OMAHA, Neb. — Thirteen feet.
The margin between the centerfield walls in Ray Fisher Stadium and Charles Schwab Field is just 13 feet, but it was these 13 feet that were the difference between a run for the Michigan baseball team and a put-out for Penn State Thursday. Eager to pounce on any ball that came their way, the Nittany Lions’ fielders roamed the outfield grass keenly. And while the unit may have had just six combined put-outs, their impact extended far beyond what the stat sheet suggested.
In the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines’ play was characterized by small-ball performances, where they took advantage of Iowa’s mistakes in order to inch out the win. But in round two, the batter’s box couldn’t have looked more different for Michigan as it sent balls into the outer edges of the field time and time again.
“That was a back and forth contest,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith said. “These things, they never go as planned. In other words, you’re very rarely going to go out and run the table.”
Striking first in the bottom of the second inning, Penn State shot back-to-back balls to the left field corner and brought home one run in the process. Using the full expanse of the outfield to its advantage, Penn State’s batters had the Wolverines fielders chasing balls across the outfield throughout the game and scored run after run in the process. Their power paid off and the Nittany Lions took the matchup with nine runs, four doubles and one grand slam and advanced to the semi finals.
When Michigan stepped up to bat, Penn State had nearly no issues containing the deep balls sent to it. The Nittany Lions’ outfielders stalked their domain with a confidence that simply wasn’t replicated by their opposition. And from diving plays to clean relays, Penn State’s outfield unit didn’t give the Wolverines’ hitters an inch of breathing room.
“The outfield has done a great job,” Penn State coach Mike Gambino said. “(Nick Puccio) has done a really great job with those guys, continuing to work with them and they get better and better. The diving catches are obviously awesome, and they all came up today, but there’s also just a lot of balls that they ran through that were harder catches that they got too.”
In the top of the sixth inning, freshman designated hitter Colin Priest entered the batter’s box looking to give Michigan an edge as it trailed 3-2. Staring down the fifth pitch he saw, Priest smashed the ball to dead-center field. At Ray Fisher Stadium, the hit would’ve been a home run easily. But at Charles Schwab Field, the ball instead grazed the center field wall and rolled to the feet of center fielder Joe Jaconski. Jaconski quickly snatched the sphere and hurled it to the infield to prevent Priest from passing second base.
The throw may have seemed inconsequential in the moment, but it likely prevented Priest from scoring a run. The following two at-bats saw ground balls that, while resulting in outs, seemingly would have been enough for Priest to get home had he resided at third base. The routine throw, while less exciting, was just as important for the Nittany Lions’ and kept the Wolverines bats from gaining any semblance of momentum at the plate.
Jaconski wasn’t done for the game though, and also made his fair share of highlight-reel-worthy plays. In the top of the fourth inning, graduate right-fielder Stephen Hrustich pounded the ball to center left field. The ball seemed to drop at the exact right time, just inside of the outfielders’ reach. But against this Penn State group, anything short of 408 feet was a potential put-out. Diving with his glove extended in stride, Jaconski got under the ball just in time to send Hrustich back to the dugout.
“It’s unbelievable, you know half of those plays I didn’t even think were going to be possible,” Nittany Lions right-hander Jaden Henline said. “Whenever you have that kind of support behind you, it really gives you a lot of confidence on the mound.”
The only chance the Wolverines had to combat these defensive plays was to put the ball in a place where the outfield would physically be unable to reach it. The two at-bats that brought home all five of Michigan’s runs Thursday came from home runs that exited the ballpark altogether. While effective, if the only option to score is for your offense is to rocket the ball out of the ballpark, the task will likely prove too-tall and result in a frustrated plate, just as it did for the Wolverines Thursday.
Michigan’s batters weren’t shut down Thursday, they were simply outplayed. The Penn State outfielders took advantage of their domain and controlled the matchup in a way that the Wolverines were simply unable to combat.