Michigan Falls to Minnesota in Big Ten Tournament Play

Friday, May 26

Ann Arbor, Mich.

10:05 AM

Michigan

38-19

Minnesota

33-24

Minnesota

Michigan

Michigan Falls to Minnesota in Big Ten Tournament Play

5/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Minnesota scored two runs in the third inning and tacked on three more in the fourth to take a 6-2 win over the top-seeded University of Michigan baseball team in Big Ten Tournament action Friday morning (May 26) at Ray Fisher Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night but was postponed due to heavy rains that left the field in unplayable condition.

The win advances Minnesota (33-24) to the winners' bracket final, while the Wolverines (38-19) drop down to play the winner of Game 6, between No. 6 seed Purdue and No. 2 seed Northwestern, later this afternoon.

Senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) and sophomore/freshman RHP Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake) each went 3.2 innings for the Wolverines while striking out four batters each. Hammond had his six-game winning streak halted as he allowed five runs (three earned).

Fifth-year senior LHP Ali Husain (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) came into the game and shut the door by inducing a double play in the eighth inning, ending the inherited threat with runners on the corners and only one down.  The relief appearance was Husain's 74th career call from the bullpen, fourth-most for a Wolverine pitcher. Senior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) came on in relief of Husain in the ninth with two runners on and induced the final two Minnesota outs.

Sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) provided both of Michigan's runs on a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) put up a pair of hits for Michigan, while shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) reached base twice and scored a run on the Pickens home run.

Minnesota got on the board first in the top of the third on a two-run bullet off the glove of shortstop Mahler to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead. Hammond appeared to be working his way out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout of Minnesota's cleanup hitter, Andy Hunter, for the second out of the inning, but a hot shot off the bat of Nate Hanson bounced off Mahler's glove and into short centerfield for an error that allowed Luke MacLean and Matt Nohelty to push across.

The Gophers struck again in the fourth inning. Kyle Baran opened the inning with a double to deep leftfield that crossed up freshman OF Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South). Two batters later, Nohelty popped a ball into leftfield just deep enough to allow Baran to come around from second base and score.

The gap continued to grow later in the inning with the Gophers knocking in two more on another bases-loaded single to make the score 5-0. Minnesota loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk before Hunter delivered the blow that chased Hammond from the game.

Michigan broke through in the home half of the sixth inning on a two-run blast off the bat of Pickens. With Mahler standing on second base, the Wolverine freshman second baseman drilled his sixth home run of the season to deep left-center to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Minnesota answered with a run in the top of the seventh on three singles to make the score 6-2. Powers stifled the threat of further damage with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

The Wolverines proved unwilling to go quietly, putting two runners aboard to open the eighth inning before loading the bases on a Kunkel single two batters later to bring the tying run to the plate, but freshman DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) grounded into a forceout to end the threat.

Michigan awaits the survivor of Northwestern and for a Game 7 elimination contest in the Big Ten Tournament. The game will start at 4:05 p.m. or 35 minutes after the completion of Game 6 at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423