After senior pitcher Ben Ballantine went down with a gruesome injury in the third inning, Michigan coach Erik Bakich gathered the team around him and offered up three simple words: “Win it for Ben.”

The Wolverines did, dispatching Bowling Green, 2-0, Tuesday afternoon. The two runs were enough for Michigan (1-2 Big Ten, 12-14 overall) to record the win as a combination of pitchers held the Falcons (2-4 Mid-American Conference, 6-17 overall) scoreless, making it just the second shutout of the year.

“We were some big hits away from blowing the game open offensively,” Bakich said. “But the pitching did exactly what we needed it to do, we needed to keep it at a shut out or a one run.

“Pitching had to step up, and pitching stepped up.”

Michigan took the early lead by scoring a single run in both the first and second innings. With two outs in the first inning, junior right fielder Michael O’Neill laid down a perfect bunt for a hit to lead off and then stole second. Sophomore left fielder Zach Zott singled O’Neill home for the first run of the game.

In the second inning, the Wolverines were able to score without ever recording a hit. Two walks followed by two errors was enough to plate sophomore Dylan Delaney for Michigan’s second run for the game.

“It’s nice to score first, it’s nice to take the lead,” Bakich said. “It certainly takes some of the pressure off the guys when they are playing with the lead versus playing from behind.”

Heading into the third inning, it was the pitching staff’s responsibility to hold that lead. But that’s when Ballantine got injured. He was covering first base on a ball hit to the right side of the infield and severely hurt his ankle. Ballantine, who was visibly and audibly in pain, has been a key factor in the pitching rotation with a 2.91 ERA on the year, and had three strikeouts during his short appearance today. Ballantine underwent surgery Tuesday night, and his status is unknown for the rest of the season.

If Ballantine is unable to return this year it will be a big loss for Michigan, since he has been a key right-handed arm in the rotation.

“You never want to see a friend or a teammate go down,” O’Neill said. “As the game goes on, you don’t really think about stuff like that, you just have to let it go and think about it after the game and give him his condolences.”

But pitching without Ballantine wasn’t an issue after he got hurt. Sophomore right-hander Matt Ogden, senior right-hander Kyle Clark and freshman right hander Jacob Cronenworth gave up just five hits and struck out seven in the shutout.

“We pitched well today, from Ballantine to Ogden to Clark to Croney,” Bakich said. “Those guys pounded the strike zone. That’s what we talked about before the game, like we always talk about, quick tempo, force contact. And that’s exactly what happened, and they did a really good job of doing that.”

The defense also played an integral part in the shutout, helping the pitchers escape from several jams. Cronenworth made a diving catch up the middle in the fourth that likely saved a run from scoring, and freshman infielder Travis Maezes, with the help from Cronenworth, turned a double play in the eighth that thwarted a potential rally. O’Neill also recorded a running, over-the-shoulder catch in the eighth inning steps short of the warning track.