Smith Gets First Win as U-M Pounds Presbyterian

Friday, March 14

Conway, S.C.

Noon

Michigan

6-5

Presbyterian

6-7

Presbyterian

MICHIGAN

3/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Site: Conway, S.C. (Watson Stadium)
Event: Centex Homes Invitational
Score: Michigan 5, Presbyterian 2
Records: U-M (6-5), PC (5-7)
Next Game: Saturday, March 15 -- vs. Ball State & Coastal Carolina, Centex Home Invitational (Conway, S.C.), 11 a.m./2:30 p.m.

Boxscore

CONWAY, S.C. -- Freshman RHP Travis Smith(Austin, Texas/Stephen F. Austin HS) pitched 7.0 strong innings in his first career start, as the University of Michigan baseball team downed Presbyterian College, 5-2, in the first game of the Centex Homes Invitational Friday afternoon (March 14) at Watson Stadium. In Smith's 86-pitch outing, the freshman struck out two and scattered five hits, allowing just one run.

The one Blue Hose run came in the first inning. After Smith made a great play to gun down Presbyterian leadoff hitter Jesse Harmon on a bunt attempt, Smith was taken the other way for a stand up triple by Robert Anders. Anders scored on the next at bat, as Smith got Nate Horton to bounce out to junior 3B Adam Abraham(Grosse Point Park, Mich./South HS).

That was the only run that the first-year pitcher would give up and the only time Michigan trailed in the ball game, as U-M responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Junior 2B Kevin Cislo(Novi, Mich./Novi HS) led the scoring off for the Maize and Blue. After falling behind 0-2, he was able to draw the first of four Wolverine walks on the day. Cislo then stole second and -- with one out -- senior C Nate Recknagel(Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) stepped into the batters box. Recknagel, starting his third game of the year behind the plate, belted a 2-2 pitch deep over the wall in leftfield for his fourth homerun of the season to give his squad a 2-1 advantage. The senior shined all game long at the dish and reached on all four plate appearances. He finished 2-for-2 with three RBI, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.

The Wolverines added to their lead in the fourth, again putting their leadoff runner on with a walk. Abraham drew the base-on-balls and advanced to third after a hit-and-run where senior LF Derek VanBuskirk(St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair HS) found a hole between second and first. That put runners on first and third for the left-handed hitting sophomore 1B Mike Dufek(Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS). Dufek delivered, lifting a high-fly ball into leftfield to score Abraham from third.

VanBuskirk then scored from second when sophomore Alan Oaks(White Lake, Mich./White Lake HS) reached on a error by the Presbyterian SS. The run pushed the score in U-M's favor to 4-1.

Smith ended his day with the 86th pitch of his performance when his teammates turned a 5-4-3 double play behind him. Recknagel helped his freshman battery mate with another RBI in the seventh when he plated Cislo with a single to leftfield in the bottom of the inning.

Senior RHP Michael Powers(St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake HS) came out of the bullpen in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and a 5-2 U-M advantage. After he issued a walk to load the bases, plating the go-ahead-run with only one out, Powers was able to get Steve Henry to pop out to VanBuskirk in left. The runners all held and that brought Zac Rhinesmith to the plate with two outs and the bases juiced. Rhinesmith was forced to fly out to centerfield, ending the Blue Hose threat.

Powers returned in the ninth and sent the first two hitters down on strikes -- one looking and one swinging. The final out of the game came when Cislo took a grounder at 2B and tossed it over to VanBuskirk who moved to 1B in the ninth.

The Wolverines will return to action Saturday (March 15) for a pair of contests, as U-M will face Ball State at 11 a.m. and Invitational host Coastal Carolina at approximately 2:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on MGoBlue.com.

N O T E S

Senior 1B/catcher Nate Recknagel extended his hitting streak to nine games with his first-inning homer run against Presbyterian. Recknagel leads the Wolverines with four homers thus far in 2008 and three of them have been two-run, first inning homers vs. Villanova, Hawaii and Presbyterian. Recknagel started behind the plate and the Wolverines are 4-0 when he starts at catcher.

Recknagel's homer turned out to be the 'game-winning' RBI, his second of the year and he is tied for the team lead with junior 3B Adam Abraham. The gamer was Recknagel's 15th as a Wolverine and he is the active career leader.

Recknagel has hits in 10 of the first 11 games played by Michigan this season and now has hits in 109 of his 136 games as a Wolverine along with 24 homers and 116 RBI. Recknagel is hitting .350 (14-for-40) and leads the team in homers (4) and he is tied for first with 14 RBI. Recknagel, who played at Oakland University as a freshman in 2005, has 29 career homers.

Freshman RHP Travis Smith pitched seven innings in his first career start as a Wolverine as he allowed five hits and fanned two to record his first win. Smith, who dropped his ERA to 3.27, allowed a run in the top of the first inning vs. Presbyterian and then tossed six shutout innings. Smith has a win and a save in his three pitching appearances.

Junior 3B/RHP Adam Abraham went 0-for-3 vs. Presbyterian on Friday to snap his hitting streak at 10 games. Abraham continues to lead the team in hitting at .383 (18-for-47).

Junior Kevin Cislo, the All-Big Ten first team second baseman in 2007, made his first 2B start of the season after 10 starts in CF, while fifth-year senior co-captain Leif Mahler made his first SS start of the year after 10 2B starts. It was Mahler's 140th career start at shortstop.

Q U O T E S

Head Coach Rich Maloney
"I thought Travis was outstanding today. He gave us a great lift and to do that in his first career start is something special. He was attacking the zone and was down in the zone all day long. He was able to mix in his fastball with the breaking ball he had working for him. He just did a great job."

On the win ... "Well again, I thought Travis did what we needed him to do. Behind him we made four nice plays in the field and were able to get out of a tight situation in the eighth. A win is always a good thing."

Senior C Nate Recknagel
On his performance ... "I feel great out there. I am seeing the ball really well right now. It just so happens that things are going well for me."

On the game ... "As a team, our pitching was really good today. We threw a lot of strikes and that led to a lot of quick innings. We moved runners around the bases and scored when we needed to.

On Travis Smith's first career start ... "He didn't look nervous at all. He looked very calm, which is a good sign. He was throwing some heat too. He has a strong arm and used that to set up a lot of good pitches. He made good pitches in big situations and got ahead of hitters. He looked good in his first start."

Freshman RHP Travis Smith On his first start ... "It feels good to get the first one under my belt. We have been working hard in practice. I really didn't feel nervous out there. The guys made some great plays behind me and we were able to get the win."

Contact: Gene Skidmore (734) 615-1726