OT: Michigan baseball

Michigan completed a 3-game sweep of sparty this weekend, 6-3, 5-1, 6-2. Everyone here knows how much I hate sparty so this is very good news. Now to give Admin some props, his Who's-your-Daddy baseball team is kicking ass. They are 25-4 overall (8-1 B1G). Of course they haven't really played anyone yet but that is still very impressive.

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Michigan completed a 3-game sweep of sparty this weekend, 6-3, 5-1, 6-2. Everyone here knows how much I hate sparty so this is very good news. Now to give Admin some props, his Who's-your-Daddy baseball team is kicking ass. They are 25-4 overall (8-1 B1G). Of course they haven't really played anyone yet but that is still very impressive.

My younger brother (a soph at IU) was just telling me last week how hot the baseball team has started.

Sounds pretty impressive.

Looks like they did some reno on the stadium down there in Btown, as well, based on pics I've seen.

When I was in High School a long time ago (why do I receive this image of Al Bundy all of a sudden) I played Fall Baseball in Indiana. The Indiana kids were always very sound but I actually thought that the kids from Illinois were the most talented players that I ever had the pleasure of playing with/against. Elkhart, Dekalb, parts just outside of Chicago had awesome baseball talent. This league had kids from ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and of course there were 3 kids from Michigan (myself included). As this league was in southern Indiana myself and the other 2 guys from Michigan came down late Friday night and crashed so we didn't have to make the 6 hour drive Saturday morning (games started at 9 a.m.). This league was at an old monastery and let me tell you, it was kinda creepy at night by ourselves. As we got down there the night before nothing was turned on but security lights, the floors were all cement, it smelled like old people, and the beds were out of basic training. Anyway, the first night we were there we wandered into the "gym" (which was the old chapel before it was "converted). Metallica's "Black" CD was just released and we were blasting that in the "gym" with very little light while trying to play basketball in the dark. It was pretty scary for 16 year-old white kids from suburbia-Michigan. Needless to say that was the last time that we stayed at the camp, we got a hotel room they rest of the camp.

Sorry, went way off of tangent there but I guess the reason why I mentioned it was that Indiana has good baseball. I guess because 1/2 of the state is in the northern portion of the south. That begs the question though, Admin, why is Indiana so inept at football?

http://www.michigandaily.com/node/72281

Michigan baseball just completed a sweep of Penn State (of course PSU sucks so I'm not so sure how large of an accomplishment that was). Michigan Baseball has now won 9 straight games and is in first place in the B1G. Depending on the outcome of the Minnesota/Northwestern game this afternoon either Michigan will be in first by themselves or share it with Minnesota. Admin's "Whose-your-daddies" are tied for 3rd in the B1G after losing two games to sparty in walk-off fashion. Indiana and sparty have the third game of the series later today.

Michigan is playing well right now. we will see how well they can maintain this. They go for #10 in a row Tuesday afternoon (4:05) against Notre Dame in Ann Arbor.

Oh, and Admin, this coming Saturday (4-20 for all of you high-on's out there) Michigan will play Northwestern at Wrigley field in Chicago (6:05 CT).

Dude, Admin WTF is up with your baseball team? sparty swept them this weekend (2-1, 6-5, 6-5). That's embarrassing....

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/three-strikes-week-nine-3/

Strike Two: Young Wolverines Find Themselves In Thick Of Big Ten Race

Indiana had established itself as the clear-cut team to beat in the Big Ten this year, but Michigan State upset the apple cart this weekend by sweeping the Hoosiers, winning all three games in walk-off fashion. But before you anoint the Spartans the new Big Ten favorite, remember last weekend, when Michigan State was swept by Michigan, with two of the games being played in East Lansing.

Now, after MSU’s sweep of Indiana, the Wolverines find themselves tied atop the Big Ten standings with Minnesota at 7-2. The Golden Gophers, of course, won a road series at Michigan three weeks ago, but since then Michigan hasn’t lost a game. The Wolverines are riding a nine-game winning streak, which includes a midweek win at Notre Dame last week followed by a sweep of last-place Penn State. Michigan has allowed more than two runs in a game just once during this stretch (they gave up three runs in the opener against Michigan State), yielding just 11 runs total in nine games.

