from MGoBlue.comhttp://www.mgoblue.com/baseball/article.aspx?id=137664
Recknagel Makes History in Victory Over Notre Dame
May 13, 2008
Site: Comstock Park, Mich. (Fifth Third Ballpark)
Score: #17 Michigan 15, Notre Dame 12
Records: U-M (39-11), Notre Dame (33-16-1)
Next U-M Game: Thursday, May 15 -- vs. Northwestern (Wilpon Complex), 6:35 p.m.
COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan baseball team earned its 39th win of the season and senior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) put his name in the U-M record book with his 20th and 21st home runs of the season, pacing the Wolverines to a 15-12 victory over Notre Dame Tuesday night (May 13) in the Baseball Bash at Fifth Third Ballpark.
Recknagel registered the game-winning RBI as well when he blasted the first of his two long balls to straightaway centerfield in the bottom of the first for home run number 20 on the year. The jack gave him sole possession of Michigan's single-season homer mark, pulling him out of a tie with Casey Close (1983-86), who held the mark since 1986 when he blasted 19 in his final season donning the Maize and Blue.
Recknagel later hit home run number 21 in the top of third with a moon shot to leftfield that cleared the complex and landed on the service drive that leads to the parking lot.
On the mound, sophomore LHP Jeff DeCarlo (Medford, Mass./St. John's Prep) pitched a solid 4.1 innings in relief to earn his second win of the season. The lefty entered the game in the fifth inning and sandwiched a walk between three strikeouts. He registered a career-best six strikeouts and faced the minimum twice, in the seventh and eighth.
After Recknagel's solo home run gave the Wolverines (39-11) a 1-0 lead after one inning, Michigan broke in the game open in the top of the second, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring six runs. Junior CF Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi HS) and sophomore 1B Mike Dufek (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) started the inning for U-M, reaching on a walk and a single, respectively.
Sophomore DH Alan Oaks (White Lake, Mich./Divine Child HS) then gave U-M a 4-0 lead with a towering shot over the leftfield wall for his sixth home run of the season. The Wolverines maintained the pressure with RBI singles by fifth-year senior 2B Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep), junior 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) and Cislo to build U-M's lead to 7-0.
Notre Dame chipped away at the lead in bottom of the second, scoring four runs on a pair of two-run singles. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Jeremy Barnes laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Sean Gatson then singled through the right side to make it a 7-2 ballgame. Following an infield single by Evan Sharpley, it was Greg Sherry's turn to lay down the sac bunt, pushing the runner to second and third with two outs. Fighting Irish leadoff man Brett Lilley came through with a two-out single through the right side, cutting the lead to 7-4.
Michigan answered with three runs in the top of the third, as the Wolverines took advantage of Irish fielding miscues with two outs in the frame. Junior SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) was the first to benefit from a fielding error, when he reached on Barnes' bobbled ball at second. Christian swiped second with Mahler at the plate and came around to score when Sharpley dropped the ball at first during a routine throw by Barnes at second. That increased the Wolverine lead to 8-4.
During the ensuing at-bat, Recknagel upped the lead to 10-4 when he walloped the ball over the wall in left for his second homer of the game and 21st of the year. The two-run shot gave him three RBI on the evening and 167 for his career.
Notre Dame again came back with four in the bottom of the third, with a two-run double to right-center by Barnes and a two-run, two-out, line-drive homer to left by Sharpley cutting U-M's lead to 10-8. The Irish made it a one-run ballgame on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, but that was as close as they would get, as Michigan manufactured a pair of runs in the top of the sixth.
Dufek lead off the sixth with an infield single and later stole second with two outs. Christian then registered a single to the left side, putting runners on the corners with two outs. The Wolverine leadoff man stole second for the second time on the day, leading to Mahler's two-run laced single the opposite way in rightfield, giving U-M a 12-9 lead.
Mahler collected his fourth RBI of the day in the top of the eighth, as he scored freshman RF Ryan LaMarre (Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi HS), who had three hits, from second base for a 13-10 advantage.
The Wolverines added two more in the top of the ninth when Cislo belted a fastball to the deepest part of the park. The ball carried over the head of David Mills and to the base of the 402-foot wall in center. As Mills attempted to make the catch he ran into the wall, allowing the ball to get loose in center. As Cislo rounded the bag at third, he nearly caught up to Abraham, who singled early in the inning. Both Michigan runners touched home in front of the throw, resulting in the inside-the-park home run for Cislo, his first jack of the year.
Senior/junior Michael Powers (St. Clair Shore, Mich./South Lake HS) came in from the bullpen in the ninth inning and closed the door for the final two outs. Powers entered the ballgame with two runners on and the tying run at the plate. He struck out the first batter he faced, then induced a groundball to Mahler at second for his fourth save of the year.
The Wolverines return to the diamond for the first of four against the Northwestern Wildcats Thursday evening (May 15) as the Wolverines finish regular-season play with a homestand at the Wilpon Baseball Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:36 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
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