunt by SS Jason White.

Hammond limited Iowa to just one more hit after the fifth inning, a leadoff single by Hoef in the seventh inning, but when he tried to stretch the hit into a double he was nailed at second on a strong relay play from freshman LF Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South) to junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) to Pickens for the tag. Hammond fanned his ninth and 10th batters to close out the seventh.

Pickens paced the Wolverines with three of the seven hits for his fifth career three-hit game.

Michigan plays Iowa in a Big Ten doubleheader on Saturday (May 20, 4:05 p.m.) with sophomore/freshman Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) listed as the potential starters although the order is not decided. Fetter is 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA and Putnam is 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

N O T E S

In Big Ten action Friday night the Wolverines moved back into first place with the 2-1 win over Iowa while Northwestern lost 11-3 at Purdue. Purdue moved into fifth alone with the win over NU. Ohio State remained alive in the race with a 4-3 win over Penn State, and Michigan State jumped from a tie for ninth to a three-way tie for seventh with Iowa and Penn State with a 13-2 win over Illinois. Illinois is sixth at 13-16, while Iowa, MSU and PSU are 12-17. Minnesota topped Indiana 6-1 at the Metrodome in the final Big Ten game of the evening.

Big Ten Standings (through 5/19/06)

 1. Michigan 20-9 .690 2. Northwestern 19-10 .655 3. Ohio State 17-11 .607 4. Minnesota 14-14 .500 5. Purdue 14-15 .483 6. Illinois 13-16 .448 7. Iowa 12-17 .414 Michigan State 12-17 .414 Penn State 12-17 .414 10. Indiana 11-18 .371

Fifth-year LHP Paul Hammond's 12 strikeouts are a career best and the most for a Wolverine since RHP J.J. Putz, now of the Seattle Mariners, fanned 12 at Purdue while throwing a seven-inning one-hitter on March 24, 1996. The last time a Wolverine had more than 10 K's was RHP Michael Penn vs. Oakland last year (March 26, 2005).

Michigan's leading hitters after 53 games are: 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (66-for-177, .373), C Jeff Kunkel (65-for-188, .346), SS Leif Mahler (58-for-169, .343), CF Eric Rose (56-for-171, .327), 2B/OF Doug Pickens (59-for-190, .311) and LF/DH Adam Abraham (40-for-133, .301)

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423