No. 18 Michigan ties Mets as VanBuskirk, Dufek homer

No. 18 Michigan ties Mets as VanBuskirk, Dufek homer

Wright, Abreu connect on two-run home runs for New York in the first and ninth, respectively.

Detroit News staff and wires

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The Michigan Wolverines were one out away from becoming the darlings of ESPN. Then Michel Abreu struck.

Abreu's two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth allowed the Mets to tie the 18th-ranked Wolverines, 4-4, Tuesday in an exhibition game with four women umpires.

"They probably would have played it on ESPN or something (if U-M won) which would have been funny," Michigan coach Rich Mahoney said. "That would have been neat, but the flipside of that is we would have had to talk about humility (if U-M won). At the end of that game, there was some humility by them catching up.

"The good thing is, it wasn't a game-winning home run, so what we want to learn from that is it's never over until it's over."

It was a fun, learning experience for the Wolverines.

"It was exciting. My heart was beating a little bit faster than it usually does," said first baseman/pitcher Mike Dufek, who had a homer and struck out three in 1 2/3 innings. "I was just going out there and trying to throw my stuff and let the rest take care of itself."

Michigan got scoreless innings of relief from Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores South Lake), Chris Fetter, Matt Gerbe (Utica Eisenhower) and Tyler Burgoon.

Derek VanBuskirk and Dufek had two hits and a home run for the Wolverines. Leif Mahler and Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe South) each scored a run and had two hits.

David Wright of the Mets hit a two-run home run to left to start the scoring in the first.

Abraham in the second hit a leadoff triple off the center-field fence before Kevin Cislo (Novi) grounded out to second base to allow Abraham to score, pulling the Wolverines within 2-1.

Michigan tied it 2-2 with a run in the inning from a Mahler single up the middle.

Dufek led off the inning with a looping liner that came down just inside the left-field line. After moving to third on U-M groundout to first base, Dufek scored on Mahler's hit.

VanBuskirk broke the stalemate with a two-run homer to give U-M a 4-2 lead in the eighth.

"It was unbelievable," VanBuskirk said about playing the Mets. "It was a lot of fun coming out here today, not a lot of pressure, and you just come out and play baseball like you did when you were a kid."

The umpiring crew had Perry Barber at home plate, Mona Osborne at first, Theresa Fairlady at second and Ila Valcarcel at third.

Too bad they didn't win. They just about had it. Oh well.

better than FL with us!

LOL! We killed them!

Not so sure about today! Come ON, guys! And catbox, that commerical about Ester-C is definitely an oxymoron!

laprimamirala wrote:

And catbox, that commerical about Ester-C is definitely an oxymoron!

LOL! I forgot I even posted that (on the other site). LOL!

Take what I take, says a voice who says he is a doctor. Yeah, RIGHT....

If you like non-acidic Vitamin C I can offer you other stuff, too:

pH-balanced antacids, non-acidic vinegar, acid-free aspirin, oil-free petroleum jelly, and non-alcoholic antifreeze.

that'll do it!