The Michigan Wolverine baseball team was on the brink of elimination at the Atlanta Regional in the NCAA Tournament. Following their 5-2 loss to Vanderbilt yesterday, Michigan fell into the loser’s bracket which meant that the Wolverines would face the Stetson Hammers, who lost 7-5 against Georgia Tech.

            Stetson jumped out to a quick one run advantage in the bottom of the first. After a Braedyn Pruitt double, Chris Johnson waved him home with a single to right field. Michigan came back in big fashion, however, with a two-run homerun from Eric Rose. That was his second long ball of the season and drove in his 38^th and 39^th RBI of his junior campaign. Two RBI singles from Derek VanBuskirk and Mike Shmidt earlier in the inning  put Michigan up 4-1 entering the bottom half of the second. The Wolverines added another in the top of the fifth when Leif Mahler hit his eighth double of the season to drive in Eric Rose who singled and stole second earlier in the inning. Meanwhile, Michigan starter, Paul Hammond, worked effectively in his 14^th start of the season; only allowing one run through the first five innings. He carries a 2.52 ERA coming into the match against Stetson.

            Eric Rose used his good eye to add to the Wolverine lead. Rose walked in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out to drive in another Wolverine run to push the cushion to 6-1. Jeff Kunkel scored on the bases loaded walk; he reached on an error to lead off the inning by Hatter shortstop Brian Bocock. Kunkel used an A.J. Sheidt double and a Mike Shmidt walk to advance to third. Stetson pitcher, Chris Ingoglia, was replaced following the Rose walk; he finished his afternoon allowing 10 hits and six runs in 5.1 innings of work. Jake Hitchcock replaced Ingoglia and was able to get the next out of the inning but the rally continued for Michigan. Nate Recknagel, leading the Wolverines in hits (77) and doubles (18) this year, came up with a huge bases loaded two-bagger to clear the bases to put the Wolverines in a huge comfort zone, 9-1. Another run scratched across home plate for Michigan when Doug Pickens hit an RBI single; driving in Recknagel and giving the Wolverines a 10-1 advantage. Michigan tacked on another in the top of the ninth when pinch-hitter Jason Christian scored from third on a Brad Roblin RBI groundout. Christian doubled earlier in the inning for his seventh hit of the season.  

            Paul Hammond finished his stellar pitching performance with allowing only one run on six hits. In his sixth complete game, he struck out six and only walked one. He improves to 8-4 in his senior campaign.

            The Michigan Wolverines now will face the loser of the Vanderbilt/Georgia Tech battle tomorrow (June 4) at 1 PM at Russ Chandler Stadium. The match between the Commodores and Yellow Jackets takes place later today at 7 PM. If Michigan would win the game tomorrow, they would face the winner of the Vanderbilt/Georgia Tech game later that day at approximately 5 PM.

Final- Michigan 11 Stetson 1

Go Blue!