by By Katie Gwinn Hewitt
OMAHA, Neb. — The University of Michigan baseball team took another early lead and rode the arms of Tommyt Henry and Jeff Criswell as the Wolverines defeated No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt, 7-4, on Monday night (June 24) in the first game of the College World Series Finals at TD Ameritrade Park.
Michigan is now one win away from clinching its third national title and its first since 1962. The Wolverines and Commodores will play again on Tuesday (June 25) at 6 p.m. CDT in the second game of the best-of-three series.
Monday’s victory marked Michigan’s 50th win of the season, the most in program history since 1987 when the Wolverines set a school record with 52 wins.
Michigan got on the board in the first inning for the fourth time during the 2019 College World Series. Sophomore Jordan Nwogu led off the top of the first with a walk, but was thrown out trying to get to third base on a base hit by Jesse Franklin, who took second on the out. He scored quickly as junior Jordan Brewer (Potawatomi) sent a double into the right-field corner. One out later, senior Blake Nelson roped a single through the left side that scored Brewer for a 2-0 Wolverine lead.
Michigan starting pitcher Henry came out strong in the bottom of the first and tossed just seven pitches and let the defense work to record three quick outs.
The Wolverines kept the offense going in the second, as the Maize and Blue added two runs and took a four-run lead. Sophomores Jack Blomgren and Joe Donovangot the inning started with back-to-back walks, and senior Ako Thomas looped a double down the left-field line that scored Blomgren. With two men still in scoring position, an RBI groundout off the bat of Franklin pushed Donovan home and put Michigan up, 4-0.
Vanderbilt got two runs back in the bottom half of the second as the Commodores took advantage of three base hits and a passed ball to cut Michigan’s lead to 4-2.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the sixth, when a leadoff homer from J.J. Bleday pulled the Commodores within one, 4-3.
Michigan took control in the seventh, when Brewer legged out an infield single and senior Jimmy Kerr sent a long home run over the fence in left field for a 6-2 Michigan lead. The shot — his third at the College World Series — was Kerr’s seventh homer of the NCAA postseason and set a new Michigan record for home runs at the CWS.
A solo shot from Donovan led off the eighth inning and extended the Wolverines’ lead to 7-3. Vanderbilt threatened in the bottom of the frame with a leadoff walk, but Brewer connected with Nelson to throw out the runner from first base on a single to right field and kept the Commodores from cutting the Michigan lead.
A leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth coupled with a groundout and a sacrifice fly accounted for one last Vanderbilt run, but sophomore righty Criswell closed out the game for the Wolverines on the mound.
Henry threw 8.1 innings with eight strikeouts to earn his 12th victory of the season which tied teammate Karl Kauffmann and former Wolverine Rich Stoll for the most in a single season. Henry scattered seven hits and walked one.
