The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2020 THE WOLVERINE 65 BY CLAYTON SAYFIE O n March 12, the remainder of winter and spring collegiate sports were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. The following day, the NCAA Division I Council Committee rec- ommended that eligibility relief be provided to all spring-sport student- athletes, though final details have not been released as of March 16. Here's a look at how all U-M sports teams were doing when their trun- cated seasons came to a close: Baseball (8-7, 0-0 Big Ten) Best Performance — An opening weekend to remember: The Wolver- ines started off the season strong, with a 4-3 win over No. 2 Vanderbilt on open- ing day Feb. 14 thanks to a two-run homer from fifth-year senior infielder Matt Schmidt, before beating Cal Poly, 8-5 Feb. 15 in the MLB4 Tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. U-M traveled later that day to Tempe, Ariz., to take on Arizona State, winning behind redshirt freshman Steve Hajjar and sophomore Jack White's combined five-hit shutout pitching performance. U-M entered back into MLB4 Tourna- ment play and lost to Connecticut 7-1 Feb. 16 to close out what was still a suc- cessful opening weekend. MVP — Junior outfielder Jordan Nwogu: He batted a team-high .353 this season in 68 at-bats with two home runs, four RBI and 24 hits. Honors: Hajjar won both the Big Ten Freshman of the Week and Pitcher of the Week honors Feb. 17 for his col- legiate debut against Arizona State, a six-inning shutout gem. Notable: After a 3-1 opening week- end that included two top-10 wins, U-M was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Baseball America for the first time in the poll's history. Men's Golf Best Performance — Match play win over Wisconsin: On Feb. 8, U-M won 3.5-2.5 over No. 12 Wisconsin on day two of the Big Ten Match Play Cham- pionship. MVP — Brent Ito: He star ted all seven events on the season, playing 18 rounds. Ito averaged a team-low score of 72.67 strokes and posted seven rounds under par. Notable: U-M opened up the spring season at the Big Ten Match Play Cham- pionship with a pair of 3-3 ties in day- one matches with Iowa and Indiana, before beating Wisconsin and losing to Ohio State on day two. Women's Golf Best Performance — Finished third out of 12 at the Gators Invitational: The Wolverines tallied a team total of 286 strokes on the final day of action (March 8) for a season-low 859 54-hole total to finish third, just one shot out of second place. Three Wolverines finished among the event's top 10. MVP — Junior Ashley Kim: Kim led U-M in all three spring events, and recorded top-10 finishes at each, in- cluding her first career victory at the Hurricane Invitational March 2-3. Six of her nine spring rounds were at par or better. Notable: After finishing tied for 11th place at the season-opening IJGA Col- legiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mex- ico, U-M earned back-to-back top-five team finishes during their spring break trip, which included a fourth-place showing at the Hurricane Invitational and a third-place finish at the Gators Invitational. Men's Gymnastics (11-1, 3-1 Big Ten) Best Performance — Win over No. 2 Oklahoma: U-M beat Oklahoma on Feb. 15 by a score of 416.500-408.900. The Wolverines won five out of seven individual events on the day, including a pair of wins by freshman Paul Juda (still rings, parallel bars) and junior Cameron Bock (high bar, all-around). MVP — Cameron Bock: He ranked in the top 10 nationally on three events — No. 2 on still rings (14.250), No. 3 on parallel bars (14.317) and No. 8 on pom- mel horse (13.750). Notable: U-M sat atop the Big Ten standings at the end of the season and was ranked No. 3 in the country. Women's Gymnastics (12-1-0, 9-0 Big Ten) Best Performance — Victory over No. 13 Illinois: U-M shared or won out- OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE The Coronavirus Pandemic Ended Many Promising Michigan Seasons Junior outfielder Jordan Nwogu led the team's regular players with a .353 batting average, .456 slugging percentage, 24 hits, 31 total bases and two home runs through the team's 15 games. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY