Covering the Bases at NCAAs with U-M Baseball: Monday
6/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Having Barry Larkin cover the game for ESPN this weekend was like having a little Wolverine history with us in Corvallis. Everyone knows (at least, they should!) of his heralded Major League career, but that was preceded by a pretty impressive collegiate career back in Ann Arbor. In 1983, Barry's freshman year, the team made its fourth College World Series appearance in six years, finishing third. One year later, the Wolverines returned to Omaha, making what would be Michigan's most recent College World Series appearance. Those Michigan teams featured a trio of players who would go on to earn fame with the Cincinnati Reds, ultimately winning the World Series in 1990: All-American Chris Sabo (1981-83), two-time All-American Larkin (1983-85) and All-Big Ten first-teamer Hal Morris (1984-86). Not bad.
Michigan's pursuit of its next College World Series berth continued with today's 4 p.m. game, which meant trying to fill time until the 1:45 hotel departure for the ballpark. More of the same: breakfast at nine, lunch at 12:45, idle chatter on the bus, random Forrest Gump quotes and ipods. The only difference today was the weather C blue skies with big puffy clouds, but at least there's blue! Like the classic t-shirt says: God must have been a Wolverine -- he made the sun maize and the sky blue.
After being the home team in game one (as the higher seed), Michigan moved to the other side of the diamond as game two's visiting team. It proved to be a rough outing for the Wolverines, but there was some poetic justice. In senior captain Eric Rose's final two at-bats, he belted home runs to left field, while fellow senior Brad Roblin collected a single in his final at-bat. Falling 8-2 in the Super Regional, Michigan's dream season concluded at 42-19, its third straight 40-win season. Now the two-time defending Big Ten champions and NCAA Regional champions, U-M is already talking about next year and its high aspirations. "This is the expectation of our team now," said senior Brad Roblin after the game, about making it this far into the postseason. Coach Maloney echoed that. "These guys (Rose and Roblin) set the tone. Our program is in solid shape. We're a top 10 team next year and our goal is Omaha. It's been Omaha, but now we know we can make it." The team left Goss Stadium to plenty of cheers. As coach Maloney left the field he was congratulated many times on his team's success and how classy his program is. Tomorrow gets off to an early start with breakfast at 7:30 and then the bus heads out at 8 a.m. sharp for the Portland airport.
