OMAHA, Neb. – It was a basic plan for Michigan to pull out an opening-game victory on Saturday afternoon.
“Pitching, defense, timely hitting seems to be the recipe of the postseason,” Wolverine head coach Erik Bakich said.
Michigan was successful in all three phases in posting a 5-3 victory over No. 8 Texas Tech in the opening game of the 2019 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in front of 24,148 fans.
UM did not commit an error. All five Wolverine runs came in with two outs. Starter Karl Kauffmann did not walk a batter in seven innings.
“I thought they played better than us in all phases of the game,” Red Raider skipper Tim Tadlock said.
The Wolverines (47-20) manufactured a run in the first. After working the count full, Jordan Nwogu singled through the left side. He went to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a groundout to second by Jesse Franklin, and came home on a sacrifice fly to right by Jordan Brewer to make it 1-0.
UM had an eventful and productive frame in the top of the third. Ako Thomas had a leadoff single, but was erased on a smooth 4-6-3 double play. Franklin walked and moved to second on a base hit by Brewer. Franklin was called out at second on a pickoff attempt, but shortstop Josh Jung could not hold onto the ball. Jimmy Kerr followed with a liner into the right field corner for a triple, plating Franklin and Brewer to make it 3-0.
“The guys did a great job setting the tone, getting on base,” Kerr said, “and our two-strike approach as a team is choke up on the barrel, put it in play and make something happen and just got a pitch that I was able to put something in play on.”
A single by Blake Nelson brought home Kerr to up the lead to 4-0.
TTU got on the board in the bottom of the third. Dylan Neuse had a one-out single to center before Brian Klein deposited a ball in the front row of the stands in right center for his second homer of the season as the Red Raiders (44-19) cut the deficit in half at 4-2. It was just the sixth multi-run inning for a UM opponent in 75 NCAA tourney innings.
The Red Raiders looked to be in position to tie the game in the sixth. Jung reached on an infield hit and moved to third on a double by Cameron Warren to put two in scoring position with none out. Jung was the first leadoff hitter to reach for TTU. Cody Masters hit a come-backer to Kauffmann, who looked Jung back to third and threw to first for the first out. Dru Baker hit a ball that looked to be ticketed to center field, but Thomas went to his right to field it and throw Baker out. Jung scored and Warren went to third, making it a one-run game at 4-3. Kauffmann struck out Kurt Wilson looking, keeping UM on top.
Kauffmann (11-6) gave up eight hits and three runs in his seven innings of work. He struck out three and threw 101 pitches.
“That’s a really good lineup they’ve got over there, 1 through 9,” Kauffmann said. “Speed, power, very well-balanced. After we played them in March, we learned, came out here with the approach we had to minimize their opportunities and just limit the mistakes. Minimize their opportunities and just go right after them and let the defense work, and it was nice to jump out to that 4-0 lead, too. Never going to complain with that.”
And he was appreciative of the glove work behind him.
“We talk about getting deep into games,” Kauffmann said, “those guys are what allow me to get deep into games. Just pitching to contact and letting the defense work, so all the credit to them.”
The arm of Kauffmann, along with that glove work, frustrated the Red Raiders.
“He hit his spots,” TTU shortstop Josh Jung said. “They were shifting us all over the field and he was hitting his spots and we hit straight into the shift pretty much all day.”
The Wolverines added an insurance run in the seventh. Franklin worked a leadoff walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and came home when Nelson reached on a throwing error by Jung at short with two away to give UM a 5-3 edge.
Jeff Criswell, normally a starter, hurled the final two frames for the Wolverines. He surrendered one hit and two walks, but fanned four and did not allow a run in recording his second save.
“We were hoping Karl would do exactly what he did, get
us to the eighth inning,” Bakich said. “We had Criswell, we had [Tommy]
Henry both available, and just with the way the tournament is, where there’s
days off, it is a great match-up for our strong starting pitching that can also
double as relievers.”
Michigan will play the winner of the Arkansas-Florida
State on Monday at 6 p.m. CT. Texas Tech will meet the loser of that game in an
elimination contest on Monday at 1 p.m. CT.