May 26, 2005

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - It wasn't pretty but Michigan still got the job done by eliminating Iowa from the 2005 Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament with an 8-6 win here on Thursday (May 26) in the first game of the consolation bracket in the double-elimination tournament from Illinois Field on the campus of the University of Illinois.

The two schools combined for nine errors on the afternoon before the fourth seeded Wolverines were able to improve their record to 41-16 overall with the win and advance in the bottom half of the field of six. The third seeded Hawkeyes saw their season come to an end with an overall mark of 28-29.

Michigan struck early with Jeff Kunkel's RBI single off Iowa starter Casey O'Rourke that scored Kyle Bohm. Bohm reached base in the previous at bat on a double down the leftfield line. Both Michigan players were named to the All-Big Ten second team earlier in the week.

With runners on the corners in the bottom of the first, Andy Lytle singled off Michael Penn which scored Nathan Price to tie up the game at 1-1 with the Hawkeyes still threatening with runners on first and third and nobody out. Skyler Moss then tagged up on a deep fly-ball out to center by Nate Yoho to give Iowa a 2-1 lead.

After Michigan tied the game up in the top of the second on a Bohm sacrifice fly that scored Chris Getz, Iowa had runners on second and third with one out in its half of the second. Michigan Head Coach Rich Maloney ordered Yoho intentionally walked to load up the bases and set-up the force at home and the double play. A slow roller to the left side of the mound off the bat of Chris Welker forced U-M third baseman A.J. Scheidt to take the out at first, allowing Price to score Iowa's third run. Jeff Engel then struck out looking to end the inning.

An error by Iowa second baseman Jason White allowed Andy Cox to score the fourth run of the afternoon for Iowa and give them a two-run lead after four innings.

With a runner on in the top of the sixth inning, Matt Butler belted his team-leading seventh homer of the season over the right field wall to tie the game at 4-4. After Iowa Head Coach Jack Dahm went to Austin Seward out of the pen third baseman Andy Cox committed a fielding error that allowed Scheidt to score and put runners on first and second with one down. Ace reliever Tim Gudex was then brought in and got Chris Getz to hit into a fielders choice for the second out and then Brad Roblin to fly out to end the inning but not before Michigan took a 5-4 lead.

The Maize and Blue would tack on two more runs in the top of the seventh on a Scheidt single to right field that scored Butler and Bohm. A junior, Scheidt would reach third after Yoho was unable to field the ball cleanly for an error.

A senior, Yoho would make-up for his mistake by blasting a solo homer off the top of the fence in centerfield in the bottom of the inning to make the score 7-5 Michigan.  

A two out RBI single by Bohm scored Getz to make the score 8-5 Michigan. The run was the third unearned one allowed by Iowa on the day after Getz advanced to second on a throwing error by the catcher Welker after a bunt single earlier in the inning.

Iowa would start its comeback with a Jesse Brownell and then a single by Luis Andrulonis that scored Brownell to make it an 8-6 ballgame. Andrulonis would reach second an error by Michigan right fielder Doug Pickens. Phil Tognetti was then called in form the pen and put a halt to any thoughts of an Iowa comeback by getting the next two batters to end the inning.

The Hawkeyes were threatening to tie the game up with no one out in the ninth. Singles by Travis Sweet and Andy Lytle put runners on first and second and forced the Wolverines to make a pitching change. Lefty Ali Husain came in to face Yoho, who had one homer already on the day. After a strike to Yoho, Michigan backstop Kunkel threw down to second in an attempt to catch Sweet who had drifted off the bag. Sweet took off for third and slid in under the tag for a stolen base. The lefty-lefty match-up of Husain and Yoho was won by Husain after the junior got Yoho to foul out to first base for the first out.

Another lefty - Brad Seddon - was then brought in to face Welker, who represented the winning run. Welker popped the second offering from Seddon straight up and into the glove of first baseman Bohm for the second out before getting Brownell to ground out to third to end the game and the Hawkeyes season.

Michigan will continue on in the consolation bracket on Friday (May 27) at 12:05 p.m. against the loser of the two other second round games (Purdue-Ohio State and Illinois-Minnesota) that is seeded lowest.

Big Ten Baseball

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