Big Ten Champs: Michigan Sweeps Iowa to Secure Title

Saturday, May 20

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:05 PM

Michigan

36-18, 21-9

Iowa

23-31, 12-18

Iowa

Michigan

5/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Jim Schneider

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ray Fisher Stadium)
Scores: Michigan 1, Iowa 0 (8 innings); Michigan 4, Iowa 1
Records: U-M (37-18, 22-9 Big Ten), Iowa (23-32, 12-19 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, May 21 -- vs. Iowa (Ray Fisher Stadium), 1:05 p.m.

• Boxscores: Game 1 | Game 2

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan used timely hitting and another pair of excellent mound outings to sweep Iowa 1-0 and 4-1 on Saturday (May 20), clinching the Big Ten regular-season baseball championship at Ray Fisher Stadium.

U-M director of athletics Bill Martin was on hand to present the championship trophy to fourth-year head coach Rich Maloney and the Wolverines. It is Michigan's league-leading 33rd Big Ten baseball title and the first since 1997.

The Wolverines (37-18, 22-9 Big Ten) set a team record with the 22 wins in conference action. By winning the opener the current squad tied the previous U-M best for baseball wins in a Big Ten season at 21 in 1989.

Freshman LF Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) singled with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning in the opener for a walk-off game-winning single in the opener, and senior DH Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) launched his team-leading 10th homer of the year to give Michigan a 4-0 lead in the second game against Iowa (23-32, 12-19 Big Ten).

Sophomore/freshman RHP Ben Jenzen (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) came out of the bullpen in both games. Jenzen (2-0) collected the win in the opener and earned his team-leading fifth save in the second game. Jenzen with a win and save marked the first time a Wolverine had both the same day since Derek Feldkamp had a save and a win at Penn State a year ago (May 21, 2005).

The starting pitching was outstanding again for the Wolverines as sophomore/freshman Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) allowed just four hits while pitching seven shutout innings with a career-best eight strikeouts in the opener while Jenzen pitched the eighth to get the win that clinched a tie for the Big Ten title.

Freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) pitched five innings in the second game, allowing five hits and one run. Putnam moved his record to 5-1 while recording the win that gave the Wolverines the outright title and the right to host the Big Ten Tournament which starts Wednesday (May 24) at Fisher Stadium.

Having allowed just one earned run in the series, the Wolverines lowered the overall team ERA to 4.15 and the league-leading Big Ten ERA to 2.98. Fifth-year senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason), who won the series opener 2-1 on Friday (May 19), leads the team and the Big Ten with a 1.32 ERA in league play followed by Fetter (1.43), Jenzen (1.54) and Putnam (1.88).

Saturday's first game was a pitching duel with Iowa's Jeff Maitland (5-4) pitching seven-plus innings and taking the loss after giving up a leadoff single to junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) in the eighth.

Maitland was replaced by veteran LHP Tim Gudex, and the first batter he faced was junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep), who moved Rose to second with a sacrifice bunt. Gudex intentionally walked sophomore first baseman Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) and junior OF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) came on as a pinch runner.

Gudex struck out sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) for the second out, but with Abraham at the plate Rose and Roblin pulled off a double steal to put the winning run at third base. For Rose it was stolen base 28 on the season and for Roblin it was his 11th as they rank 1-2 on the squad.

Abraham worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a line drive to center to score Rose for the win. It was Abraham's fifth game-winning RBI of the season.

Rose was at it again in the first inning of the second game as he reached on a walk, stole second base, and scored on a single to left by Recknagel. It was Recknagel's team-leading seventh game-winning RBI of the season, giving U-M a 1-0 lead.

The Wolverines added three unearned runs in the second inning off starter Austin Sewarad (6-6). With two outs sophomore RF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) singled and senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser) reached on a fielding error to extend the life of the inning. DH Schmidt, who entered the weekend sharing the Big Ten home run lead, stroked a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left for his 10th round-tripper of the year, giving U-M a 4-0 lead.

Putnam worked a 1-2-3 first inning and had catcher Kunkel come up with an excellent 2-3 play to end the second inning. Iowa scored in the third inning on a two-out single by 2B Travis Sweet. Putnam allowed five hits and had a pair of strikeouts and the U-M defense turned a pair of double plays as he notched his fifth win of the season.

Senior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) worked a scoreless sixth inning and retired the first batter in the seventh before walking Iowa DH Brian Bermester on a 3-2 pitch. After falling behind SS Jason White with a 3-0 count, Murray was replaced by Jenzen, who got the final two outs for the save.

CF Rose had three hits and Schmidt, who was in RF in the opener and DH in the second game, had two to account for five of U-M's 11 hits in the twinbill. Sophomore Pickens leads the way with four of Michigan's 18 hits in the weekend series against Iowa.

Michigan closes out the regular season by hosting Iowa Sunday (May 21) on Senior Day with introductions of the nine seniors to begin at 12:35 p.m. at Fisher Stadium. Fifth-year senior Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) will make the start looking for his fourth straight Sunday win. Taylor is 5-4 with a 4.96 ERA.

N O T E S

• In Big Ten action Saturday Michigan clinched the regular-season championship with the 1-0, 4-1 sweep of Iowa while both Northwestern and Ohio State split doubleheaders. NU topped Purdue 6-2 in the opener, but the Boilermakers took the second game 3-0. OSU dropped the opener to Penn State 3-2 and took the second game, 3-0. Minnesota swept Indiana 3-1 and 5-1, while Illinois took the second game at Michigan State 4-3 after MSU had taken the opener, 9-5.

• Big Ten Standings (through 5/20/06): 1. MICHIGAN 22-9 (.710), 2. Northwestern 20-11 (.645), 3. Ohio State 18-12 (.600), 4. Minnesota 16-14 (.533), 5. Purdue 15-16 (.484), 6. Illinois 14-17 (.452), 7. Michigan State 13-18 (.419) and Penn State 13-18 (.419), 9. Iowa 12-19 (.387), 10. Indiana 11-20 (.355)

• The Wolverines have a 6-1 record in the last seven Big Ten games and have allowed earned runs in just two of the games while recording four shutouts.

• CF Eric Rose notched his 29th and 30th stolen bases of the season in the second game of the doubleheader, giving him four steals in the series and pushing his career stolen base total to 54. With 30 steals for the season he has the second-best stolen base season ever for the Wolverines, moving ahead of former teammate Chris Getz (29, 2005), and he ranks third on the career list, moving ahead of Rodney Goble (52 stolen bases, 1992-95). Steve Finken (65 stolen bases, 1986-88) is second on the career list, while Jim Durham (1986-89) holds both the single-season (38, 1987) and career (74) records at U-M.

• Michigan's leading hitters after 55 games are: 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (67-for-183, .366), C Jeff Kunkel (66-for-194, .340), SS Leif Mahler (59-for-174, .339), CF Eric Rose (59-for-176, .335), 2B/OF Doug Pickens (60-for-196, .306) and LF/DH Adam Abraham (41-for-139, .295)