Inconsistent pitching continues to complicate game management in home opener

In the Michigan baseball team’s home opener victory against Toledo, up-and-down pitching taxed its bullpen. But select arms contributed key performances when they were needed.

As freshman left-hander Michael Quadens toed the rubber for his first start of the year, a leadoff hit-by-pitch didn’t exactly start him off on the right foot. Similar to the Wolverines’ up-and-down pitching seen Tuesday afternoon, Quadens’ year has lacked consistency. A strong first appearance in Michigan’s opening series against Rice gave way to back-to-back appearances where he allowed three and two runs, respectively.

After the leadoff hitter, a Toledo single through the left side put two runners on with no outs, but Quadens negotiated a foul out to the catcher and a groundout to first. However, as Quadens gave up two-straight 3-2 walks to load the bases and walk in a run, Wolverine coach Tracy Smith was forced to go to his bullpen in just the first inning.

“The disappointing part today was the free bases, which we’ve talked about ad nauseam,” Smith said. “So we’ve got to get better at that.”

As graduate left-hander Cade Connolly came in tasked with a long-relief job, he worked a flyout to end the inning and left the bases loaded for the Rockets. After running into some trouble in the second inning, Connolly’s day was mostly smooth sailing as he navigated an easy fourth and fifth inning en route to 3.1 innings of one-hit zero-ERA pitching on the day.

Carrying on Connolly’s momentum, senior right-hander Ricky Kidd retired six-straight batters in a hitless two innings of work. His two innings of work kept Michigan competitive in a span of innings where it failed to put any additional runs on the board.

Connolly and Kidd’s combined 5.1 innings of stellar pitching gave the Wolverines a huge boost after Quadens couldn’t get out of the first inning. Using six pitchers tested Michigan’s pitching depth more than it anticipated in a midweek matchup, though.

“We thought the strength of this team would be the pitching depth,” Smith said. “But when you can’t throw the ball over the plate then we don’t have the depth that we thought.”

Put in to pitch the seventh inning, junior right-hander Brandon Mann’s performance was eerily similar to Quadens’ lackluster showing in the first frame. A leadoff hit-by-pitch followed by a four-pitch walk spelled the end of the day for Mann as the Wolverines were forced to go to the bullpen before he even threw a strike. This tasked freshman right-hander Tate Carey with getting out of the two-on no-out jam. And after a sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position, an RBI single scored both runs, giving Toledo a late lead.

Carey subsequently worked a 4-6-3 double play to escape the inning, but the damage was done. Mann’s inability to find the strike zone forced a freshman — albeit a talented one — into a high-leverage situation with little margin for error that resulted in Michigan losing its slim lead.

But as the Wolverines showed no quit — putting up four runs to reclaim the lead in the eighth inning — the Rockets didn’t go away quietly either. Three-straight singles in the top of the ninth marked the end of Carey’s day as, again, a Michigan reliever was brought in to defuse a difficult situation. Senior right-hander Will Rogers, fresh off a stellar performance against Illinois, made quick work of the Toledo’s lineup, retiring the first three batters he faced and surrendering only one run in the save situation.

“I would like for some of those other guys to cut their teeth in those (late game) situations and not have to use Will Rogers or Tate Carey in those situations,” Smith said. “But when they’re out there walking guys and hitting guys it forces our hand.”

Surrendering just four runs against a talented Toledo team that managed to knock off Big Ten favorite Oregon is no small feat and it’s certainly a low enough margin to outscore an opponent. But it didn’t have to be that way. Perpetuating the pattern of free bases that have plagued the Wolverines all season taxed a bullpen that now has to navigate four games in five days.

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