(OMAHA, Neb.)—Day Three of the College World Series concluded with perhaps one of the most exceptional pitching performances in TD Ameritrade Park history.
The Michigan Wolverines met the Florida State Seminoles in a matchup that pitted to Regionals three seeds in a winner’s bracket game that certainly surprised a lot of people.
Florida State started CJ Van Eyk on the mound, who, for the most part, was very solid for the Seminoles. However, he paled in comparison to his counterpart, Tommy Henry from Michigan.
Henry, a junior with a 3.54 ERA coming into the contest, simply put, was brilliant. He tossed a complete game shutout of the Seminoles, including ten strikeouts, only allowing three hits, one of which being an infield single. There was no one on the Florida State roster that could put any significant damage on Henry.
The big question became whether or not Michigan would have enough run support. They got a little in the first inning, thanks to a solo home run from sophomore Jesse Franklin. Taking the first pitch of the at bat, Franklin launched a bomb into the seats beyond the bullpen in right field.
After that however, it became a very quick, defensive ball game. Van Eyk settled in after his blemish in the first and Michigan was held in check.
It wasn’t until the fifth that Michigan got any more help for Henry. Jordan Nwogu got things started with a single, before Jesse Franklin singled to move Nwogu into third. It was senior leader Jimmy Kerr then to drive in Nwogu and give Michigan another run and make their lead 2-0.
The rest came down to the brilliance of Tommy Henry. The Wolverine starter only allowed four base runners from the fifth to the ninth innings, and in the game, never allowed more than one base runner on the base paths at the same time.
Michigan’s ninth perfectly encapsulated what the game was for the Wolverines. Henry began the inning by striking out Drew Mendoza. The second out came from a fantastic diving play by Wolverine second baseman Ako Thomas. Finally, in a note of poetic justice, Henry got the last batter of his complete game shutout to strike out swinging, bringing his strikeout count to ten.
Michigan continues to stay hot after winning a highly-competitive Regional that included last year’s national champion Oregon State and a very good Creighton team. After that, the Wolverines shocked the number one overall seed UCLA by beating them in the Super Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Many may have expected the Wolverine’s to slow down, especially considering their grueling back and forth trips to the west coast, but this has not been the case. Michigan is one win away from a College World Series final in their first trip to Omaha since 1984.
Michigan is the first Big Ten team to make the CWS since 2013, and this win marks the furthest a Big Ten team has gone in the CWS since Michigan in 1983.
As for Florida State, Mike Martin’s last run at a title is not done yet. They will face Texas Tech in an elimination game Wednesday night. The winner of that game meets Michigan on Friday afternoon.
