Saturday, March 29, 2008

Michigan Takes on Iowa in Michigan's Big 10 Baseball Opener

Listen to the Michigan baseball doubleheader against the Iowa Hawkeyes with the WCBN crew LIVE on MGoBlue.com.

Zach Putnam is on today as he has tied a career-high by striking out 10 Hawkeyes through five innings of work. Here are a few of the strikeouts

Strikeout #6
Strikeout #7
Strikeout #9

And Putnam's career day continues from the plate as he just parked one onto the softball field, giving Michigan a 3-0 lead. Adam Abraham followed hitting the next pitch off the "Brick" Monster out in left field for a double.

Putnam's Solo Homer

Abraham's Double
Strikeout #11 (sets career high)


Putnam lost the no-no on a 7th inning single by Justin Toole, and after three unearned runs crossed the plate in that 7th inning, Michigan found themselves in a brand new ball game.
Michael Jacobs' day is done, after going 7.1 IP, giving up 3 runs (2 earned), 7 hits, 2 Ks, and zero walks on the day. Jacobs is responsible for Nate Recknagel, who singled with one out in the bottom of the 8th. Putnam is now up with Andrew Porter pitching for Iowa -- 1 on, 1 out, 3-3 ballgame.

8th inning

Zach Putnam's fantastic day on the mound is over as he is replaced by Tyler Burgoon here in the top of the 9th inning. Here is the line for Putnam:

8 IP 3 H 3 R 0 ER 0 BB 12 K

Michigan was unable to push across a run in the 8th after a 1 out single from Nate Recknagel. Kenny Fellows came in to run for Recknagel and has stayed in the game as a defensive replacement, with Derek VanBuskirk moving over to 1st base.

9th inning

Tyler Burgoon continues the dominance of this Iowa Hawkeye lineup as he sets them down 1-2-3 with a called third strike to end the inning.

In the bottom half Jeremy predicted another game-winning home run from Alan Oaks (see Vanderbilt in last year's NCAA Regional). Unfortunately Oaks came up about 15 feet short as he flew out to left. On another note, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning Chris Berset has drawn the first walk of the game, and he has now advanced to second on a wild pitch before being replaced by Nick Urban as a pinch runner. After a seven pitch walk to Ryan LaMarre Kevin Cislo has beaten out an infield single, and Derek VanBuskirk will bat with the bases loaded and two outs. Unfortunately VanBuskirk popped out to second. Extra innings here we come.

10th inning

1-2-3 in the top half of the inning, as Iowa should be used to this by now, as they have been set down in order for the 9th time in 10 innings so far.

Kenny Fellows leads off the inning with a strikeout, however third-string catcher Kody McManis can't hold onto the pitch and Fellows reaches first safely before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Jeremy thinks Putnam should lay down a bunt here, but Zach has never laid down a bunt at Michigan and I think Jeremy is a little crazy, and I am vindicated as Putnam smashes a double off the Blue Monster to drive in the winning run, capping off a fantastic game for him as Michigan takes game 1 4-3 in 10 innings. Game 2 will start in about half an hour, and we will work on getting game 1 highlights up for you. GO BLUE!

Here's the highlight of Putnam's game-winning double.

The second game is underway -- click on the link at the top of this blog post to listen to Matt Boyer, Stu Zaas, Jeremy Kreisberg, and Michael Tobin call Chris Fetter's first home start of the season.

Iowa is up 1-0 in game 2 on a Hoef triple, followed by a Cataldo sacrifice fly. Fetter has settled down since, striking out three of the last five batters he faced, including this one on Matt Mossey.

Iowa now leads 3-0, as Chris Fetter balked in a run and Justin Toole hit a sacrifice fly to score two runs in the 3rd inning. Michigan looks to be going through the motions so far in this game, and, in a 7-inning contest, they'll have to turn it on soon if they hope to win the 2nd game of this double-dip.

Michigan has tied it up here in the bottom of the fifth so it's a case of de-ja-vu as we're tied 3-3 again.

WOW! Zach Putnam has given Michigan the 5-3 lead with a no-doubt home run onto Alumni Field. His monster day continues ashe now has two homers for the doubleheader.

Michigan wins 5-3 and sweeps the doubleheader on the first day of Big Ten action at the renovated Fisher Stadium! Go Blue!

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