OMAHA, Neb. — Michigan baseball coach Tracy Smith needed junior right-hander Ricky Kidd to have an extended outing. In a tournament setting where games are played in successive days, saving arms is paramount, especially considering that Smith was already running low on bullpen personnel.
Riddled with injuries and inexperience, the Wolverines’ bullpen has remained a ticking time-bomb, ready to implode at a moment’s notice. But somehow, Smith and pitching coach Brock Huntzinger managed to coax their squad into the second-best team ERA in conference games this season. And in the fifth inning of Michigan’s second-round matchup in the Big Ten Tournament against Penn State, Smith placed his trust in Kidd.
Entering the contest with one out already recorded and a man on first base, Kidd inherited an immediately-stressful situation. Calmly working from the stretch, though, Kidd struck out the first batter he faced and induced an easy ground ball from the second, ending the Nittany Lions’ two-run inning.
In fact, through Kidd’s first 2.2 innings, he was dominant. He allowed no hits, no walks and no runs through the seventh inning. The most powerful offense in the Big Ten was hushed. And as he re-entered the game to work the eighth inning — this time with run-support — Kidd needed just six more outs to carry his teammates to a semifinals berth.
“Ricky was fine,” Smith said. “Obviously, we knew the last six outs were gonna be tough, just given our situation.”
Just looking at Kidd’s first 2.2 innings of work, just ‘fine’ seems like an understated characterization. But Kidd didn’t just pitch 2.2 innings — he went a full three. And the eighth inning is where his outing just couldn’t lug Michigan to the finish line.
Penn State right fielder Adam Cecere broke through Kidd first, singling sharply up the middle. On the very next pitch, left fielder Bobby Marsh punched a ball to right field, putting Nittany Lions’ runners on the corners. And after issuing a five-pitch walk, the bases were loaded with nobody out.
Maybe if Smith had more arms in his bullpen he could trust, or if he didn’t use his top two pitchers in the game less than 30 hours prior, he would’ve taken Kidd out of the game. But Thursday, Smith needed Kidd to extend his outing, so he rolled the dice.
With one swing of the bat, Kidd’s carefully-constructed performance came crumbling down. All he could do was turn and watch helplessly as a missile off the bat of Penn State third baseman Bryce Molinaro sailed into the seats in left-center field. The Wolverines’ two-run lead flipped to a two-run deficit with only one pitch.
Kidd did what Smith has asked of his bullpen all year: Just throw strikes and make the offense do the work. But Thursday, the offense won.
“So you know, he threw strikes, he did his job,” Smith said. “They just hit us. And credit them, it wasn’t like we walked them and then they did it — they hit their way and they beat us.”
It’s true, the ailment that plagued the bullpen all season long was the inability to throw strikes. But Kidd issued only one walk in his three innings of work — he did what he was supposed to.
But sometimes, just doing what you’re supposed to do doesn’t get the job done. And Thursday, a high-leverage tournament game, was one of those times. Smith needed an extended outing from Kidd, and he came up just short.