In a pitcher's duel between two of the best lefties in the conference, Matt Bashore prevailed with the win (now 3-0 in conference play) allowing only 1 run in 7.2 innings pitched. He gave up 8 hits (3 were infield singles) while striking out 6 and walking 3. After cruising through 7 and recording 2 quick outs in the 8th inning, the Michigan offense produced back-to-back singles off Bashore putting the go ahead run at the plate. Coach Tracy Smith chose to go to Chris Squires ("Q"), who saved the game yesterday and has been very good in conference play, to come in with 2 runners on to get the Hoosiers out of the 8th.
In 4 straight pitches, he loaded the bases for Michigan's Kenny Fellows who already had 2 hits in the game. "Q" got the out he and IU desperately needed as he induced a fly out to left field. In the bottom of the 9th with IU on top 3-1, "Q" wasted no time getting the first two Michigan batters to fly out. The next batter, however, singled, which brought up the dangerous 3 hitter with 10 homers on the year up as the tying run. "Q" remained clutch as he got the big strikeout and solidified the IU series win and his 5th save of the season. I think it's safe to say we officially have ourselves a closer!
At the plate, IU did not hit particularly well (7 hits as a team) with the exception of Josh Phegley who went 3 for 3 including his 12 homer of the season and an intentional walk for IU. Phegley was also stellar behind the plate as he threw out 2 Wolverines on the base paths. Brian Lambert, who started in LF in favor of Kipp Schutz given the lefthanded starter, recorded a double and a big sacrifice fly in the second inning to put IU up 1-0 early. Alex Dickerson, who struggled with 3 strikeouts in the game (IU had 5 as a team), came up big when Wolverine starter Eric Katzman intentionally walked Phegley to bring up Dickerson with 2 outs in the 3rd. Dickerson produced with a RBI single through the right side to bring the IU lead to 2. The Hoosiers never looked back as they went on to win 3-1.
The win moves IU to 10-4 in the conference and a 1/2 game out of first place. Check out the videos of the games (from a Michigan perspective) if you are interested here. I would recommend checking it out if only to see the controversial play at the plate with Phegley in the first game. Thanks for the link to that from FormerlyAnonymous over at Varsity Blue.
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Phegley was definitely safe! Umps were awful this series!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. But... as an umpire, I don't doubt maybe, JUST maybe, the catcher had the plate blocked with his foot. Again, I think he was safe, but the umpiring all weekend was bad.
ReplyDeleteI heard it was not only bad, but biased to Michigan's favor! What's a Michigan fans take formerlyanonymous? IU fans at the game?
ReplyDeleteFrom an IU fan I thought the umpiring was awful! I thought we got a few calls our way but most went to Michigan. The umps behind the plate were tough on both Monar and Arnett, several bad calls at first but we got at least one of these our way too, and a horrible call at the plate with Phegley in the first game was huge.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Ten has the worst umpires in college baseball by far. It is really sad how horrible the umps have gotten over the last 4 or 5 years. The crew we had in Columbus this weekend stink too. And it is a shame you can't have 4 umpires for Big Ten play. The league is a joke when it comes to basebal in some respects.
ReplyDeleteIt's even more sad because we have some real quality teams in IU, OSU, Ill, and Minn this year! Quality teams deserve quality umps!
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