Live Game Blog: Michigan Baseball vs IPFW

Recap
Michigan wins 4-2, with Kolby Wood getting the win and Tyler Burgoon picking up the save. Here are the highlights:

- Wilson K in the 1st
- VanBuskirk's tie-breaking single
- Berset's insurance run
- Final Out

And the final piece of good news--there is actually a tarp on the field, so maybe we will get some games in against Iowa this weekend. For Stu Zaas and Jeremy Kreisberg, good night and go Blue!

9th Inning
Surprise, surprise -- the new pitcher for the Wolverines is freshman Tyler Burgoon, although I'm sure Abraham will be ready in case there are any issues. Jared Davis finally shows us why he's on the Wallace Watch List, as he doubles over the head of Alan Oaks. Oaks seemed to be playing in and got turned around twice before the ball hit the wall, so IPFW has 1 on and 1 out. Rob Salaman has just noted that Kolby Wood is in line for the win for Michigan in his collegiate debut. A fly ball has moved Michigan one out away from the win. Check out the rest of the blog for some highlights, as they have begun to be uploaded. Michigan wins! Burgoon gets the strikeout of Aaron Kerns looking to end it! 4-2 final here at the Fish... I'll be back in just a few moments with highlights and a recap.

8th Inning
Kolby Wood makes his collegiate debut in a 2-2 game, and gets the first batter on a liner right back at him. Wood has looked very impressive, firing a fastball in the strike zone and attacking the hitters thus far. The 3-2 pitch to Quentin Brown is on the outside corner, strike three called! Great pitch by Wood to beat Brown in an 8-pitch at-bat. Wood has been using a nice slider to get ahead in the count, and he has now run the count to 0-2 on Mark Carden. Kolby Wood gets Carden swinging! Great pitching by Kolby Wood, and we head to the bottom of the 8th, still tied at 2-2. We've now switched computer, so live highlights should be available from this point of the game on. After Walker retired VanBuskirk, Abraham hit the ball past the diving attempt of the SS Carden. On a pick-off attempt, Abraham may have jammed his finger or wrist, and we'll have to watch Abraham to ensure his health. Abraham shows that he is healthy, as he steals 2nd base. VanBuskirk lines the ball into LF and Abraham is SAFE at home! Michigan leads 3-2! Listen to Stu Zaas and Michael Tobin HERE, as they had the call. VanBuskirk moved to 2nd on the throw home. Alan Oaks grounded out, with VanBuskirk holding on at 2nd, so Michigan has a runner on at 2nd with 2 outs. Berset has given Michigan a VERY valuable insurance run, as he lined a single up the middle, scoring VanBuskirk and giving Michigan a 4-2 lead. Listen to Stu and Mike HERE calling Berset's RBI single. Abraham is warming up in the bullpen, and we expect him to come on to try and get the save in this two-run game, unless Michigan can tack on a couple more. LaMarre strikes out swinging, but not before Michigan scored 2 runs to take a 4-2 lead.

7th Inning
Michael Powers will stay on to pitch in the top of the 7th inning! He's the first Michigan pitcher to stay on past his first inning of work. VanDriessche leads off the inning with a single. The 4th sacrifice bunt of the game for IPFW moves VanDriesche over to 2nd base with 1 out. Michael Powers fields the roller from Segraves and fires over to 3rd to nail VanDriessche. Great play by Powers! 2 outs, 1 on now in the top of the 7th with Jimmy Gilliland up at bat. The 1-2 pitch is handled by VanBuskirk in LF, and we go to the bottom of the 7th tied at twos. Ryan LaMarre hammers the first pitch of the inning into the left-centerfield gap! Stand-up double for Ryan LaMarre! Cislo is now up, facing a right-hander for the first time in this game. Cislo bunts LaMarre over to 3rd, with Taylor making a nice play to gun down Cislo at 1st. Mahler hit the ball to 3rd, but Gilliland fielded the ball easily and fired home, getting LaMarre in a run-down before LaMarre was tagged out by Taylor, the IPFW catcher... very disappointing turn in this inning for the Wolverines, as the game remains deadlocked at ones with a runner on a 1st base and 2 outs. Recknagel grounded the ball to short, where Carden got the force out at 2nd base, so we move to the top of the 8th tied at 2-2.

