Erik Bakich got the hint when he saw Secret Service patrolling Michigan’s baseball field Saturday.

President Barack Obama was coming to Ann Arbor.

Bakich, Michigan’s baseball coach, was hosting his usual tailgate on a home football game day when the men in suits walked through, and he briefly thought it was ESPN officials affiliated with the football game.

“But then you saw the badges and guns and realized it wasn’t ESPN,” Bakich recalled today.

The next couple days became a whirlwind of meetings, conversations, background checks and finally today’s Obama speech at U-M’s Fisher Stadium, as Bakich and his entire baseball team attended in person, capping a day few of them will ever forget.

There were about 10 campus sites Obama’s team was considering for today’s speech supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but Fisher Stadium won out, reinforced on Sunday, when a team of workers began assembling the stage as the team worked out.

As Sunday progressed, Bakich began realizing this was a unique opportunity, and that he and the team should be ready.

“We were like, let’s get a jersey together, put a jersey for him in the rare chance, off chance that (you) could potentially meet the president, give the jersey to him or have somebody give the jersey to him, and it worked out,” Bakich said.

Vetted by the Secret Service the day before, with his social security number, birthdate, etc., Bakich realized he might get the moment. And then, after spending more than an hour with U-M athletic director Warde Manuel, football coach Jim Harbaugh and softball coach Carol Hutchins shooting the breeze waiting for Obama, they all got a brief minute with the president in a photo line.

Inside the U-M batting cage area, Bakich presented Obama with a U-M baseball jersey, and Hutchins presented a softball jersey for First Lady Michelle Obama, and they got a photo taken together as well.

“For our players to get to hear him speak and for myself to get to present him with a Michigan baseball jersey, it”s pretty awesome,” Bakich said.

As with everything, it was a different interaction for Harbaugh. Before Obama arrived, many of the dignitaries who were there for the photo line wanted to connect with him.

And then once the three coaches and Manuel moved through the line, Harbaugh got the high five, big hug and praise for U-M’s 9-0 start. Harbaugh stayed true to form, telling Obama there was “no time for a victory lap, keep working,” a moment Obama later shared with the crowd, laughing.

Bakich was impressed by the Secret Service’s consideration, allowing his team to attend and said they were “true professionals.”

One of his lasting memories from the day actually was before the receiving line began as Bakich, Harbaugh, Hutchins and Manuel had a rare extended period to spend time together and just chatting.

Now Bakich gets to use the entire day’s experience to help his program, reminding the potential recruits with photos what is possible at U-M.

“These things happen at Michigan and I don’t think they happen many other places,” he said. “I certainly can’t think in my lifetime of a president speaking at a college baseball stadium … It’s something to highlight, these are the things that our student-athletes here get to experience. This is what a school like Michigan can do.”

The follow-up to today’s energy will be the reason Obama was there.

While Obama was stumping for Clinton, Bakich just wants his players to participate in the voting process, which will be discussed at a Tuesday team meeting.

“They’re all encouraged to vote, they’re all encouraged to speak their beliefs so I hope they all do go out and vote,” he said. “Mostly it happens once during their college career. They need to hear the importance of voting and exercising their right to vote. We talk a lot about having a deep appreciation for this country and the freedoms and liberties we get. So it’s almost a duty to go out and vote.”

Contact Mark Snyder at msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder.

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