May 17, 2008
Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -
No. 17 Michigan ended Northwestern's bid for a berth in next week's Big Ten tournament by topping the Wildcats 11-2 Saturday afternoon at Ray Fisher Stadium. The loss concluded NU's season with a record of 21-28 overall and 14-18 in Big Ten play.
The Wildcats came into the series finale needing a win plus a loss by either Indiana or Ohio State on the final day of the conference season to make it into the Big Ten tourney. As it turned out, Northwestern would not have made the field even if it had won as Indiana toppled Michigan State 14-5 and Ohio State defeated Iowa 9-7.
Michigan (42-12, 26-5) was the first team to score for the first time in the series, pushing across a run against Joe Muraski in the bottom of the second. Kevin Cislo was on first with two away when he stole second and came around to score on a single to left by Ryan LaMarre.
The Wolverines stretched out their lead with some help from the Wildcats in the third. With a runner on third and one out, what appeared to be a potential inning-ending double play resulted in an error with both runners being safe. Muraski picked Leif Mahler off second base for the second out of the inning, but back-to-back hits put Michigan up 2-0. Matt Havey came on to relieve Muraski but surrendered a two-run triple to Cislo on his first offering and then an RBI single to Chris Berset to make it 5-0.
As has been NU pitchers' Achilles' heel all season long, a pair of free passes came back to haunt the Wildcats in the fourth. Michigan had a runner on first with two down when consecutive walks loaded the bases. Derek VanBuskirk followed by fisting a jab-job, bloop single into center, plating two runners.
Michigan posted four more runs in the fifth as Jason Christian had an RBI double, Mahler had a two-run single and Adam Abraham plated one more on a fielder's choice groundout.
Northwestern finally got on the board in the top of the sixth as it pushed across one run. Aaron Newman was at first with one down when he moved up to second on a single by Jake Goebbert and both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. Newman would eventually come in to score on a groundout by Mike Kalina.
Jonathan Purcell pitched shutout innings for the NU in the sixth and seventh, while Brian Morgan came on and retired the Wolverines in order in the eighth.
Northwestern got one final run in the ninth when Jake Wilson reached on a third-strike wild pitch and moved to third on a wild pitch and a single by Rob Campbell in his final collegiate at-bat. He would come in to score on a sacrifice fly to center by Jim Grieco.
Jake Owens had one hit in the contest and four on the weekend to finish his Wildcat career with 256 hits, just four shy of Tom Hildebrand's all-time record of 260.