As if having a young crafty left-hander like Bobby Brosnahan isn't enough for Michigan baseball coach Rich Maloney, adding confidence to the mix only makes matters better.

Throw in an ample dose of early run support and you'll get all the makings the performance the Wolverines received from their redshirt freshman starter in a 6-4 victory over Purdue Saturday at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Brosnahan kept the Boilermakers guessing for much of his 6 2/3 innings of work, effectively mixing pitches and striking out five. Tyler Burgoon finished off the effort to put Michigan in position to claim its second straight Big Ten series with a victory on Sunday.

In order to do so, though, it had to start Saturday after Purdue killed off a late Michigan rally to take Game 1 the night before.

It had to start with Brosnahan, who despite giving the Wolverines a chance to win in each of his eight appearances this season, hadn't completely found a way to put everything together yet.

On Saturday, he took another step toward doing that.

The former Pioneer High School ace was efficient early, getting help from Michigan's defense when he needed, setting up the Wolverines' offense to give him some offense to work with.

Blending an ever-improving fastball with a steady diet of off-speed pitches, Brosnahan allowed only one hit over the first three innings, gaining confidence with each hitter he faced.

"You could tell they didn't know what was coming next," Brosnahan said. "That helps keep hitters guessing and they didn't know what I could come back with in the count. If I could throw a breaking ball behind the count, it opens up a lot of doors."

Building off Brosnahan's solid start, the Wolverines (17-11, 3-2 Big Ten) scored four times in the second inning as John Lorenz, Anthony Toth, Ryan LaMarre and Coley Crank all drove in runs, staking Brosnahan to a 5-0 lead he used to mow through Purdue's line-up.

Even when Purdue roughed him up a bit, Brosnahan managed to remain composed. After four straight Boilermaker singles in the fourth inning produced two runs and put runners on second and third with only one out, Brosnahan fought back.

He got Drew Madia to ground out before striking out Nick Overmeyer to minimize the damage. Michigan countered with Chris Berset's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth that pushed Michigan's lead back to four runs.

Brosnahan and Burgoon remained in command the rest of the way despite Purdue making things interesting in the seventh with two runs before Burgoon finished the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to squash the Boilermakers' rally.

"That was huge and we needed that," Maloney said. "You have to win games all different ways and this was a good team win and now, we've got a chance to win the series and that's all you can ask for."

For Brosnahan, who improved to 4-2 with the win, registering another solid outing only makes him that much more valuable to Michigan's pitching staff. Maloney senses his young left-hander is on the verge of breaking out -  something Brosnahan believes he's ready to do after solidifying himself as the Wolverines' No. 2 starter.

Despite still trying to iron out some wrinkles, efforts like Saturday's inch Brosnahan closer to where he - and the Wolverines - would like him to be as Michigan enters the meat of the Big Ten season.

"It's a work in progress, but I think I'll get there soon," he said. "I knew I'd have a role somewhere and I'd get my innings and (Maloney) told me if I produced, the sky was the limit. He gave me a chance and I took it and I ran with it."

Exactly how far he goes remains the only question left to be answered.

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com.