The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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a number of great performances in his coaching career, but he told re- porters in the aftermath that his 6-1, 170-pounder's was as good as any. "That might have been one of the best individual performances I've seen in a week in a tournament set- ting," Bakich said. "To excel at the plate, defensively and on the mound, you're talking about three phases of the game. "He was deserving of that MVP award and was instrumental in al- lowing us to win that championship — and it wouldn't have been done without him." Cronenworth went 7-for-20 (.350) from the plate in the tournament and also stood out defensively in four games, a performance that solidified him as The Wolverine Male Athlete of the Year. He was named to the Per- fect Game All-America third-team as a utility player after leading the Big Ten with 91 hits and 62 runs scored this season, and finishing ninth in the league with a .338 batting average. His eight saves led the Wolverines and tied for fifth in the Big Ten, with four of them coming in the Big Ten Tournament. "This past year, we had a lot of ex- perience top to bottom in the lineup, experience on the mound and some impressive young guys, too — but that experience on the team defi- nitely helped us," Cronenworth said before a June game. "It was the most fun year of base- ball I've ever played in my life. We knew what to expect, who would be there … we pretty much knew every- thing, and our only goal was to win. "Everyone's goal going to Michi- gan is winning a Big Ten champion- ship, no matter what the sport. Mich- igan is the poster child for the Big Ten. When everybody comes back on alumni weekend, they wear their Big Ten Championship rings. "Now all of us and the guys on the 35 championship teams before us all have something in common — we won a Big Ten championship. It's awesome." That word would also be the way to describe Cronenworth's three- year Michigan career. The Tampa Bay Rays selected him in the seventh round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft, and he joined the franchise after playing and starting in all 180 games in his Michigan career. He was a two-time All-Big Ten second-team honoree, a lifetime .312 hitter who posted 36 doubles, nine triples, 10 home runs and 117 RBI with the Wolverines. He notched a Head baseball coach Erik Bakich on Cronenworth's performance while leading the Wolverines to the Big Ten Championship "That might have been one of the best individual performances I've seen in a week in a tournament setting. To excel at the plate, defensively and on the mound, you're talking about three phases of the game."