Baseball drops three at Illinois

By Dan Williams

Daily Sports Writer

CHAMPAIGN - The Michigan baseball team has made obvious strides since it kicked off the Big Ten season with four straight losses to Minnesota at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Despite the improvement, the Wolverines still dropped three of four games on the weekend to Illinois, the conference leader. Michigan (3-9 Big Ten, 10-18-1 overall) finds itself six games under .500 in the Big Ten and currently out of the playoff picture.

The Wolverines played their most well-rounded series to date against the Fighting Illini, but in the end, Illinois' experienced team was too tough.

Illinois won the final game yesterday, 7-4, to clinch the series advantage.

"We're a little disappointed right now," Junior Scott Tousa said.

"We feel like we played four pretty good ballgames and ended up coming up on the short end of the stick three times."

Senior Bryan Cranson (2-4) continued to struggle in a weekend starting role for Michigan yesterday. Cranson surrendered eight hits in 4.1 innings before Michigan coach Geoff Zahn turned to his bullpen.

Michigan sophomore Phil Lobert then fell victim to a two-run homerun by No. 3 hitter Craig Marquie, which sealed Illinois' victory.

The Michigan sluggers saw some timely hitting by freshman Blake Rutkowski in the ninth spot.

The centerfielder may have earned a regular spot in the lineup with a three-for-four day, including two doubles and three RBI.

Junior David Parrish also chipped in with two hits.

But for the most part, Michigan's offense was stymied by the big breaking curveball of Illinois starter Mitch Walk. Walk struck out 12 Michigan batters.

Still, Michigan sent the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth in the form of senior Rob Bobeda. But the leftfielder's nightmarish day was punctuated by his fourth strikeout in an 0-for-5 game.

"We had some opportunities," Zahn said. "But Walk pitched pretty well in the clutch. We're getting better, but we're not there yet."

Saturday's doubleheader was marked by good pitching for Michigan by sophomore Bobby Korecky and junior Vince Pistilli. Both players threw complete games, yet Michigan salvaged only one win, as Illinois' Joe Ziemba and Matt Worwald combined to beat Pistilli. The Illini duo allowed just four hits and two runs.

Friday, Michigan hurlers Nick Alexander and Bobby Wood gave up 15 hits, including seven for extra bases, as Illinois cruised to a 9-4 victory. The starting pitching seemed to come around during the series, but the Wolverines desire even better efforts to make a playoff push.

"We pitched pretty well this weekend," Zahn said. "When we got in trouble, it was the same old story. Yesterday we walked guys, and got behind in the count and that makes hitters better hitters.

"We're still maturing that way. But from what I've seen, I think our guys are comparable to anybody."

But slow development is no longer a luxury for the Wolverines. Michigan has 16 games left in the season to become one of the top six teams in the Big Ten.

"It was unfortunate that we played so poorly in the Minnesota series," Zahn said.

"It definitely put us in a hole. We have to focus on trying to get in the playoffs. There's no question we have our work cut out for us."