The Magic Continues! Michigan Tops Rutgers to Claim 10th Big Ten Tourney Title

Sunday, May 29

Omaha, Neb.

5:00 PM CT

Michigan

32-26

Rutgers

44-15

Michigan

Rutgers

(Mark Kuhlmann / Big Ten Conference)

The Magic Continues! Michigan Tops Rutgers to Claim 10th Big Ten Tourney Title

5/29/2022 11:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Kurt Svoboda

» Michigan clinched its 10th Big Ten Tournament title and first since 2015.
» Jimmy Obertop hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to give U-M an 8-3 lead.
» Jacob Denner struck out seven batters in 4.1 innings of relief to steady the Michigan bullpen.
» Jack Van Remortel drove home two runs in the ninth inning on a suicide squeeze bunt.

OMAHA, Neb. -- The University of Michigan baseball team won the 10th Big Ten Tournament championship in program history Sunday (May 29), as the Wolverines capped a magical and exhausting four-day stretch by defeating second-seeded Rutgers by a score of 10-4 at Charles Schwab Field.

By winning the tournament, Michigan will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Monday (May 30) at noon on ESPN2.

Michigan (32-26) played five games in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, winning four in four days as the Wolverines defeated the number one, two, three and four-seeded teams. The tournament title is Michigan's 10th in program history and first since 2015.

As it did in its earlier game against Iowa, the Michigan bats started quickly. The Big Ten Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Clark Elliott, led off the game with a base hit, and Joe Stewart followed with a double down the right field line. Matt Frey plated a run with a sacrifice fly, and Tito Flores drove an RBI single to right field for a 2-0 lead.

Rutgers (44-15) got a run back on an opposite-field homer run from Josh Kuroda-Grauer in the second inning before trying the game in the third on an RBI triple from Tony Santa Maria.

Michigan answered in the fourth as Ted Burton walked to lead off, immediately stole second, and advanced on a groundout. Jake Marti then stepped to the plate and laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt on a low and outside pitch that allowed Burton to score and reclaim the lead, 3-2. The next inning, Stewart laced another double, this one down the line in left, then went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a line drive single to right from Frey.

Riley Bertram laced a single to start off the sixth inning and Burton followed with a double. Following an out, Rutgers closer Dale Stanevich got a swinging strikeout, but the pitch was wild, and Bertram scampered across the plate for a 5-2 Michigan lead. Stanevich avoided further trouble later in the inning as a potential three-run homer from Stewart was foul by just inches before he was retired on the next pitch.

Rutgers avoided that huge momentum shift but lefty reliever Jacob Denner held Michigan's lead intact as he continued to hold the Scarlet Knights at bay. In the bottom of the sixth, Rutgers loaded the bases with two outs and he went to a 2-2 count on Mike Nyisztor before Denner dug down and got his seventh strikeout of the day.

Denner gave Michigan everything he had in his third appearance of the tournament. The Closter, N.J. native scattered three hits and one run in 4.1 innings of work while walking two batters and striking out seven.

He gave way to Brandon Lawrence in the seventh inning, and Lawrence had to wriggle out of trouble with three fly ball outs after a throwing error and a bad-hop single allowed Rutgers to score an unearned run and narrow the margin.

Michigan seized another opportunity in the eighth with a defining moment. Marti led off the frame with a double and Frey was hit by a pitch with two outs. Michigan catcher Jimmy Obertop then blasted a three-run homer into the stiff wind to give the Wolverines an 8-3 lead.

After Lawrence allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth, the Michigan Magic was on display again in the top of the ninth. Jack Van Remortel executed yet another suicide squeeze -- but this one scored two runs in a play eerily similar to what U-M pulled off in the 2019 Corvallis Regional. The play made the score 10-4 in favor of the Wolverines and all but sealed the win.

Chase Allen toed the rubber in the bottom of the ninth and tossed a scoreless inning. Rutgers led off the frame with a walk but a ground ball double play and a groundout ended the game as Michigan clinched its 10th Big Ten Tournament title.

Big Ten All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Player
Clark Elliott, Michigan

All-Tournament Team
1B – Chris Brito, Rutgers
2B – Izaya Fullard, Iowa
SS – Riley Bertram, MICHIGAN
3B – Matt Frey, MICHIGAN
OF – Kyle Huckstorf, Iowa
OF – Troy Schreffler Jr, Maryland
OF – Clark Elliott, MICHIGAN
DH – Tito Flores, MICHIGAN
C – Jimmy Obertop, MICHIGAN
P – Bradley Brehmer, Indiana
P – Cameron Weston, MICHIGAN
P – Nathan Florence, Rutgers