joe longo

Yesterday we did an update to the latest happening in Michigan Softball's 2023 season. Today we will be doing the same for Michigan Baseball.

Baseball: Navigating the choppy seas

Last time we talked, Michigan Baseball was coming off their first B1G series of the season, having swept PSU at home to get some momentum behind them after a bumpy close to the non-conference schedule. We noted that they had a couple big arms but pitching depth and the offense overall needed to improve moving forward for the team to do lots of damage in the B1G. Half of that sentence did come true, while half is still a struggle. 

The season results since last time: Michigan has played three standard B1G weekend series since the last installment, two of which on the road and one at home. The first was also very promising, a series victory down in Champaign, ILL, with a win over the Illini. Michigan claimed the Friday game with a big time performance at the plate from Jonathan Kim, who went 5/5(!) with 4 RBI and a run scored. The Wolverines scored early and often to build up to 12-2 lead behind a strong start from ace Connor O'Halloran. The bullpen did its best to try and let Illinois back into it, but ultimately sealed a 12-9 win. The Saturday game saw Michigan get a strong start from Chase Allen and more heroics at the plate from Kim, the go-ahead single in the 8th before a grand slam by Mitch Voit in the ninth put the game away. Having used all their quality arms to get the first two wins, Michigan started Walker Cleveland on Sunday which more or less amounts to waving the white flag, and the squad got crushed in the final game.

Still, it was a strong weekend and they followed it up with a 12-5 win over WMU in the midweek MACtion game. Nebraska came to town over Easter Weekend, the Friday game being a pitching duel for the ages between O'Halloran and Nebraska's Emmett Olson. Michigan tied the game in the 8th on a HR by Jonathan Kim to make it 1-1, but Michigan couldn't get it done in regulation despite nine innings of one-run ball from O'Halloran. Noah Rennard allowed two in the tenth and that would be enough for the Huskers to win it. The Wolverines responded by scoring six runs in the first two innings on Saturday to secure an 8-6 win, but the rubber match on Sunday went to the visitors as Jacob Denner was bludgeoned for six earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched and the Wolverine bats were held pretty quiet. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Butler came to town for the mid-week game after that, an easy 13-2 Michigan win, and then Tracy Smith's squad headed back out on the road to Piscataway and a matchup with Rutgers. The weekend would deal with major weather issues and big time pitching woes. O'Halloran allowed four runs before he'd recorded an out on Friday, the first time all year he'd been lit up, so Smith opted to yank O'Halloran after just one inning, so the lefty could be saved for a later game in the series. In the process, he punted the game and Michigan lost 13-0, but now they had some ammo later on. The unusual strategy worked, as O'Halloran came in to game two of the series after Chase Allen had been beaten up early on. After being entered into the game, O'Halloran slammed the door on Rutgers, allowing one run over six innings, giving Michigan's offense time to claw out of a 6-0 hole, something they did on their way to a 13-8 victory. Ted Burton hit a three run homer and Joe Longo hit a two run blast before late offense from Jack Van Remortel got the game to the finish line. 

The final game of the series was Michigan's second straight loss in a rubber match, played Sunday evening as game two was suspended and resumed on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines had favorable arms available, but little offense early and a bad fourth inning for Noah Rennard did them in. Tracy Smith was tossed along the way for arguing a close play and that was all she wrote for Michigan's weekend. They returned home on Wednesday for a mid-week game against Toledo and lost an ugly one 10-7 to a sub-.500 MAC opponent. To make matters worse, they held a 6-1 lead early in the game, before pitching issues and poor defense unraveled the game. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: what it means, individual performances, and MSU]