{"id":988,"date":"2025-04-24T10:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T10:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/steals-and-hustle-plays-secure-michigan-win-over-bowling-green\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T10:54:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T10:54:22","slug":"steals-and-hustle-plays-secure-michigan-win-over-bowling-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/steals-and-hustle-plays-secure-michigan-win-over-bowling-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Steals and hustle plays secure Michigan win over Bowling Green"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Skying the ball into right field, junior second baseman Mitch Voit knew he wasn\u2019t making it to first base. But graduate shortstop Benny Casillas saw his opportunity. From Bowling Green\u2019s right fielder to the shortstop and ultimately to the third baseman, Casillas gambled that his legs were better than the Falcons\u2019 arms. After tearing down the base line, he slid on his right leg as he pointed his left, and beat the tag by the teeth of his cleats.<\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t the Michigan baseball team\u2019s only gamble of the day. A combination of hustle plays and stolen bases gave the Wolverines the pressure they needed to secure the victory against Bowling Green.<\/p>\n<p>Casillas\u2019 slide into third all but guaranteed that he would make it home in the bottom of the first inning. In Michigan\u2019s four hole, senior third baseman Cole Caruso sent another fly ball to right field, not to get himself on first, but to compliment Casillas\u2019 hustle. With this sacrifice fly, the Wolverines earned the first run of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s first stolen base of the day also appeared in the first inning. Realizing that the Falcons\u2019 left-hander Luke Krouse hadn\u2019t taken a look over at first in a while, freshman outfielder Brayden Jefferis dashed towards second, and made it well before the tag. This stolen base marked Jefferis fourth attempt of the year but just the second successful one, showing the trust that the Wolverines\u2019 coaching staff has in his ability to out run pitchers.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s based off the situation of the game,\u201d Michigan coach Tracy Smith said of the steals. \u201cTiming what they\u2019re doing, from the start of the wind up through to the balking of the plate. It\u2019s a lot of math, so the game will tell you what you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The aggression from the Wolverines\u2019 runners began to wear down Bowling Green pitchers in just the second inning. After reaching first base, freshman left fielder Tyler Inge took a sizable lead off, forcing Krouse to throw him back onto the bag. As another sizeable lead disrupted Krouse\u2019s rhythm, he balked Inge into a scoring position.<\/p>\n<p>However, not all gambles are so successful. In the fifth inning, Jefferis looked to copy Inge\u2019s success by taking a strong lead off first. Following a timid run as the pitch flew in, Jefferis realized he was caught in no-man\u2019s land, and turned back to first halfway between the bases. This moment of indecisiveness gave the catcher ample time to make the throw to first, culminating in Jefferis\u2019 eventual out after a game of pickle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven as we did some good stuff on the steals, we made some poor decisions as well,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>Undeterred by Jefferis\u2019 blunder, the baserunners kept their aggression, recording three more steals before the end of the game. Two came from Voit, who has been a prolific base runner all season, leading Michigan with 11 stolen bases. One more came from sophomore pinch runner AJ Garcia. Even though this marked his first of the season, Garcia has been a go-to pinchrunner for the Wolverines due his speed on the base paths.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Hustle plays didn\u2019t disappear as the game progressed. In the bottom of the eighth inning, junior center fielder Greg Pace Jr. roped a ball into center field. Immediately, Pace pounded the baseline, turning a would-be double into a triple \u2014 his first of the year. With a runner on third, a single from graduate outfielder Robert Hamchuk brought Pace in, for Michigan\u2019s ninth and final run of the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re a bunch of crafty, speedy guys who want to produce runs,\u201d Pace said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what we did today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though they\u2019re known as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/power-bats-return-in-michigan-win-over-oakland\/\">power<\/a> hitting team \u2014 with two home runs today alone \u2014 the Wolverines utilization of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/baseball\/aggressive-base-running-jump-starts-michigan-offense-in-win-over-eastern-michigan\/\">aggressive<\/a> baserunning approach has widened their offensive opportunities. And against Bowling Green, pounding the turf before, between and after every hit aided Michigan in a landslide win.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skying the ball into right field, junior second baseman Mitch Voit knew he wasn\u2019t making it to first base. But graduate shortstop Benny Casillas saw his opportunity. From Bowling Green\u2019s right fielder to the shortstop and ultimately to the third baseman, Casillas gambled that his legs were better than the Falcons\u2019 arms. After tearing down [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1081,1082,1108,222,1109,1080,1107,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-bowling","9":"tag-green","10":"tag-hustle","11":"tag-michigan","12":"tag-plays","13":"tag-secure","14":"tag-steals","15":"tag-win"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":990,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}