For junior right-hander Kurt Barr, progress has defined his season. Arguably the Michigan baseball team’s best pitcher provided a steady performance for the team’s Friday series. While Barr’s performance wasn’t up to standards, the Wolverines tried to make up for it.
After 2.2 disastrous innings by Barr in which he gave up seven runs against Indiana, Michigan’s bullpen had to step in. And step in it did, with performances from right-handers junior Max Debiec and sophomore Dylan Vigue manufacturing a heroic, but preemptively doomed, attempt to claw back.
Barr’s first two innings were defined by mishaps and misjudgments. A wild pitch allowed runners to advance to scoring position in the first inning and eventually score for the Hoosiers’ first run. In the second inning, a walk and an inability to record an out on a bunt allowed for a similar debacle giving Indiana three runs.
Things went from bad to worse for Barr as the third inning began, giving up a home run to the Hoosiers’ second batter of the inning. If Barr’s pitches weren’t missing the strike zone, they were allowing hard contact, driving three more runs to take a dominating 7-2 lead.
“Kurt’s been a guy for us all year and just a bad time for him to not have a good start,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith said.
Up next was Debiec, who any other day, would have had a decent performance on the mound. In his 2.2 innings, he let up only a singular run, a homer in the sixth inning. All season he has excelled with strikeouts and struggled with walks, and while he didn’t have as dominating of a command over the zone, he allowed fewer walks, only giving Indiana only a single free base.
But unfortunately for him, there was little room for error, and his lack of command, the given up run and the four base hits had him pulled and replaced with Vigue.
After losing his starting spot earlier this season, Vigue has found semi-solid footing as a closer for the Wolverines’ triumphing over Ohio State while partially costing a game against Nebraska just last week. But his outing against Indiana put those performances in the rearview.
Vigue was electric, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing only a singular hit while striking out four batters. He pounded the zone with aggression, relying on a strong fastball to induce weak contact that allowed Michigan’s infield to field their positions behind him.
“He’s talented,” Smith said. “He’s got really good stuff. Kept the ball down against a good hitting team… it’s unfortunate for us that we were chasing that many runs at that point.”
His defining moment came in high-leverage situations. In the seventh inning, Vigue gave up two free bases off of a walk and a hit by pitch. With two runners on base, Vigue responded with full force, firing a strikeout to escape the inning unscathed.
An inning prior was probably his most impressive escape however, when induced a double play after inheriting a runner from Debiec.. While Indiana has struggled with grounding into double plays all season, Vigue took advantage, inducing the contact necessary to keep the ball in the infield and ending the inning. The Wolverines secured another double play an inning later marking Vigues second and the team’s fourth of the day.
“I have all the confidence in the world in Dylan,” junior second baseman Mitch Voit said. “His stuff is the most insane that I’ve ever seen. When he’s attacking guys, I don’t think anyone has a chance.”
While he provided a perfectly clean ninth, for all of Vigue’s dominance, the damage had already been done. Barr’s early collapse put the Wolverines in too deep a hole to climb out of. While Michigan’s bullpen proved its grit, and Vigue his potential, Barr’s loss still landed in the only column that counts.
