It was the bottom of the 7th inning on Saturday as Michigan sophomore relief pitcher Tyler Burgoon approached the mound. The Wolverines were in a 1-1 deadlock with Iowa in the first weekend of Big Ten play.

Burgoon tossed a wild pitch that flew past freshman catcher Coley Crank, sending a Hawkeye baserunner home to break the tie. Michigan (2-1 Big Ten, 16-7 overall) couldn’t recover from the 2-1 deficit and suffered its first Big Ten loss at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.

The only thing colder than the Wolverine bats was the weather, which spent most of the weekend below 40 degrees.

“When the weather is so bad, so cold, it’s usually a low-scoring game,” fifth-year senior outfielder Kenny Fellows said of Saturday's 2-1 loss. “It’s tough to get the bats going in those situations when they’re already so cold.”

To manufacture more runs, Fellows knew the Wolverines would need to play scrappy baseball and improve the small-ball aspect of their game to build on their Friday win and claim the Big Ten opening series on Sunday.

The former walk-on responded yesterday to the tune of a career-high four hits and four stolen bases as Michigan cruised to a 7-5 win over Iowa (1-2, 9-12).

Michigan coach Rich Maloney called the team’s performance “a gritty one, to say the least”.

“Thank goodness we got a running game going finally,” Maloney said. “It’s been stalled for quite a while. And today, Kenny Fellows was great. He was our spark plug.”

The rest of the Wolverines contributed two more steals to give the team a season-high six stolen bases. It couldn’t have come at a better time. After two baserunners were picked off in the waning innings of Michigan’s 3-1 loss to Eastern Michigan last week, Maloney admitted baserunning was key to the Wolverines’ success.

And on Sunday, Michigan’s improved baserunning disrupted the Hawkeyes' defensive efforts and allowed the team to put last week’s embarrassing loss to the Eagles behind them.

Of course, the return of a legitimate offensive threat from Michigan's bats sure helped as the Wolverines had four players with multiple hits on the afternoon.

“It took every ounce of energy we had to get it done,” Maloney said. "Now, we have a lot of guys just waiting in the wings, so they have to be scrappy in order to win.”

In the series opener Friday, the Wolverines sent ace senior pitcher Chris Fetter to the mound. Just like all season, he didn’t disappoint.

After allowing three runs in the first inning, Fetter rebounded to throw a complete game. He gave up five hits and struck out nine Hawkeye batters to lead Michigan to a narrow 4-3 win.

The winning run came courtesy of a sacrifice fly from senior second baseman Kevin Cislo in the eighth inning that scored senior pinch runner Nick Urban.

The real difference from the Wolverine bats came from junior first baseman Mike Dufek who was 6 of 12 with four RBI on the weekend to continue his hot hand as of late.

In a conference that looks to be much closer than in past seasons, the Wolverines will need offensive production from players like Dufek and Fellows who have been “waiting in the wings”.

“The last few years we were dominant (in the Big Ten),” Maloney said. “But we knew that wasn’t the case this year. On any given day, any of these teams can beat each other up . . . It’s going to be a contested race right to the end.”