Michigan
18-15, 4-3
Michigan State
13-17, 2-5
U-M Pounds Six Homers, Drubs Rival Michigan State
4/15/2022 8:42:00 PM | Baseball
» Clark Elliott led off the game with a homer, hit a grand slam in the second inning and a three-run shot in the ninth.
» Matt Frey and Tito Flores both hit home runs early in the game, and MSU graduate transfer Joe Stewart homered in the eighth inning against his former team.
» Michigan led 9-0 before MSU got on the board.
LANSING, Mich. -- Clark Elliott hit three of U-M's six homers Friday night (April 15), as the University of Michigan baseball team defeated Michigan State, 18-6, at Jackson Field to open a three-game series.
Michigan started the game with a bang and kept going throughout. Elliott lofted a leadoff homer to right field on the game's second pitch to mark the second time this season that he's led off a game with a homer. Three batters later, Matt Frey launched a monster home run just shy of the 507-foot mark on an apartment building deep beyond the right field wall.
Elliott tormented MSU again in the second inning during his next at bat. U-M loaded the bases with one out, forcing MSU to the bullpen, but Elliott greeted reliever Ryan Szczepaniak with a mammoth grand slam home run to deep right field. Michigan scored one more run in the frame, and Tito Flores added to the power figures with a solo homer to right field in the third inning to make it 8-0.
With the score 9-0 in the fourth, MSU scored twice on a misplayed fly ball, but U-M starter Connor O'Halloran responded with strikeouts number four, five, and six to strand a runner on third.
Ted Burton delivered an RBI double off the right field wall in the sixth inning, and Frey followed with a line drive two-run single to give U-M a 12-2 lead.
Joe Stewart made it five homers with a line drive solo shot to right field in the eighth, and Burton then walked, went to second, stole third, and scampered home on a throwing error to make it 14-2. Â
Elliot put an exclamation point on his night when he crushed his third homer, a three-run job, onto a service road beyond the right field fence. MSU scored three times in the bottom of the ninth.
Elliott led all players with four hits, with his three homers adding up to eight RBI. Stewart and Frey both had two hits as well.
O'Halloran earned the win to improve to 4-2, battling the cold and rain to get through 5.2 innings while striking out eight batters and just the two runs on the misplayed ball in the outfield.
The teams will resume their series on Saturday (April 16) at McLane Stadium on MSU's campus. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: O'Halloran, Connor (4-2)
L: Dunning,Kyle (1-4)
Batting:
2B: Burton, Ted 1 ; Bertram, Riley 1
HR: Elliott, Clark 3 ; Stewart, Joe 1 ; Frey, Matt 1 ; Flores, Tito 1
RBI: Elliott, Clark 8 ; Stewart, Joe 1 ; Burton, Ted 2 ; Frey, Matt 3 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Lawrence, Brandon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Elliott, Clark 5 ; Stewart, Joe 3 ; Burton, Ted 2 ; Frey, Matt 1 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Obertop, Jimmy 1 ; Kilinski, Trevor 1 ; Van Remortel, Jack 1 ; Stanton, Dylan 1 ; Rogers, Jordon 1 ; Lawrence, Brandon 1
SB: Elliott, Clark 1 ; Stewart, Joe 1 ; Burton, Ted 1 ; Kilinski, Trevor 1
HBP: Stewart, Joe 1 ; Burton, Ted 1 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Obertop, Jimmy 1
Batting:
2B: Mayes,Casey 1
3B: Frank,Jack 1 ; Broecker,Bryan 1
HR: Frank,Jack 1
RBI: Jebb,Mitch 1 ; Frank,Jack 2 ; Broecker,Bryan 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Walker,Zaid 1 ; Frank,Jack 2 ; Mayes,Casey 2 ; Broecker,Bryan 1
SB: Jebb,Mitch 1
HBP: Ahn,Peter 1