6th Inning
Mike Powers now in to work for Michigan, the sixth pitcher to work today for the Maize and Blue. We'll see if he can record the first 1-2-3 inning of the day as IPFW has had somebody reach base in each inning so far. Powers strikes out the first two Mastodons...could this be the inning? And it is! Comebacker to the mound is handled by Powers so on to the bottom of the inning, still tied at 2. Freshman right-hander Samuel Walker is now on to pitch for IPFW. Ryan VanDriesche went the first five innings, giving up two runs on six hits, walking two and striking out three. Adam Abraham leads things off for Michigan as they look to break this tie. Two up, two down to start the inning for Michigan as Mr. Double, Alan Oakes comes up to bat. Oakes doesn't disappoint delivering a single back up the middle. Nothing comes of it though as we go to the 7th still tied 2-2.

5th Inning
For the 5th consecutive inning, IPFW has a runner aboard as Ben Jensen, the new Wolverine pitcher hits Aaron Kerns to lead off the inning. Sacrifice complete for IPFW so they have a runner on 2nd, one out in this tie game. Jensen able to get out of it, so we head to the bottom of the fifth still tied 2-2. After falling behind 3-0, VanDriesche battles back to strike out Mahler, his third K of the game. Michigan goes down 1-2-3 so after five innings, we're tied 2-2.

4th Inning
Jeff DeCarlo, the southpaw from Medford, Mass. is the 4th pitcher for the Wolverines. DeCarlo got Scott Macinski to ground out to 3rd baseman Adam Abraham to begin the top of the inning. DeCarlo then walked Quentin Brown on seven pitches. Brown broke on a number of pitches, with DeCarlo playing cat-and-mouse with Brown on numerous pick-off attempts, but Brown would ultimately move to 2nd base on a single by Mark Carden into center-field. Bob Keller has now gone out to talk to DeCarlo with 2 on and 1 out. Devin Taylor takes a 2-1 pitch to left for his third hit of the game, as Quentin Brown comes in to score, giving IPFW a 2-1 lead. DeCarlo got Jared Davis looking for the 2nd out, so IPFW now has a runners on at 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. A wild pitch moves the runners up, with 2 runners now moving into scoring position. Mahler just scooped up a groundball and fired on to 1st to end the top of the 4st, but not before IPFW grabbed a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, VanBuskirk popped up to lead off the inning, but Alan Oaks doubled into right-center. After Berset flew out to CF, Ryan Lamarre delivered the RBI single on a ground ball up the middle, tying the game at two-a-piece. After a passed ball moved LaMarre to 3rd base, Cislo walked on 4 pitches. Leif Mahler is now up with runners on at 1st and 3rd. VanDreissche got Cislo in a pickle which ended up with Lamarre being gunned down trying to score from third.

3rd Inning
Travis Smith is the new pitcher for the Wolverines to start out the top of the third with the score tied 1-1. Devin Taylor leads things off with a single to right for IPFW but Smith is able to work out of the jam as the score remains 1-1 as Michigan comes to bat. Recknagel rips a single to left and then shows some rare speed as he swipes his first base of the season. Good opportunity here for Michigan to break the tie with a man on 2nd, one out. Putnam and Abraham were then retired so we head to the fourth, still tied 1-1

2nd Inning
New Pitcher for Michigan is Chris Fetter as Rich Maloney told us before the game that he plans to use many different pitchers today in order to keep arms fresh. Fetter is off to a rough start as the first batter, Kerns reached via a Nate Recknagel error then came around to score on a bunt single by Micinski. 1-0 IPFW leads midway through the second. Now to the bottom of the first...VanBuskirk starts things off with a bloop single to center and Alan Oakes follows with a double off the right field wall on the next pitch. Promising start to the inning as Michigan has runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and Chris Berset at the plate. Chris Berset wastes no time lining the first pitch to right, deep enough for VanBuskirk to tag and score to tie up the game 1-1.

1st Inning
Wilson gave up a hit in the top half of the inning, but rallies to strike out the next two Mastodons to get out of the first unscathed. In Michigan's half, Leif Mahler was able to draw a walk and advanced to second on a nice piece of hitting by DH Zach Putnam who took a breaking ball over the outside corner the other way for a basehit. Michigan was unable to put a run on the board though as Abraham ended the threat by popping out to first

Pregame
For the first time in the last three attempts, Michigan will actually get to play a game today. Mike Wilson will be on the hill for the Wolverines while Ryan VanDriessche will get the ball for IPFW. Jeremy and I will be here live blogging the game, complete with all the highlights as they happen. You can also listen to our call online via MGOBLUE. First pitch will be at 5:05