YPSILANTI, Mich. — Sometimes this season, it’s been the bats for the Michigan baseball team. Other times, it’s been the pitching. Defense has been the culprit on other occasions. This time, brains were the problem.

Frequent mental lapses and a lack of focus hurt the Wolverines (6-16 overall) Wednesday, resulting in an 8-2 loss to Eastern Michigan.

First, there was junior third baseman John Lorenz not running after a single that bounced off his glove, letting a man on second come around to score. Then, there was redshirt junior Garrett Stephens whiffing on a throw from junior catcher Coley Crank when Crank had a chance to pick off an Eagle baserunner who had strayed too far off first after a pitch in the dirt. Then, there were the wild pitches, the eight walks and the inability to work out of hitting slumps.

“When you’re in a slump, it’s mental,” Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. “They’re truly not that bad of hitters. It’s in their psyche. It’s too bad that it’s gotten to that point with so many guys.”

The game started off promising enough for the Wolverines. In the second inning, Michigan took advantage of an error by Eagles starter Brian Valente on a sacrifice bunt to set up sophomore Pat Biondi’s two-run, two-out single. And through three innings, redshirt freshman starter Logan McAnallen was cruising.

The latter two-thirds of the game weren’t as promising. In the fourth inning, Eastern Michigan (16-9) rallied for three runs highlighted by right fielder Ken Battiston's RBI double, which almost cleared the wall for a three-run homer.

Down only one run, Michigan had an opportunity to bounce right back when Biondi led off the fifth. He cracked the 1-2 pitch to deep right, but Battiston caught it against the wall almost at the flag pole.

“To be honest, I thought it was gone,” Biondi said. “The wind’s blowing in today. Maybe that held it in, but we were all surprised it didn’t get out.”

After that, it was all Eagles. They tacked on another run in the fifth inning and got two more in the sixth, which saw the Wolverines allow three hits, two runs, a wild pitch and the error by Stephens to open the flood gates. After getting two more in the eighth, with the help of Lorenz’s mental lapse, Eastern Michigan was on its way to an easy win.

“We didn’t play very well and it’s very disappointing,” Maloney said. “It was very disheartening. Guys just got to make plays.”

The midweek non-conference game allowed the Wolverines to throw five different arms, but none of them impressed Maloney. Only one — fifth-year senior Matt Gerbe — finished the day without surrendering a run.

Maloney knows the key to turning things around will be getting things straight psychologically.

“It’s definitely a mental thing,” he said. “How you get out of that, is through hard work and passion and energy. It’s the only way I know how to get out of it. You’ve got to stay positive. You have to do the best job you can and stay the course. That’s all you can do.”

With the conference season starting on Friday against Indiana, Michigan will need to forget about this game as soon as possible to make sure it has the confidence it needs to face the Hoosiers.

“We’re 0-0 going into the Indiana series and if people aren’t upbeat, it’s a problem,” Biondi said. “We have a chance to start over, so, hopefully, we do that.”