Beaubien No-Hitter Clinches Sweep of Maryland, 8-0 (6 inn.)

Submitted by South Bend Wolverine on

Last year, Maryland handed Michigan a surprising loss in College Park, dealing a critical blow to Michigan's Big Ten title chances.  Revenge may not have been consciously on the players' minds this weekend, but the results speak for themselves.  Michigan complete a "win with cruelty" 3-game sweep of a Terrapins team that never looked like they deserved to be on the same field with mighty Michigan.

For the 3rd straight game, Michigan rushed out to an early lead, plating a run in the 1st on a Faith Canfield solo home run.  2 more runs would pop up on the board in each of the next 3 innings, as Lou Allan would launch a long ball in the 2nd, an error and an Alexander single would add a pair in the 3rd, and Peters & Blanco would combine to drive home runs #6 & 7 in the 4th.  The 5th inning came & went quietly, before Michigan applied the coup de grace in the 6th.  An error got things started, and then 3 straight singles, from Canfield, Peters, and Blanco would bring home the game-ending run-rule score.

In the circle, Beaubien dazzled again.  Only a check-swing appeal that went Maryland's way in the top of the 6th separated her from completing a perfect game.  As it was, she threw yet another no-hitter, weed-whacking her way through the Maryland line-up with 11 Ks.  In 2 games on the weekend, Beaubien went 13 innings, allowing no earned runs, 1 hit (Friday), 1 walk (today), and racking up 18 strike-outs.  And yes, she's still just a freshman.  Settle in, folks, it's going to be a fun 4 years.

Michigan will step on the field next on Friday at 6 PM to kick off a crucial series at Indiana.  The Hoosiers, despite their terrible non-conference performance, have emerged into surprise contenders for the Big Ten regular season crown.  The team that takes next weekend's series will be in a great position to take home the Big Ten title.

Clarence Boddicker

April 22nd, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^

They've turned it up several notches. Hell yeah. Canfield sounds like she can't be stopped at the plate. Sounds like the rest of the bats have come alive as well. And Beaubien is a force out there.

tlo2485

April 22nd, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^

Indiana run-ruled Penn State to keep pace 1 game back.  Next weekend will likely decide the B1G regular season champion as Indiana only has Rutgers and Purdue left, while Michigan has a game with Sparty and a final series with Ohio State (who, while overranked, hovered around the top 25 all season). Not a lot of room for error. 

Also, Michigan baseball is up 9-0 in the 5th on PSU looking for their 20th win in a row.

Nice day at the Wilpon Complex!!

Alton

April 22nd, 2018 at 2:54 PM ^

In the oxymoron of the day, Michigan controls its destiny in the conference:  they need 6 wins in the final 7 games to clinch the outright conference championship.  The upper division--

1. Michigan (13-1), 7 games remaining

2. Indiana (13-2), 8 games remaining

3. Minnesota (9-3), 9 games remaining

4. Northwestern (11-5), 6 games remaining

5. Ohio State (10-6), 6 games remaining

6. Illinois (9-6), 6 games remaining

7. Nebraska (8-7), 7 games remaining



Remember that the bad weather of the last several weeks means that some teams have different game totals than others.  Michigan & Minnesota will end up with no more than 21 conference games played, and Indiana will end up with as many as 23.

tlo2485

April 22nd, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^

If Indiana somehow takes 2/3 from Michigan, we could easily see a 3-way tie in the loss column. That would be painful giving it to Indiana on winning %.

Luckily, I see us winning at least 2 from them.

South Bend Wolverine

April 22nd, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^

That FSU win came during the rough 6-6 opening, too.  It was basically just Beaubien doing it all herself.  We picked up 1 run on an RBI single, and Beaubien made that stand up against an elite offense, going 7 innings, 2 hits, 0 BB, 7 K.  What a wonder she's been.

snowcrash

April 23rd, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^

Obviously the B1G isn't one of the top leagues, but it's still pretty amazing to make it through 45 games without getting wrecked even once.

Kevin13

April 24th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^

win the regular season can conference tourney championship. The team needs to be hosting a regional and hopefully super regional. Had trouble last year going on the road for those and would be better if they can stay home and play in front of their crowd on their own field.