LOUISVILLE — The Michigan baseball team has made a habit of making its games interesting down the stretch.
Through their first two games in the Louisville regional, the Wolverines have allowed eight of their nine runs against to be scored in the seventh inning or later.
Michigan coach Erik Bakich was determined to stop the Wolverines’ streak of choking down the stretch. It looked like it was going to happen again, however, when freshman right-hander Bryan Pall gave up a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning to Bradley’s Evan Gruener.
Bakich then turned to sophomore infielder Carmen Benedetti to finish the job, and despite giving up a walk, Benedetti struck one batter out and force the final out on a line drive to third base to earn the save and seal the 4-3 win for Michigan (14-10 Big Ten, 39-24 overall).
“You knew it was going to be a low scoring affair,” Bakich said. “Credit to our guys for just finding a way. Whatever it took, just find a way to come out on top and we did. Now we get to live on and fight for another game.”
Junior left hander Evan Hill got his first start Sunday since his winning performance against then-No. 4 Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament.
Hill was able to extend the dominance of Wolverine starters, going 6.2 innings while allowing just seven hits and two runs with six strikeouts. In all three regional games, Wolverine starting pitchers have thrown for at least six innings, with Hill adding to the streak Sunday.
“In the recent games I’ve thrown, I haven’t gone deep,” Hill said. “In an elimination game like that you’re just trying to throw strike and play the percentages and let them get themselves out.”
Though he walks away with an easy win, Hill found himself in several difficult situations throughout the contest. In the first and second innings, Bradley (10-11 MVC, 36-21 overall) had runners in scoring position with no outs. But Hill was able to settle down, striking out four batters without giving up a run.
“(Hill) really did a nice job when he needed to,” Bakich said. “When he needed to make big pitches or had runners in scoring position, he made them.”
But Hill most notably gave up only one run after loading the bases with one out in the fifth. With Bakich ready to pull him, Hill forced a groundball double play and lineout to escape his hardest jam.
“I was pretty frustrated in how I got myself into that jam,” Hill said. “I stepped off and told myself to calm down a bit. It’s never as bad as you think it is. You still have the upper hand on the hitter.”
Michigan’s pitching overall continued to be strong, Wolverine hitters made an overnight adjustment to a more conservative approach.
In the first game with the Braves on Friday, big hits and big frames fueled Michigan. Eight of 10 Wolverine runs scored in the first round matchup against Bradley were scored across three innings, while fifth-year senior Kendall Patrick ripped two home runs.
On Sunday, Michigan never had an inning where more than one run was scored, but failed to post a run in an inning just four times.
Benedetti got the Wolverines on the board first with an RBI single in the opening frame. Patrick was driving in runs again for Michigan on Sunday, but in a less explosive fashion. He earned yet another RBI against the Braves on a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Slowly, the Wolverines chipped away at Bradley’s starting right-hander Brent Strong. Junior infielder Jacob Cronenworth brought in another Michigan run off a single in the fourth.
Freshman infielder Jake Bivens had one of the few extra-base hits of the afternoon. His RBI double prompted Bradley manager Elvis Dominguez to replace Strong after seven hits and four earned runs rattled the junior.
The Wolverines avoid elimination by defeating the Braves for the second time in three days, but will have to win two more games to keep their season alive. Their next game will be against Louisville later Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals defeated Michigan on Saturday, 4-3.