Postgame Notes: #24 Arizona 4, #17 Michigan 3

Second-seeded Michigan (46-13) split a pair of decisions in NCAA Regional baseball action at Fisher Stadium in the Wilpon Baseball Complex on Saturday (May 31). The Wolverines defeated Kentucky 7-5 in the game that started Friday and was suspended by rain and completed on Saturday. In the winners' bracket game Saturday night the Wolverines dropped a 4-3 decision to top-seeded and 24th-ranked Arizona. The Friday attendance was 4,082, while Saturday's attendance was 4,154.

Michigan's 7-5 win over Kentucky was the first regional win for the Wolverines in Fisher Stadium since a 10-1 win over Morehead State in the 1983 regional championship game.

Junior P/DH Zach Putnam pitched the first five innings of the regional opener against Kentucky on Friday night, but he didn't return to the mound on Saturday. Putnam allowed six hits and one run as he recorded his ninth win of the season. Putnam is 9-0 with a 2.58 ERA, and he regained the team strikeout lead for several hours at 78 in 76.2 innings. At the plate Putnam was 2-for-5 in the two games with a solo homer, his 10th round-tripper of the season, against Arizona. Putnam has 18 career homers as a Wolverine.

The pitching win for Putnam was the 23rd of his career (23-7) and he moved into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time U-M pitching win list. Putnam is third among U-M righthanders behind the top two on the all-time list, Mike Ignasiak (33 wins, 1985-88) and Rich Stoll (30, 1981-83). With his nine wins in 2008, Putnam pulls into a 17-way tie for 10th on U-M's single-season win list, and he is the only one of the 17 with a 9-0 mark.

Senior/junior RHP Michael Powers, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament last weekend (May 22-24), picked up where he left off as he collected his fourth consecutive playoff save in the 7-5 win over Kentucky. Powers pitched the final 1.2 innings for his team-leading eighth save of the season.

Powers is 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA and has 59 strikeouts in 59.2 innings. Powers has 13 career wins and 12 saves, and he ranks fifth on U-M's all-time saves list after snapping a tie with current teammate Ben Jenzen (2006-08), who has 11 saves.

The pitching appearance for Powers vs. Kentucky on Saturday was his team-leading 27th of the season. Powers, the active career leader with 70 appearances, ranks sixth on Michigan's career pitching appearance list. Greg Everson (73 appearances, 1985-87) is fifth.

Senior/junior RHP Chris Fetter took the loss in the Arizona game, allowing eight hits and four runs (three earned) while collecting seven strikeouts. Fetter allowed three runs on three hits in the first inning and settled down, allowing just one unearned run on five hits as he notched his team-leading fifth complete game of the season. With the seven strikeouts Fetter regained the team lead with 82 in his team-leading total of 94.2 innings. Fetter is 10-2 and leads the team with his 2.47 ERA. Fetter has 12 decisions in his 14 starts in 2008.

Senior 1B/C Nate Recknagel was injured in the sixth inning of the Kentucky game on a tag play collision at first base and he did not play in the Arizona game, ending a streak of 58 games as U-M's third batter in 2008. Recknagel's injury stopped another streak as senior Derek VanBuskirk started at first base in the Arizona game, ending his streak at 58 straight starts in leftfield. Junior Adam Abraham, with starts in all 59 games of the season at 3B, is now the only Wolverine to have started each game at the same position.

Recknagel was 0-for-2 in the win over Kentucky, but he did score a run after walking with two outs in the fifth inning on Friday night just before the game was suspended. As the game was restarted at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Abraham singled on the first pitch to score Recknagel with the sixth Wolverine run of the game.

Recknagel has hits in 46 of the 58 games he played in this season and in 145 of the 181 games he has played in his career at U-M. For the season Recknagel leads the Wolverines in hitting at .368 (77-for-209), home runs (23), RBI (68) and slugging (.751). Recknagel ranks sixth on U-M's career RBI list (165) and seventh in career hits (238).

Abraham was 3-for-4 in the win over Kentucky for his 20th multi-hit game of the season and his seventh three-hit game of the year. Abraham, who leads the team in hits (78), has 52 career multiple-hit games with 14 three-hit games. Abraham is hitting .344 (78-for-227) with 13 doubles, three triples, seven homers and a career season-best 53 RBI. He has 129 career RBI.

Junior shortstop Jason Christian was 2-for-4 in the win over Kentucky with a two-run double and was 1-for-3 with a run-scoring triple off the wall in right-center to put the Wolverines on the scoreboard in the fifth inning vs. Arizona. Christian reached base six times in the two regional games with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch in 10 plate appearances. Christian's team-leading sixth triple of the season pulls him into a tie for sixth on U-M's single-season triples list with Rich Bair (6, 1983) and former Major Leaguer Steve Boros (6, 1956). Christian is hitting .325 (62-for-191) with 13 doubles, six triples and the seven homers with 48 RBI from his leadoff position.

Sophomore catcher Chris Berset was 2-for-4 and scored two runs in the win over Kentucky. His second-inning RBI single snapped a 1-1 tie and proved to be his second game-winning RBI of the season and the fourth of his U-M career. The two-hit game was the eighth multi-hit game of the season for Berset and the 15th of his U-M career.

Freshman OF Ryan LaMarre reached base six times in his first two starts in NCAA Regional action as he was 0-for-1 with three walks in the win over Kentucky and 3-for-4 in the loss to Arizona with his third career home run and the second homer in playoff action the past two weeks. LaMarre has hits in the past six games and in 15 of his last 16 games. LaMarre is hitting .301 (41-for-136) with five doubles and three homers and has eight stolen bases.

Fifth-year senior 2B Leif Mahler had a hit in each of U-M's regional playoff games vs. Kentucky and Arizona, and he assisted on the final play (4-3) of the win over Kentucky. Mahler, who ranks fifth on U-M's all-time list for games played, played in his 218th game as a Wolverine in the Arizona game on Saturday.

Junior CF Kevin Cislo collected his team-leading 18th stolen base in the Arizona game, giving him 28 steals for his U-M career. Cislo reached first on a fielder's choice against Kentucky and had a single vs. Arizona and has reached base in the past 44 consecutive games.