Entering Tuesday’s affair against Kent State, sophomore first baseman Mitch Voit had been a pinch hitter twice. His first appearance was a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on April 10. The second time was this past weekend against Long Beach State, where he drew a crucial walk in the eighth inning.
Tuesday, down 4-2 in the eighth inning, Voit once again grabbed a helmet, gripped his bat and walked to the on-deck circle in a crucial late-game moment, down two runs. He’d been in this situation before, and he’d performed well.
“I think it’s just expecting yourself to be in the situation,” Voit said. “And when the time comes, you’ve already seen it happen in your head multiple times.”
Voit originally had the day off. His usage on the year has been extremely high — serving as both the Michigan baseball team’s two-hole hitter and usual Sunday starter on the mound. And Voit goes all-out every game, making himself susceptible to small, incremental ailments.
So, in last weekend’s series against the Dirtbags and Tuesday against the Golden Flashes, Wolverines coach Tracy Smith took the opportunity to bench his star. But Voit wanted to play.
“(Voit) wanted to play today,” Smith said. “We didn’t want him to play. But we said, ‘If we have a key at-bat, you’re gonna get it.’ ”
And when a key at-bat arose in the bottom of the ninth inning, Voit was ready. He appeared from the dugout, bat-in-hand. Every team that faces Michigan knows about the dangers of Voit. His name is surely atop opposing teams’ scouting reports in big, bold letters. Because every time Voit comes to the plate, he is poised to do damage.
But recently, he has found himself in a slight lull. After a fiery start to the year, Voit is batting just .206 in conference play and his overall average has dipped below .300. His hard contact hasn’t been finding the gaps and his strikeout rate has increased. Even still, Voit occupies that two-hole in the lineup and demands respect from the opposing pitchers.
Even though the two-way star has been struggling at the plate, the slump doesn’t deter the trust that Smith holds in Voit.
“Our expectation is our good players are going to make good plays,” Smith said.
And with one swing of the bat, Voit replicated his previous heroics with a laser-beam shot over the left-center field wall, tying the game at four apiece, sending it to extra innings. And as Voit rounded the bases, it was easy to forget that he was struggling. Because in the biggest moments, Voit continues to come through.
Coming off of the bench in a high-stress situation — an at-bat with the game on the line — is intensely difficult. A pinch hitter hasn’t seen any pitches in the game and isn’t in the rhythm of the game, yet they are still expected to perform. This year, though, Voit has proven that these tough tasks aren’t too tall for him, as he moves to 2-for-2 with two home runs and a walk in pinch-hit scenarios this season.
Big players make big plays, and coming off the bench, the Wolverines’ biggest player has made his fair share of massive plays. Tuesday, Voit’s big play led to a win.