The Michigan baseball team appears to be back on track.
After a rough week and a half for the Wolverines winning only one of five and scoring just four runs a game, they rebounded with a sweep, and just before two of their most critical series of the year against Michigan State and Ohio State.
Michigan (17-14 overall) defeated Cal State Fullerton (10-20), 11-10, in its most back and forth game of the year. It completed the weekend sweep and regained its momentum headed back into Big Ten play.
“You just empty the tank,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. “You make sure that at the end of the game, you are just physically and mentally exhausted. Because Sundays are important. A lot of times you’re going for a series win or series sweep.”
After a 1-2-3 first inning, junior left-hander Jacob Denner gave up a booming homer that left the bat at 109 miles an hour. The crowd knew it was gone the second contact was made. The Titans had their first lead of the weekend.
Denner settled down, but the floodgates opened in the fourth. He gave up two hits and hit a man with a pitch before catcher Austin Schell punctuated the four-run inning with another home run over the left-field wall.
After a hit-by-pitch in the sixth, junior left fielder Jordon Rogers beamed it to the right-field corner to put two men in scoring position. However, they wouldn’t need a hit to make it home. The Titan pitcher called time when he didn’t have it, and the error allowed senior first baseman Jack Van Remortel and Rogers to immediately take a stroll to home plate.
“I thought we had contributions up and down the lineup,” Bakich said. “Jack Van Remortel and Jordan Rogers (did a) really good job of not only hitting the ball hard and getting on base but turning the lineup over. … The offense was good just because it was productive from all nine spots and you know, anytime you can score double-digit runs, obviously you’re doing something right.”
Michigan wasn’t done.
Facing two outs with two men on in the seventh, junior designated hitter Tito Flores bombed another home run deep over the left-field wall. His three-run dinger and third hit of the game took back the lead and control of the game. Flores waved to the crowd as he rounded second and stomped on the plate before chest-bumping junior outfielder Joey Velazquez and getting slapped on the helmet by the entire team.
After a two-RBI double, the next batter stepped up with the leading run at second.
Junior right-hander Noah Rennard drew soft contact with the next hitter, but the ball blooped just off graduate third baseman Matt Frey’s glove to score once more and swing the lead back to the Titans.
Graduate center fielder Joe Stewart made his presence felt on the basepaths later in the eighth. He got hit with a laser to the shoulder to reach first, and advanced three times — all on wild pitches — to slide into home and tie the game at 10. The tally gave Michigan 10 runs in a single game for the first time since March 18.
“You’re either feeling the pressure or applying the pressure and that really is the difference,” Bakich said. “You want to be the ladder. You want to be the team that gets the breaks because you make the breaks and you make your breaks by being most aggressive … And it’s great for us to be on the positive side of this outcome. Because we’ve had enough feeling of the other way. Proud of the way our guys responded.”
Graduate pinch-runner Alex Fedje-Johnson stood at third at the bottom of the ninth. In his first action all game, he was primed to win the game. Weisberg threw another wild pitch.
Fedje-Johnson advanced home and walked off the game to win it for Michigan. Senior right-hander Keaton Carattini soaked him in Gatorade as the dugout piled on after the emotional victory.
Even though the sweep came against a team 10 games below .500, the momentum shift was priceless for the Wolverines. The bats were on fire and the dugout got their swagger back. And with Michigan State and Ohio State on the horizon, that’s all they can ask for.