The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520409
JUNE/JULY 2024 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 15 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2019: Jeff Criswell logged a game- clinching strikeout with the potential winning run at the plate, sealing Michigan's 5-3 victory over No. 8 Texas Tech in the Wolverines' opening game of the 2019 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., on June 15, 2019. The Wolverines led the entire game after scoring three runs in the top of the third inning. Jimmy Kerr blasted a two-run triple and scored on Blake Nelson's single in the third, staking Michigan to a 4-0 lead. Texas Tech chipped away, scoring two in the third and one in the sixth off U-M starter and winner Karl Kauffmann. Then in the ninth, the Red Raiders put two men on before Criswell slammed the door shut with his clutch K. The Wolverines (44-20) moved forward in the World Series, beating Florida State, 2-0, in their next showdown, followed by a 15-3 romp over Texas Tech to face Vanderbilt in a best- two-out-of-three series for the championship. Michigan won the opener, 7-4, but the Commodores took the next two games, 4-1 and 8-2. Head coach Erik Bakich's squad showed no fear in the pro- gram's first College World Series contest in 35 years. "We didn't win the Big Ten Tournament, but it didn't matter because we had confidence and we had belief. Once we got into the tournament, we didn't care if we were one of the last four in or the first four in," Bakich noted. 10 YEARS AGO, 2014: Junior Brook Handler became an All-American with her sixth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Eugene, Ore., on June 14, 2014. The final day of the track and field championships saw Hander match the conservative 12-person pack to start. She then made a forceful move on the outside with roughly 600 meters to go, allowing her to grab fourth place entering the bell lap. Two runners slipped past her down the stretch, but she still maintained the No. 6 spot, allowing her to lock down her All-America citation. 25 YEARS AGO, 1999: Tom Brady started at quarterback for the Wolverines in 1998, but by June of 1999, talk was al- ready heating up over who would guide the Wolverines that fall — the veteran Brady or talented rookie Drew Henson. The discussion raged following spring practice and through- out the summer. Brady knew this much — he'd gotten a taste of the action, actually guiding the Wolverines to a share of the Big Ten championship in '98, and he wasn't looking to take a seat. "To be the best, you've got to beat out the best," Brady told The Detroit News. "I've fought long and hard to be in this position, and I don't plan to give it up." Another very talented quarterback on the Michigan roster, Jason Kapsner, also weighed in with an observation later. "Being a day-in, day-out observer as a quarterback every day in practice watching this, for me it was never really a deci- sion — it was always Tom's job," Kapsner said. "Tom earned the job in practice every day, and I think Drew was not ready at that point. He wasn't the leader of the team, he hadn't earned it in practice, but for reasons that were there, there was a lot of pressure to play Drew." Wideout David Terrell seconded that notion. "It was more or less like, 'Throw Drew in there,'" Terrell said. "But it was Tom's team." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY The Michigan baseball team defeated UCLA in the NCAA Super Regionals to advance to the 2019 College World Series for the first time since 1984. The Wolverines won four straight games in Omaha but fell to Vanderbilt in the title series, two games to one. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY