Very little about the Michigan baseball team’s pitching performance was normal in its win over Michigan State on Friday. A two-hour rain delay stalled the game, outs came in different fashion and a surprise relief appearance subverted the Wolverines’ usual late-game closer. And yet, they still held the Spartans to just two runs on the day en route to an 8-2 victory.
First off, Michigan trotted out a new Friday starter in junior right-hander Kurt Barr. While Barr has pitched great as of late, he had yet to open a series as the starter until Friday night. Coming off arguably his best start of the season where he shut down a prolific Iowa offense last weekend, Barr switched tactics in order to get outs. After notching eight punch-outs against the Hawkeyes, Barr kept his pitch count low against Michigan State by pitching to contact instead of carving hitters.
“Me and Kurt are both Michiganders,” Wolverines center fielder Greg Pace Jr. said. “So we grew up playing against these guys and know how to pitch them and play them defensively.”
With this insight, Barr incorporated a different pitch mix than what he usually does. Opting to work more with his hard pitches, cutters and two-seams, Barr missed barrels and generated weak contact from the Spartans’ order.
“I feel like I’m a curveball pitcher,” Barr said. “But I only threw five curveballs today so the fastball and cutter were working well. I didn’t need to strike people out.”
Barr was making quick work of the Michigan State bats through six innings — only allowing one run. But as he lit up the radar with fastballs, dark clouds brought rain to Ray Fisher stadium, forcing a 90-minute lightning and weather delay.
Likely due to the amount of time waiting for play to resume, Barr’s day was done with a final line of six innings, one run and 71 pitches — another great start albeit with a better result. After play resumed, Barr’syounger brother, freshman right-hander Preston Barr, was brought in to pitch the seventh and eighth innings.
Despite giving up back-to-back base hits in the seventh inning, Preston stayed the course and worked a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and strand a runner in scoring position.
“He’s super level-headed,” Kurt said of his brother’s attitude on the mound. “He doesn’t think when he’s out there, he just throws. That’s kind of his superpower.”
The very next inning, Preston retired the heart of the Spartans’ order in sequence. Preston was undeterred by the delay and it showed on the mound. He came out throwing strikes and didn’t let trouble in the seventh inning change his game plan. Again, thrown into an unorthodox situation, a Wolverines pitcher stayed the course and pitched through uncertianty.
For the ninth inning, Michigan brought in junior right-hander Brandon Mann. Coming into Friday’s appearance with a 22.50 ERA, Mann hasn’t been lights out on the mound. He has also been used sparingly in conference play, with just two appearances against Big Ten opponents — mostly after the game was already out of hand.
Yet he was entrusted with the win and he delivered it. While not perfect, allowing a run in his inning of work, Mann got the job done and even stranded a runner at third after giving up a triple off the wall.
“(Mann) did his thing and he pitched well,” Kurt said.
Not only did Mann “do his thing,” both Barrs did as well. Weathering the storm, literally and figuratively, all three Wolverines pitchers negotiated unorthodox situations in the win. And while a new series opener, pitching after a rain delay and a new closer were all unfamiliar, they proved themselves to be successful in Friday night’s win.