“It’s taken us a while, but we’ve figured out the roles on our pitching staff, and we’ve got three lefties that start on weekends,” said first-year Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “We’ve figured out who goes where in relief to finish games. The good thing about our rotation is it’s three lefties and three plus-makeup kids. They’re all tough, they’re all very good competitors, and that’s been a big part of our success.”

Bakich inherited a team that went just 22-34 overall last year, and 8-16 in the Big Ten to finish 10th in the 11-team league. During his previous stint at Maryland, Bakich succeeded in getting the Terrapins to play with with a chip on their shoulders and with abundant energy. He has quickly instilled that same ethic in his young Wolverines.

“We’re a young team, a new team. Even a lot of the guys who are returners on the team, it’s their first year starting,” Bakich said. “I really like this club. They’ve bought in to everything our coaching staff has asked and the system that we wanted to implement. They play with a ton of energy and enthusiasm.”

The future looks bright for Michigan, which has a strong freshman core leading its resurgence this spring. Michigan’s best starter has been freshman lefthander Evan Hill (6-1, 1.89), whose projectable 6-foot-5 frame helped him rank No. 165 on the BA 500 heading into last year’s draft. Hill still is just scratching the surface of his potential, but he is maturing quickly and has settled nicely into the Saturday starter role.

“He still is a projection guy—his best years are ahead of him,” Bakich said. “But he’s very talented, he works extremely hard. The mental game has been critical for him, because he’s learned how to breathe and focus on executing the next pitch, that’s been a big part of his development mentally. But he’s still a long, lean, tall, thin guy who has a good fastball, and he’s got good offspeed pitches. He just doesn’t always have the command that he’s going to have in the future of his secondary stuff. But a lot of his success has come from pitching off his fastball. He throws a cutter and a curveball, and when those are on, he usually does pretty well.”

Two other freshmen have earned starting jobs on the left side of the infield and in the top half of the batting order. Travis Maezes (.308/.396/.421) has shown good athleticism, instincts and arm strength at shortstop while hitting in the No. 2 hole. And third baseman Jacob Cronenworth (.339/.397/.460 with two homers and a team-leading 26 RBIs) has been very steady in the cleanup spot. He has a balanced, line-drive approach from the left side of the plate to go along with good speed. Cronenworth also has a strong arm at the hot corner, and he can run his fastball up to 92 mph off the mound, where he has emerged as Michigan’s closer, posting a 1.06 ERA, six saves and a 16-3 strikeout-walk mark in 17 innings.

“He and Travis Maezes are baseball players, always in the cages on their own, always working on their games,” Bakich said. “They were both hockey players in high school. They just have an an element of toughness that you don’t always see.”

And Michigan has two front-line college players in veteran outfielders Michael O’Neill (.368/.409/.479 with 15 steals in 18 tries) and Patrick Biondi (.329/.434/.366, eight steals in nine attempts). Biondi missed three weekends with a sprained thumb suffered while diving for a ball in Week Four in San Diego, and the Wolverines scuffled without him. He returned to full duty for the Michigan State series, and it’s no coincidence that the Wolverines have caught fire since then.

“(With Biondi out), Michael O’Neill got pitched completely different than when Pat’s hitting in front of him—it changed our whole dynamic,” Bakich said. “Pat’s our captain, Mike’s on the leadership council with Pat. Pat has game-changing ability both defensively and offensively. Pat’s made some catches that I haven’t seen since (former Florida star) Matt den Dekker—he’s catching the ball over his head, on the run, just completely changing the complexion of the game with his defense alone. He has a unique ability to take extra bases out of the gaps and turn them into outs.

“At the plate, Pat has as good or better strike zone discipline as any hitter I’ve coached. He’s as good a leadoff hitter as I think there is in college baseball right now. I know he was the Cape Cod League batting champion last year. He’s a premium runner, a premium defender with an average arm, and his hit ability is really good. So I think he’s a great player. He’s special.”

Michigan baseball rides nine-game winning streak into non-conference games

http://www.michigandaily.com/node/72429

Baseball earns 10th consecutive victory, defeats Notre Dame, 8-2

http://www.michigandaily.com/node/72451

Ballantine inspires baseball team even when he can’t be there

http://www.michigandaily.com/node/72510