May 26, 2006
Recap |
Final Stats
Michigan Head Coach Rich Maloney
On the offensive explosion against Northwestern ...
"It's been a long time coming. I really believe my hitters can hit. I like my offensive team. I really, really do. I believe in these guys. We've just been in a lull and we needed something to break out of it. We needed a big hit. And Jeff [Kunkel] came through with a big two-run hit when we had to have it. It ignited the team and they came up huge. We had 16 hits today. We won a game with offense and that is huge. That should be great for our confidence and hopefully we can carry it over.
"Three weeks ago, we had seven games in a row where we had more than 10 hits. And then we had Illinois, Penn State, and Iowa three weekends in a row where we only had a game or two where we really hit the ball and the other ones we kind of struggled. I was just hoping that we could survive long enough to get our bats going because I think our bats are going to get hot now. I really believe in these guys and I think that tomorrow, we're going to hit the baseball. It will certainly be a war, but I like the chances of my ball club. I don't think we're out of this thing yet."
Pitcher Chris Fetter
On his pitching performance ...
"I knew I needed to help the team. We had a tough game this morning, and I needed to give the team a boost. I looked at this game as a pretty big task because they finished at number two, and I wanted to prove to them that we deserved the number one spot in the regular season. I just came out and even though I didn't have my best stuff today, I let my defenders help me and did whatever I could to help my team."
On Michigan's four-run third ...
"The past couple of weeks, I've struggled to get run support. So, just having those four runs and knowing that if you make a mistake you're still in the game, allows you to pitch with a little more confidence. I was able to just try and hit my spots and not worry about making a mistake. The run support was a really big key for me. It really settled me down."
Catcher Jeff Kunkel
On his two-run hit in the third inning ...
"He stuck that new pitcher in because the other guy was struggling and we'd seen him in the last series and I remember he was staying away from me. I was just looking to drive something through the big hole between the shortstop and the third baseman. I was just trying to stay back and hang in there, and I slapped it into left field."
On the team's batting today ...
"I think in the first game, we really didn't have anything to get us going. We had some guys on, but we couldn't get the big hit. We finally had guys on in the middle of our order and we were able to get a big hit at that time. After that, things started rolling and everybody started seeing the ball a little better. Their pitcher was leaving some balls up in the last couple of innings and we were really getting to them."
