Notes & Quotes: #23 Michigan at Indiana (DH)
4/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Michigan's split at Indiana on Saturday (April 26) kept the Wolverines in first place in the Big Ten with a 17-2 conference record, while Purdue used a pair of late rallies to sweep two games from Minnesota, 7-6 and 7-5, to gain ground in the standings. Purdue scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in the opener and used a six-run sixth in the second game.
Michigan State swept Iowa, 6-3 and 16-7, while Ohio State split at Northwestern, winning the second game 13-1 after NU took the opener 6-4. Illinois beat Penn State 20-11 in the game suspended by rain on Friday (April 25) and completed before Saturday's scheduled doubleheader. In the scheduled Saturday action Penn State swept Illinois, 16-6 and 10-7, to pull into a tie for fourth place with the Fighting Illini.
Big Ten Standings (Through 4/26/08)
1. Michigan 17-2 .895 2. Purdue 15-4 .789 3. Ohio State 10-8 .556 4. Illinois 10-9 .526 Penn State 10-9 .526 6. Northwestern 9-10 .474 7. Michigan State 6-12 .333 8. Iowa 6-13 .316 Minnesota 6-13 .316 10. Indiana 5-14 .263
Michigan's 11-4 win in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Indiana was the 30th win of the season for the Wolverines (30-9). Wolverine head coach Rich Maloney has won at least 30 games in each of his 13 seasons as a head coach, including his seven seasons at Ball State and his six years at Michigan.
Indiana's 2-1 win over Michigan in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader snapped a 12-game Wolverine winning streak and ended U-M's streak of sweeping Big Ten doubleheaders at five.
Following Saturday's split at IU Michigan has won 16 of 18 games, and the Wolverines are 22-3 since losing 11-9 to then nationally ranked Coastal Carolina in March.
Senior 1B Nate Recknagel, hitless in Saturday's opener (0-for-2), bounced back with his first four-hit game of the season in the nightcap, going 4-for-4 with his team-leading 17th home run and three RBI. Recknagel's run-scoring single in the fifth inning snapped a 4-4 tie and proved to be his team-leading ninth game-winning RBI of the season and his 22nd gamer as a Wolverine.
Recknagel has hits in 34 of U-M's 39 games this season and in 133 of the 164 games he has played in his career at U-M. For the season Recknagel leads the Wolverines in hitting at .408 (58-for-142), runs (40), hits (58), home runs (17), RBI (51), slugging (.831) and on-base percentage (.482). Recknagel is tied for seventh on U-M's career RBI list (153) with Jason Alcaraz (153, 1996-99).
Recknagel has 37 career homers as a Wolverine to rank second on Michigan's career homer list, trailing career home run leader Casey Close (46, 1983-86). Recknagel, who played at Oakland University as a freshman in 2005, has 42 career collegiate homers.
Recknagel's team- and Big Ten-leading total of 17 home runs this season places him in a three-way tie for second place on U-M's single-season home run list with Mike Watters (17, 1985) and Jim Paciorek (17, 1982). The U-M single-season home run record is 19, set by Casey Close in 1986.
Senior/junior RHP Michael Powers pitched 6.2 shutout innings in relief in the second game Saturday to record the win as he fanned five and allowed just one walk. Powers is 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 43.1 innings, and he leads the team with 17 pitching appearances. Powers, who worked the eighth inning Friday at Indiana, is tied for 11th on the U-M career pitching appearance list at 60 with Tim Leveque (60, 2000-03) and Mark Temple (60, 1993-96).
Senior/junior RHP Chris Fetter suffered his first loss of the season despite pitching his third complete game. He allowed seven hits and two runs (one earned) in 6.1 innings in the 2-1 loss. Fetter dropped his overall ERA to 2.73, and with five strikeouts at IU he is second on the team with 48 in 59.1 innings.
Junior P/DH Zach Putnam, who collected his fifth pitching win of the season Friday at IU, extended his team-leading and career-best hitting streak to 16 games with a sixth-inning single in Saturday's first game and a seventh-inning double in the second game. Putnam is hitting .336 (50-for-149) with 10 doubles, seven homers and 40 RBI.
Junior CF Kevin Cislo, who returned to the lineup Friday at Indiana, singled in each game of Saturday's doubleheader to extend his career-best hitting streak to 10 games. Cislo singled in the fifth inning of the second game and scored the winning run. Cislo is hitting .359 (42-for-117) in overall action, and in Big Ten play he is leading the Wolverines with a .442 (23-for-52) average.
Junior 3B Adam Abraham, who was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer at Indiana on Friday, extended his current hitting streak to eight games in Saturday's twinbill at IU. He tied the opener 1-1 with a run-scoring single in the sixth inning, and he was 3-for-4 with a triple and a homer in the second game. The homer, which tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning, was his sixth of the season and 17th for his career. Abraham is hitting .364 (55-for-154) and ranks second on the team with 41 RBI.
Sophomore OF Alan Oaks was 2-for-3 in Saturday's second game with his fifth homer of the season.
