Baseball ends California road trip with 3-1 win over San Diego
Michigan defeated San Diego 3-1 today in Dodger Stadium to complete their Spring Break road trip to California with 7 wins and only 1 loss (1-0 to UCLA on Friday night).
Michigan pitching excelled all week, allowing only 17 runs over the 8-game stretch. Michael Hendrickson pitched 5 and 2/3 innings today, giving up 1 unearned run on only 5 hits. Alec Rennard, a Junior College transfer, came in and pitched the last 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up only 1 hit and picking up the win to raise his record to 2-0.
#9 hitter Johnny Slater drove in the winning run with a 1-out single in the bottom of the sixth. 2B Jake Bivens continues to struggle to put the bat on the ball, hitting only .184 on the season, but has been walking at a rate high enough to justify his presence in the #2 spot, with an OBP of about .450.
Michigan, now 9-3 on the season, travels to Nashville next weekend for a 3-game Fri-Sat-Sun series against Lipscomb that will be broadcast on ESPN3.
road trip. I am excited to see this team play.
Second best record in the big ten behind MSU however MSU has had a weak schedule up to this point.
fellas.
Thanks for the heads up!
I don't care if they're ranked or not, going into USC and winning is big. It's still USC, one of the best programs historically.
The UCLA game was a 9th inning walkoff loss, 1-0. Not a bad showing there either.
A great start. Let's hope it continues.
Bakich's strategy of bringing in transfers is paying off. Miles Lewis from now-defunct North Dakota was a great land, as was Poirier.
What's interesting is that most of them are JUCOs, something that's so rare with Michigan Football. We have more JUCO transfers on this team than Michigan Football has had in program history.
- Miles Lewis (North Dakota)
- Alec Rennard (Santa Rosa J.C.)
- Nick Poirier (San Joaquin Delta College)
- Brock Keener (Alvin C.C.)
- Austin Batka (Lincoln Trail C.C.)
Honest question, why doesn't football take JUCO's? I know in baseball it's quite common for kids to go play at a juco and then transfer. What's different with football? A matter of grades to get in to Michigan or what?
I have no idea.
Excellent start to the season. 9-3 overall.
Looking forward to the series against Lipscomb next weekend. I will be in attendance, Go Blue!
But, but, but the NCAA says the students have to have spring break off! Why are they allowed to play baseball???
/s
We all know how difficult away games are to win. The California coast is obviously as far from home a Michigan team can travel without leaving the lower 48. Nice job fellas, this is how we do it. Go Blue!
The d1baseball.com top 25 released this morning has Michigan at #24 in the nation, the only Big Ten team ranked.
The Massey computer ratings have Michigan at #28 right now. Other Big Ten teams in the Massey top 100 are Michigan State (#16), Iowa (#77), Penn State (#83) and Ohio State (#99). Right now, Massey projects Michigan to end up with a 40-16 record entering the Big Ten tournament, which would easily be enough for an at large bid if they don't win the tournament.
Also, Collegiate Baseball has Michigan entering their poll at #19 this week, with no other Big Ten team ranked.