OMAHA, Neb. — With one out in the ninth inning of Monday's opening World Series game with Vanderbilt, Michigan head coach Erik Bakich met junior pitcher Tommy Henry on the mound one last time. He took a bit longer than usual to try to put into words what his standout had meant to the program.
For 8 1/3 innings, Henry held the nation's best offensive team in check to propel the Wolverines to a 1-0 series lead in a Best-of-Three series with the powerful Commodores, a 7-4 win that puts U-M one win away from its first title since 1962.
"To have a truly selfless kid like that as a captain and as a leader is an inspiration to all younger kids ... you can work to try to achieve his level of greatness and his level of performance, but everyone has seen what it takes," Bakich said. "Everyone wants to be good, but not everybody is willing to put in the work. Tommy’s put in the work."
Did he ever. He threw 111 pitches on a muggy night in Nebraska, the first 10 of them strikes. He got ahead of most hitters and frustrated Vanderbilt hitters.
"I think the difference was certainly Tommy Henry," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "Their aggressiveness offensively, but you have to give that kid a lot of credit. He threw a lot of strikes. He minimized damage when he had to. When he found himself in a little bit of trouble, he was able to negate our offense.
"He did a really good job. He didn't allow many base runners and ... he just kind of forced the action a little bit with his fastball and his off-speed stuff. He made it very difficult on us, and they played some pretty good defense."
There was no secret to it, Commodores standout JJ Bleday (one home run) said.
"He just pounded the strike zone. When you pound the strike zone and you throw a lot of strikes, you force guys to hit," he said. "That can get guys out of their zone, and it can force you to do a little bit too much."
As usual, it came down to preparation. Henry and pitching coach Chris Fetter studied the Vanderbilt lineup in depth looking for strengths and weaknesses. Henry did the rest.
“That's a really talented lineup, one through nine, as good as it gets, so there are no breaks, no lapses throughout that entire lineup,” Henry said. “We just tried to do our best to keep them as off-balance as we possibly could, kind of throw the kitchen sink at them and see what happens. The defense made a lot of good plays tonight on hard-hit balls, so it worked out a little bit.”
It actually worked out a lot, the way it has all postseason for the lefty. He's been the Wolverines' rock, and he'll leave with big shoes to fill.
"To know he’s inspired a bunch of young pitchers that are coming up in the wings behind him and have all seen first hand just how much he puts into it and the 100 percent effort he puts into it, the total team-first attitude that goes behind it, that’s worth its weight in gold," Bakich said. "We’re not even talking baseball.
"That’s what fuels his performance on the field, because he knows he’s got the total trust of his teammates behind him and in the dugout.”
Playing, as Henry said, for one another and the eight letters on his chest, leaving a legacy that none of them will forget.
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“That's a really talented lineup, one through nine, as good as it gets, so there's no breaks, no lapses throughout that entire lineup,” Henry said. “And we just tried to do our best to keep them as off-balance as we possibly could, kind of throw the kitchen sink at them and see what happens. And the defense made a lot of good plays tonight on hard-hit balls, so it worked out a little bit.”
Henry said he and pitching coach Chris Fetter studied the Vanderbilt lineup and know what he would be facing in the nation’s No. 2-ranked team.
