from MGoBlue.comhttp://www.mgoblue.com/baseball/article.aspx?id=139168
Michigan Wraps Up Win Over Kentucky in Regional Opener
May 31, 2008
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Wilpon Complex)
Event: NCAA Regional
Score: #17 Michigan 7, Purdue 5
Records: U-M (46-12), Kentucky (42-18)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, May 31 -- vs. Arizona in NCAA Regional (Wilpon Complex), 7 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan baseball team won its first game of the NCAA Regional by a 7-5 count over Kentucky on Saturday (May 31). The game began Friday evening (May 30) but was suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning with U-M in front 5-1 because of imminent thunderstorms.
Junior RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) earned the win by throwing five effective innings Friday night. He gave up one run on six hits with four strikeouts. Junior 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in what turned out to be an important run in the bottom of the fifth when play resumed this morning.
With the win, No. 2 seed Michigan advances to play top-seeded Arizona tonight at 7 p.m., while No. 3 seed Kentucky turns around right away to face No. 4 seed Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.
Kentucky got on the board first by effectively playing small ball in the second inning. Following a pair of singles to start the frame, a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, and a single by Tyler Howe brought in one run. Putnam began to work himself out of the jam with a fake-to-first, throw-to-third pickoff play that cut down the runner at home plate. Putnam then froze the Wildcats' No. 9 hitter for his second strikeout of the game.
The Wolverines responded in their half of the second inning with a five-run outburst. Putnam earned a leadoff walk and moved to third base when Abraham executed a hit-and-run play perfectly by slapping the ball behind the second baseman. Junior CF Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi HS) scored Putnam with a sacrifice fly to centerfield for U-M's first run. Senior LF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair HS) reached safely with a base hit, and sophomore catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./Heights School) ripped an RBI single to give U-M a 2-1 lead.
UK starting pitcher Chris Rusin was lifted after walking Ryan LaMarre (Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi HS). Reliever Aaron Lovett entered with the bases loaded and gave up a two-run double to junior SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) to right-centerfield. Senior 2B Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) drove in the final run of the inning with a suicide squeeze down the third-base line to plate LaMarre.
Putnam got into trouble again in the third inning with the Wildcats' No. 1 and No. 2 hitters reaching base with singles. The U-M hurler got the first out of the inning by inducing a flyout by UK's leading hitter, Sawyer Carroll, who began the night hitting .416. Putnam finished the inning with the help of his batterymate, Berset, as Putnam fanned the batter and Berset fired to third to throw out a would-be base-stealer.
The Wolverines got a two-out rally started in the fifth inning when senior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) walked and Putnam singled to put runners on first and second. Unfortunately, approaching storms and eventual heavy rains forced the game to be suspended until Saturday morning. Abraham's 3-1 count carried over into the morning, and he hit the first offering he saw from new pitcher Brock Baber up the middle for an RBI.
U-M tacked on another run in the sixth when, with one out, four straight batters reached base -- three singles and a walk -- to drive in Berset. The rally ended when Mike Dufek (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS), who had to come in to replace an injured Recknagel, bounced into a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded.
Kentucky got back into the game with a four-run eighth inning off reliever Eric Katzman (Harrington, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan HS). Carroll clocked his 17th home run of the season to lead off the inning. Three of the next four batters reached base on a single, infield error and hit by pitch, which brought in Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake HS). With the bases loaded, a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly to centerfield allowed the Wildcats to trim their deficit to 7-5.
In the ninth inning, Powers got the first out by retiring Carroll but then permitted a walk and a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Christian got the second out of the inning by making a nice running catch down the leftfield line, and the final out of the game was a groundout to second base.
The Wolverines will take on No. 1 seed Arizona later tonight at 7 p.m. in the winners' bracket final of the Ann Arbor Regional. Arizona defeated No. 4 seed Eastern Michigan 13-7 in the early game yesterday.
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