U-M's Wilson, Rose Share Doubleheader Sweep Spotlight

Saturday, April 28

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:05 PM

Michigan

28-8, 13-1

Michigan State

15-20, 6-11

Michigan State

Michigan

U-M's Wilson, Rose Share Doubleheader Sweep Spotlight

4/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ray Fisher Stadium)
Score: #23 Michigan 8, Michigan State 0; #23 Michigan 10, Michigan State 4
Records: U-M (29-8, 14-1 Big Ten), MSU (15-21, 6-12 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Apr. 29 -- at Michigan State (Lansing, Mich.), 1:05 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) pitched a two-hit shutout and senior co-captain CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) "stole" the show, as the University of Michigan baseball team swept a Big Ten doubleheader from Michigan State, 8-0 and 10-4, Saturday (April 28) afternoon at Ray Fisher Stadium in front of a graduation day crowd of 1,229.

Rose was 3-for-3 and tied and broke the Michigan career stolen base record in the opener against MSU. He extended his career-best hitting streak to 21 games in the second game with his first career grand slam homer that pushed the score to 9-2.

The Wolverines (29-8) moved their Big Ten mark to 14-1 while collecting their sixth doubleheader sweep of the season in eight attempts. Wilson (7-0) and second game starter senior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central HS) each remained unbeaten on the season at 6-0.

Michigan has won six straight and 23 of its last 25 games after finishing the southern portion of the schedule at 6-6 in March.

In the opener, Wilson fired the first complete game shutout of the season for the Wolverines, allowing an infield single by MSU CF Dennis Jones in the third inning and a leadoff single in the sixth by LF Chris Roberts.

MSU put two runners on in the first inning on a walk and a hit batter, but the U-M defense used a 5-4-3 double play started by sophomore 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) to get out of the jam.

In the third inning, MSU had a pair of runners on, but Wilson picked them both off. He fanned four in the win.

Rose walked and collected his 74th career steal in the first inning of the opener, and junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) blasted his team-leading seventh homer to left for a 2-0 lead. The jack produced his fifth game-winning RBI of the season and the 12th of his career.

Michigan put the opener away with a four-run fourth inning. Sophomore 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) singled in two runs and Rose doubled the next two for a 6-0 lead. Rose stole third base in the fourth to break Jim Durham's (1986-89) career stolen base record.

MSU DH Sean Walker launched his second homer of the year to lead off the second inning of the second game against Hess to give the Spartans (15-21, 6-12 Big Ten) a 1-0 lead.

The Wolverines answered with three runs in the second inning against MSU LHP John Dwan (3-5) with a single by freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School) to drive in a run for a 1-1 tie. Sophomore SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) singled to make it 2-1, and Rose hit a sac fly for the third run. The RBI for Christian proved to be his fourth gamer of the season.

The lead went to 5-2 at the start of the third inning for U-M as junior LF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) had a sac fly and Berset notched his second RBI-single in two innings.

Rose closed out the third inning with his long grand slam homer to left, making the score 9-2. Rose had seven RBI in the doubleheader to give him 22 for the season and 98 for his career.

The Wolverines closed out the scoring in the doubleheader in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Recknagel doubled and Abraham used his fourth hit of the game to drive him in.

Junior C/OF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) and Abraham each had five hits to pace the 24-hit attack in the doubleheader sweep, and Rose had four hits. Pickens has six hits in the series while Abraham, Christian, Recknagel and Rose smashed five of the 40 Wolverine hits in the first three games.

The Wolverines close out the weekend series against Michigan State in Lansing, Mich., with a single game at Oldsmobile Park Sunday (April 30, 1:05 p.m.). Junior/sophomore RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), who leads the Big Ten with a 1.50 in conference only action, will start on the mound. In overall play, Fetter is 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA.

N O T E S

Michigan swept MSU 8-0 and 10-4, Iowa swept Northwestern 15-10 and 13-8 and Minnesota took two at Illinois 19-4 and 14-5 in Big Ten action on Saturday (April 28). The other two doubleheaders were splits as Purdue beat Ohio State 16-0 in the opener before the Buckeyes took the second game 3-2. Penn State split at Indiana winning 6-2 before the Hoosiers took the second game, 3-1.

Big Ten Standings (Includes 4-28-07):

 1. Michigan 14-1 (.933) 2. Minnesota 11-3 (.786) 3. Penn State 11-6 (.647) & Ohio State 11-6 (.647) 5. Iowa 10-8 (.556) 6. Illinois 8-9 (.471) 7. Purdue 7-11 (.389) 8. Michigan State 6-12 (.333) 9. Indiana 5-14 (.263) 10. Northwestern 3-16 (.158).

There were 10 members of the 1997 Michigan Big Ten championship team on hand at the doubleheader on Saturday. Captain Kirk Beerman threw out the first pitch. The head coach of that team was Geoff Zahn, the 1997 Big Ten Coach of the Year, who was on hand Saturday doing color on the Comcast Local telecast. The former 1997 Wolverine team members at the doubleheader included the Besco twins, Bryan and Derek, Beerman, Bryan Cranson, Mike Haskell, Andy Hood, Bill LaRosa, Kevin Quinn, Dan Sanborn, Alex Wozniak and Marlon Wright.

Senior CF Eric Rose recorded two stolen bases in the opener Saturday giving him the team lead with 19 for the season and 75 for his career. He tied Jim Durham's all-time U-M stolen bases record of 74 set from 1986-89 in the first inning C and then set the new record in the fourth inning. Head coach Rich Maloney presented Rose with the base.

Senior Rose extended his career-best hitting streak to 21 games in the third inning of each game of Saturday's doubleheader with a single in the first game and the grand slam in the second game. He had five RBI in the second game to match the season team high shared with Derek VanBuskirk and sophomore RHP/DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer).

The grand slam by Rose was the first for the Wolverine since Adam Abraham had one at Ohio State on April 14, and the first at Fisher Stadium since Derek VanBuskirk hit one against Central Michigan (April 3).

The complete game shutout by Mike Wilson was the first seven-inning shutout at Ray Fisher Stadium since Jim Brauer whitewashed Ohio State (May 4, 2002). The last U-M seven-inning complete game was turned in by Paul Hammond last season at Illinois (May 7, 2006).

The grand slam by Rose was the first for the Wolverine since Abraaham had one at Ohio State (April 14) and the first at Fisher Stadium since Derek VanBuskirk had one against Central Michigan on April 3.

Junior 1B Nate Recknagel reached base four times in eight plate appearances in Saturday's doubleheader. He has reached base 69 times in his last 25 games. His on-base percentage this season is .509.

Michigan's leading hitters after 37 games: 1B Nate Recknagel (49-for-130, .377), SS Jason Christian (55-for-147, .377), 2B Kevin Cislo (32-for-87, .368), P/OF Zach Putnam (49-for-137, .358), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (49-for-140, .350), CF Eric Rose (43-for-125, .344), 3B/P Adam Abraham (49-for-144, .340) and OF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) at .338 (45-for-133).