The Wolverine

August 2019

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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AUGUST 2019 THE WOLVERINE 39 the hole — and on the mound — in junior lefty Tommy Henry. The Ari- zona Diamondbacks' draft pick (No. 74 overall) was remarkable in game three of the Super Regional, pitching through the flu and a strain of pneu- monia to beat the Bruins 4-2. He took the mound again for game two at the College World Series and pitched a complete game gem, allowing just three hits and five total base runners against 10 strikeouts in a 2-0 victory. "He was just very locked in," co- ace and junior righty Karl Kauffmann said. "He was pretty quiet. He's just Tommy. He's quiet and just goes about his business and you know exactly what you're going to get from him." Henry admitted his knees were shaking when he took the mound in Omaha, but he followed Kauff- mann's advice and hit the hill with a bit of an edge rather than the "Mr. Nice Guy" persona many had be- come accustomed to. "In the biggest game in Michigan baseball history in a long, long time, we got the best pitching performance of Tommy Henry's career," Bakich said after the game. "He was the en- tire story line tonight. We needed a strong performance, and he gave us something magical tonight. "Tommy was just — I don't even know if there's an adjective to de- scribe how good he was, but he was better than that." He also propelled the Wolverines in the first game of the championship series, a 7-4 victory over Vanderbilt, that led U-M to the brink of its first title since 1962, when senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr 's grandfather (a pitcher) led Michigan to the cham- pionship. The Wolverines became the first Big Ten team to reach the national championship game in baseball since 1966. Only one other Big Ten squad had reached the College World Series in Omaha since the Wolverines' last appearance in 1984. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY

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