With a full count in the seventh inning against Illinois on Saturday night, Mike Dufek stood dumbfounded, staring toward the mound. Illinois pitcher Lee Zerrusen had just struck Dufek out swinging. Frustrated, the junior slammed his bat into the dirt behind the batter’s box. He fumed as he walked back to the dugout with a bent bat and the Michigan baseball team still down 10-7.

Dufek's reaction to the strikeout epitomized his 0-for-4 night and the Wolverines' weekend. Michigan lost two of three, suffering a two-run loss on Saturday and a six-run defeat yesterday, to drop the weekend series against Big Ten-leading Illinois (6-3 Big Ten, 21-8 overall).

Dufek and the offense didn’t have much of problem manufacturing runs in the series, registering eight on Saturday and five yesterday. Instead, it was the Wolverines’ pitching that doomed them in games two and three.

“I’ve seen these pitchers do a lot better,” Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. “Pitching was supposed to be our strength this season, but we’re just not there yet.”

As usual, senior ace pitcher Chris Fetter dominated in his Friday night start, notching a career-high 13 strikeouts to lead Michigan to a decisive victory. With his double-digit strikeout effort, Fetter passed Jim Brauer for fourth-most career strikeouts in program history.

“We believe Chris Fetter is the best pitcher in the league," sophomore Anthony Toth said. "He definitely carried us tonight. We expect him to do what he did (Friday) all the time, and he never disappoints.”

With the team’s relief corps struggling, Maloney decided to let Fetter go the distance in the 4-2 win. The weekend’s other two starters couldn’t produce nearly the same success.

On Saturday, junior Eric Katzman, who came into the weekend with four wins, left the game after allowing three runs through two-thirds of the third inning. The relief staff was caught in the same funk as sophomores Kolby Wood and Matt Miller gave up seven runs in five innings. Their efforts cost the Wolverines a one-run lead that they had held for the first five innings.

In similar fashion, Maloney needed to use four more pitchers yesterday after none of his staff could stay consistent over multiple innings. Twenty hits later, the Wolverines (4-5, 19-13) left the field with their confidence in tatters.

With the team’s best reliever, sophomore Tyler Burgoon, and its clutch defensive catcher, junior Chris Berset, both out with injuries, Michigan couldn’t find a rhythm.

Even Maloney couldn’t avoid the frustration.

In the sixth inning of Saturday’s game, senior tri-captain Kevin Cislo was called out at second base, drawing thunderous boos from the packed house at Ray Fisher Stadium. Maloney stomped out to contend the call and was ejected from the game after an extended argument with the umpire.

Cislo said the ejection was motivating, but the momentum swing wasn’t enough to overcome the four-run deficit that the Wolverines accumulated in the inning.

“(Maloney's) showing how much passion he has for us to win,” Cislo said. “He wanted us to win . . . We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Maloney praised the efforts of Miller and junior reliever Alan Oaks, but he also acknowledged that their solid pitching was “too little, too late” after both couldn't counter huge offensive innings for the Illini.

“We couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Cislo said. “If we could just stop those big innings, it’s a completely different ballgame.”