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Rain postpones baseball game

After the snow finally gave in to spring, and the Michigan baseball team was getting used to the warmer weather, something terrible happened.

It rained.

Proving once again that March baseball is simply not meant for the Midwest, yesterday's doubleheader in Indiana was postponed by Mother Nature midway through the third inning of the first game. The Hoosiers were leading the Wolverines, 3-2. Play is scheduled to resume, in progress, today at 1 p.m.

Saturday's action resulted in a split for the Wolverines. The first game was a 6-3 Michigan victory, with J.J. Putz picking up his third win. The freshman threw four and one-third innings, striking out four and walking four.

Putz got off to a shaky start in the first inning, but the Wolverines' defense was partially to blame. An error by Michigan third baseman Mike Cervenak put the Hoosiers' leadoff man on base. After Putz issued a walk, he got Indiana's Mike Crotty to ground into what would have been an inning-ending double play. But instead, Putz was forced to face cleanup hitter Matt Braughler, who promptly belted a two-run homer to left center. Indiana went on to load the bases with a walk, a single to left and an infield single, but Putz escaped any further damage by striking out Ryan Frantz to end the inning.

The Wolverines' offense was keyed by a three-run third. Junior Mick Kalahar started things with a double, and Kirk Beerman doubled to score Kalahar. Jason Alcaraz followed with an RBI single, and eventually scored on a Cervenak sacrifice fly.

In the fourth inning, the Wolverines picked up a run after Derek Besco doubled and took third on a wild pitch. Then Michigan pulled off a gutsy two-out suicide squeeze, with Besco scoring on Kalahar's bunt single.

The Wolverines had Indiana's pitching to thank for their final two runs. Michigan's offense in the sixth inning went like this: walk, groundout, infield single, strikeout, hit batsman, hit batsman (pitching change), walk, groundout. Result: two insurance runs to ice the game.

John Arvai picked up his second save with two and two-third innings of work, despite allowing Braughler's second homer of the afternoon in the seventh.

In the nightcap, the Wolverines let a sloppy, see-saw battle get away, losing 7-6 despite giving up just one earned run.

The Hoosiers jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Michigan starter Brian Steinbach, who lasted just two and one-third innings. In the four-run second, Steinbach would have escaped unscathed, if not for the two-out error that was followed by four straight base hits.

Still, the resilient Wolverines climbed back into the game and actually took a 6-5 lead into the bottom half of the sixth. But two more unearned runs (thanks to two walks, an error, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly) put the Hoosiers in front for good. Michigan freshman Luke Bonner took the loss on the mound, despite surrendering just one unearned run.

Alcaraz, Kelly Dransfeldt and Mike Haskell had two hits apiece for the Wolverines. Haskell clouted a homer, and Dransfeldt's day included a double, a home run and four RBIs.