Freshman left-hander Shane Brinham and redshirt sophomore catcher Noah Miller made up the battery of the Michigan baseball team’s most impressive game of the regular season, a 10-0 run-rule win over No. 14 Oregon.
Now, that same battery is recognized among the best of the Big Ten Tournament.
Both Brinham and Miller earned All-Tournament team honors Sunday night. Brinham shared the honor of top pitcher with Ducks right-handers Cal Scolari and Will Sanford, while Miller took home the title of best catcher.
Conducting the best individual pitching performance of the tournament, Brinham tossed a complete-game shutout against Ohio State, helping the Wolverines advance to a quarterfinal berth. Brinham struck out a tournament-high 11 batters over nine innings and 125 pitches, while allowing just five hits.
Miller was equally critical to the win over the Buckeyes, spearheading Michigan’s offensive production with a two-hit, three-RBI day in the 3-0 victory. No other Wolverine recorded a hit in the contest.
With a solo homer Tuesday against Rutgers and two more knocks Wednesday against Washington, Miller led all backstops in hits, RBIs and slugging percentage, finishing the tournament 5-for-15 with a .333/.333/.533 slash line.
He also excelled behind the dish, recording the most putouts of any defensive player in the tournament with 37. Miller consistently generated impact plays with his awareness and athleticism. On Tuesday, he caught a strikeout and threw out Scarlet Knights outfielder Jack Sweeney for a double play. And after dropping a third strike against Nebraska, he recovered to beat the runner to first with a diving slide to complete the force out.
Michigan was eliminated by the Cornhuskers 6-4, but their journey to Omaha was still full of highlights, with the third-most All-Tournament selections after finalists Oregon and UCLA. The Wolverines will find out Monday at 12 p.m. if Brinham and Miller will get a chance to continue their postseason heroics in the NCAA tournament.
