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Blue digs Gophers' hole

There was a lot of white stuff falling out of the sky this weekend at Ray Fisher Stadium, and it wasn't just the snow.

Big white baseballs were tumbling from the heavens, too, courtesy of the Michigan baseball team. In a four-game homestand against Minnesota, the Wolverines (9-3 Big Ten, 12-16 overall) clocked five dingers, helping them take three of the four matchups from the Gophers (3-4 Big Ten, 12-15 overall).

It was probably a sign of things to come when Minnesota shortstop Steve Huls put Michigan hurler J.J. Putz's first pitch over the right field wall. Thereafter, though, the only balls the kids outside the fences were chasing got there off of Wolverine bats.

Shortstop Kelly Dransfeldt and third baseman Mike Cervenak each hit two homers for Michigan, while right fielder Derek Besco added one of his own.

Dransfeldt's first of the weekend -- fourth overall -- was the highlight of Saturday's first game, in which the Wolverines downed the virtually toothless Gophers, 7-3.

Freshman righthander J.J. Putz got the win for Michigan with another excellent outing. Putz threw a complete-game three-hitter, striking out four while giving up two walks. The victory was Putz's third in as many conference games and brought his overall record to 3-2.

On a day when the story could have been the cold weather or the various Hash Bash-related activities, redshirt freshman Cervenak had other plans.

In the bottom of the first inning in the second of Saturday's games, Cervenak, batting in the fifth spot, didn't need to see much of Minnesota pitcher Mike Diebolt to take advantage of the Gopher southpaw. After Michigan left fielder Jason Alcaraz singled to right and Dransfeldt reached on an error, Cervenak deposited Diebolt's first pitch over the left field wall, about 360 feet away. The Wolverines were up 3-0 and never looked back.

Senior righthander Mark Temple kept the Gophers at bay while his teammates continued to put runs on the board. Cervenak came up with his second homer of the day on the first pitch of the Wolverine half of the sixth, and Derek Besco followed hot on his heels with a spank of his own on the following delivery from Diebolt.

"I was seeing the ball well," Cervenak said. "It was one of those days where everything was going well for me."

Temple struggled a little in the top of the seventh, allowing the Gophers to avoid the shutout. Three hits and two wild pitches gave Minnesota two runs, but it was indeed too little too late, and Temple closed them out for his fourth victory of the season.

Sophomore righthander Brian Steinbach got the call in yesterday's first contest, looking to even his season record at 2-2.

The Gophers got on the board first, however, scoring a run on two hits in the top of the fourth inning. Minnesota first baseman Adam Horton scored on designated hitter Phil McDermott's sharp grounder down the third base line, and Minnesota found itself with a 1-0 lead.

But the Gopher advantage was short-lived, as the Wolverines roared out of the box in their half of the fifth. First baseman Mike Muir started things off for Michigan, grounding a double past Horton down the first base line. Freshman Bobby Scales, batting for centerfielder Brian Bush, drew a key walk after catcher Mick Kalahar flied out to right.

Muir came around to score when Alcaraz bounced one between first and second into right field. With the score tied, second baseman Kirk Beermann lifted a pop-up to shallow left-center, and Scales, who had advanced to third on Alcaraz's single, surprised the Gophers by tagging up and streaking home.

With Michigan now up, 2-1, Dransfeldt lifted a Paul Westfall pitch just over the glove of Gopher leftfielder Rob Smith and out of the park.

After Steinbach gave up a leadoff double to Minnesota rightfielder Craig Selander in the top of the sixth, Michigan coach Geoff Zahn brought in closer John Arvai to protect the Wolverine lead.

Arvai gave up a single to Horton, but then canceled him out by picking him off almost immediately.

Leftfielder Troy Stein knocked Selander in from third with a grounder to Beermann, but that was all for the Gophers. Arvai proceeded to strike out McDermott to end the inning.

Arvai picked up his third save in relief of Steinbach, who chalked up his second victory of the season.

In the final game of the series, the Gophers unexpectedly started righthander Brad Kearin, normally their closer.

The Minnesota senior brought his good stuff to the mound, shutting down the heretofore potent Michigan offense.

Amid snow squalls, Kearin scattered seven hits over as many innings, shutting the Wolverines out, 4-0, for the victory and his first career complete game.

The Minnesota runs weren't particularly due to any potent offense, either. Three of the four came in the top of the third inning, as Michigan righthander Mike Hribernik had his control go by the boards.

Gopher catcher Matt Skovran lined a single into left field to start the inning off. Huls immediately followed with a slow bunt down the third base line, Cervenak handled it but could make no play. After second baseman Eric Welter popped an attempted bunt to Hribernik, third baseman Robb Quinlan drove a single to right to load the bases.

Hribernik then issued a walk to leftfielder Smith, bringing Skovran across. Zahn then brought in sophomore lefthander Bryan Besco to try to stop the bleeding. Selander -- after smacking a potential grand slam just foul over the right field wall -- walked to score Huls, and a Horton chopper to Beermann drove in Quinlan.

Besco was able to get out of the inning without damage to his own earned-run average, as Stein hit a dribbler back to the mound, which Besco tossed back to catcher Mike Haskell for the force-out at the plate. Besco then fanned McDermott, catching the Gopher sophomore looking.

Kearin kept the Wolverines in check all game, striking out six batters, including Dransfeldt twice.

"I was able to move the ball in and out pretty well and keep (Michigan) a little bit off balance," Kearin said.

Despite the loss, it was a positive weekend overall for Zahn and his squad.

"We're swinging the bat well," the first-year coach said. "Our guys battled the whole time, and I'm happy with them."

The Wolverines are, on average, a young team, with great potential, and Zahn said there are no limits on how much they may improve over the course of the season.

"I think that this club will keep getting better," he said. "The more this team plays the better they will get."

The weekend leaves the Wolverines alone atop the Big Ten, a full game ahead of second-place Ohio State.

"It's great," Dransfeldt said of Michigan's current place in the standings. "I couldn't be any happier, and we just have to keep it up."

Zahn, however, isn't quite ready to put a good spin on that one.

"It doesn't mean a thing right now," he said. "I'm very happy for our guys, I think they've played hard.

"But we're not even halfway through the Big Ten season. We've got a lot of baseball ahead of us."