The Michigan Daily

Sophomore pitcher Zach Putnam was one out from pitching a no-hitter yesterday. (AP PHOTO)

It was a nearly flawless pitching performance for Michigan sophomore Zach Putnam, an outing that Michigan coach Rich Maloney called "one for the ages".

Eight strikeouts. Six 1-2-3 innings. 16 groundball outs.

But in the end, it was the career-low one hit he allowed that counted.

Putnam had a no-hitter through eight innings before an Oregon State ninth-inning, two-out RBI single broke a scoreless tie. The Wolverines couldn't match the run in the bottom of the inning and fell 1-0 in the first game of the Corvallis Super Regional.

With the heartbreaking loss, Michigan's season and College World Series hopes could end in tonight's 7 p.m. game against the defending national champions.

"All we had to do was score two runs - which we do 95 percent of the time - and that game was ours," Maloney said after his team was shut out for the first time this year. "It was just unfortunate because Zach pitched the game of his life. That game was as good a game as you'll ever see in Michigan college baseball."

In the top of the ninth inning, Putnam walked Oregon State rightfielder Scott Santschi on a full count. A sacrifice bunt moved the pinch-runner to second, marking the first time in the game a Beaver runner advanced past first base. After Putnam's eighth strikeout of the game, Oregon State second baseman Joey Wong hit a breaking ball to shallow leftfield. Junior leftfielder Derek VanBuskirk threw the ball home as Santschi sprinted for the plate, slid with his right hand outstretched and clumsily rolled on the ground, his legs flailing, to score the only run of the game.

Though Putnam called the hit "upsetting" and the game "bittersweet," he acknowledged his strong individual performance and said that he felt the pressure of the no-hitter in later innings.

"It's not like I can sit here and tell you that I didn't even know it was happening," Putnam said. "I obviously knew that, going into the ninth inning, I had a no-hitter going. But I wasn't so much concerned with trying to throw the ball by people. It was more just putting the ball in play or not giving away any freebies. I didn't want to walk anybody."

Putnam was countered by the Oregon State pitching staff, which held the Wolverines hitless until a leadoff single by sophomore shortstop Jason Christian in the fourth inning. But after advancing to second on a two-out balk, Christian and the Wolverines couldn't capitalize on the scoring opportunity. VanBuskirk reached third base with two outs in the fifth, but the inning ended one batter later to leave him stranded.

Continued...

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