Bumps in the road

Baseball bitten by Golden Grizzlies

'About as bad as I've seen us play,' Zahn says

For the second straight day, the Wolverines fell behind early at Ray Fisher Stadium. And once again, Michigan was able to come back and tie the game.

But unlike in Tuesday's 10-8 victory over Eastern Michigan, yesterday the Wolverines did not prevail in the end and fell to Oakland University, 12-4.

Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 19-18 overall) started slowly and never really got into the game. The Wolverines only had back-to-back hits once and registered just six hits for the whole game.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Jason Alcaraz and the Michigan baseball team suffered at the plate yesterday, managing just six hits in an embarrassing 12-4 loss to Oakland yesterday at The Fish.

"This was about as bad as I've seen us play," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "The guys played a little tired today, but that's no excuse. Oakland was the better team today."

Besides struggling at the plate, Michigan also had trouble in the field, committing three errors.

Two of the errors led to multi-run innings for the Grizzlies. In contrast, Oakland was the model of consistency, fielding balls cleanly and making all of its throws.

"Defensively we played really well," Oakland University coach Mark Avery said. "It was the first game all year that we didn't make an error, and that was the difference."

Michigan fell behind 4-1 after the first three innings but managed a comeback in the fourth, tying the game at four.

Then, Oakland scored a run in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead, the score going into the final inning.

In the top of the ninth, the Grizzlies scored seven runs, jumping ahead to the 12-4 lead.

Oakland led off the inning with a double and a single, placing men at first and second with no outs. An errant throw to first on the next at-bat by pitcher Robbie Reid allowed one runner to score and put runners on the corners with no outs.

Reid struck out the next batter, but then gave up a walk to load the bases.

After a sacrifice fly brought one run home and advanced two other runners, Reid gave up another walk and then consecutive two-RBI hits before being replaced by freshman Nick Bellows.

The final inning put the game out of reach for the Wolverines, and left them with their first non-conference loss since they dropped an 8-2 game game to Texas A&M on March 21. The game also marked Oakland's first victory over Michigan in five attempts.

"They came out and wanted it a lot more than we did," senior Brian Bush said. "We came out flat. We came out not ready to play, and they took it to us."

Pitching was the key for the Grizzlies, as sophomore Jason Roberts pitched 4.2 innings of relief, giving up no runs on just one hit and striking out six.

Sophomore Adam Sokoll also gave a solid performance for Oakland, pitching a scoreless final inning and striking out two.

"The kids came out and threw strikes," Avery said. "You keep things simple that way and you've got the chance to stay in the ballgame."

Similar to their game the previous day against Eastern, the Wolverines had a freshman struggle in the early innings. Starter Kirk Taylor gave up five runs on five hits in four innings before he was relieved by another freshman, Phil Lobert.

Lobert turned in a solid performance for Michigan, giving up no runs on just two hits and striking out two in only his second appearance for the Wolverines.

This weekend, Michigan will travel to No. 21 Minnesota (7-1, 24-7) to face the Big Ten-leading Golden Gophers in a four-game series.

04-15-99