Michigan Baseball: Continue to roll against Michigan State

from MGoBlue.com
http://www.mgoblue.com/baseball/article.aspx?id=134834

Wolverines Stay Hot With Pair of Wins at Michigan State

April 19, 2008
Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Kobs Field)
Score:
First game: Michigan 10, Michigan State 4.
Second game: Michigan 7, Michigan State 1.
Records: U-M (27-8, 15-1 Big Ten), Michigan State (13-20, 4-11 Big Ten)
Next Game: Sunday, April 20 -- vs. Michigan State (Wilpon Baseball Complex), 1:05 p.m.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team continued its strong play in Big Ten Conference action with its fifth doubleheader sweep in league play, downing Michigan State, 10-4 and 6-1, on Kobs Field. Michigan improved to 14-1 in conference play this season and remains the top team in the league standings.

Redshirt junior Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) posted his team-leading seventh win of the season. The righthander improved his record to 7-0 for the year, earning the win in the first game. In his 5.1 innings of work, Fetter scattered seven hits and struck out two, while allowing four earned runs.

U-M jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Six different Wolverines tallied hits, led by junior SS Jason Christian's (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) two in the first frame.

Christian started the day with a double into the left-centerfield gap to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Fifth-year senior 2B Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) then drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Senior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) connected for his first hit of the series in the ensuing at bat, blooping the ball between the short stop and the leftfielder. The runners held at second and third, loading the bases for junior DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS).

The Wolverine clean-up man wasted little time at the plate, driving a 1-0 pitch back up the middle and into centerfield to bring home Christian and Mahler for a 2-0 U-M lead. Junior 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe South, Mich./South HS) made it a 3-0 game with a long drive to left field that caromed off the bottom of the wall, marking his eighth double of the season.

Two batters later, Putnam scored and Abraham moved to third on a passed ball to up the score to 4-0. With two outs and Abraham still on third, sophomore C Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./Heights School) was called out on strikes on a 3-2 pitch -- but another passed ball allowed him to reach first and Abraham to score for a 5-0 lead.

Senior/junior CF Kenny Fellows (Holt, Mich./Holt HS) extended the inning with a perfectly-placed bunt down the third baseline to put runners on second and third. Christian gave the Wolverines an 8-0 lead with his second hit of the frame -- a single to rightfield -- to score Berset and move Fellows to third.

In his second plate appearance of the inning, Mahler lined a pitch off the leg of Spartan starter Mark Sorenson the ricocheted into rightfield, bringing home Fellows and completing the seven-run first.

The Maize and Blue added three more runs in the third inning when Recknagel launched his Big Ten-leading 14th homer of the year over the left field wall. With two runners on base and a 3-1 count in his favor, the senior slugger turned on a pitch and gave U-M a 10-0 advantage.

The jack was the 34th of his three-year U-M career and moved him into second place in the Michigan record books. He trails only Casey Close (1983-86), who blasted 46 in his four years while donning the block M.

Fetter rolled through the first five innings, allowing just two hits, but he ran into trouble in the sixth. After four runs on five singles and only one out an a runner on first, freshman RHP Kolby Wood (Eau Claire, Mich./Berrien Springs HS) got the call from the bullpen. The freshman ended the Spartan inning three pitches later, inducing a 6-4-3 double play ball off the bat of Brandon Doherty.

In game two, freshman RHP Travis Smith improved to 4-1 in rookie campaign, scattering seven hits over 5.2 innings, allowing just one run. Smith is now 2-1 in league play.

Putnam and VanBuskirk provided the power in game two, each pounding a solo shot in the second inning. Putnam's blast was the seventh of the season, extending his hitting streak to a career-tying 12 games.

The right-centerfield jack for VanBuskirk was his fourth of the season and second in Big Ten play. Three of his four homers this season were hit with the bases empty.
Abraham extended the lead to 4-0 with a two-run homer to left-centerfield on a 3-1 count in the fourth inning. Following a Putnam leadoff walk, the junior tri-captain blasted his second jack in the three-game series for the four-run Wolverine advantage.

The Wolverines added three more with one in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, and senior/junior Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake HS) came in to pitch the final 1.2 innings, leading the Wolverines to improve to 14-1 in Big Ten play.

The Maize and Blue looks to complete its four-game sweep over MSU when the two teams meet Sunday (April 20) inside the Wilpon Baseball Complex, home to Ray Fisher Stadium. Action begins at 1:05 p.m.