ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (30-26, 14-10 Big Ten) heads to the Big Ten Tournament presented by IFS.ai in Omaha, Nebraska this week as the No. 4-seed. U-M's tournament play will begin on Wednesday (May 22) against the fifth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes (31-21, 14-10) at 2 p.m. CT. The tournament is a double-elimination format so win or lose, U-M will play on Thursday (May 23) -- with a start time of 6 p.m. CT if the Wolverines win or 10 a.m. CT if the Wolverines lose. All tournament games will air live on Big Ten Network.
Notes
• Michigan is coming off a Big Ten weekend series against Indiana where U-M won the opener but fell in the final two games of the series. The Wolverines won 3-2 in a pitchers' duel to open the series behind strong performances from Kurt Barr and Jacob Denner on the mound and clutch hits from Will Rogers and Collin Priest.In the second game of a doubleheader on Thursday (May 16), U-M fell 11-2 with Priest accounting for both RBI with a two-run home run. The Maize and Blue lost its first conference series finale of the season on Friday (May 17), dropping an 8-4 decision that featured home runs from Priest and Kyle Dernedde.
• Entering the Indiana series, Priest was the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, and he showed why with a home run in all three games including the go-ahead home run in the 3-2 win over the Hoosiers. Priest was the only Wolverine to reach base in all three contests and is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and a 10-game on-base streak. With his home runs, Priest set a new Michigan freshman record with 11 in one season, and he now is tied for fourth in the Big Ten in conference games with eight home runs.
• Rogers has been the team's second-best hitter over the past 10 games trailing only Priest. Over the stretch, Rogers is hitting .348 with five extra-base hits and six runs. He is also second on the team in batting average in conference games, hitting .294 with a .559 slugging percentage. Rogers has four home runs in conference games and seven on the season.
• After eight home runs in the first 28 games, Stephen Hrustich did not hit one for 16 straight games. He has rediscovered his power and has six in his last 13 games. Hrustich is just one of two players to appear in every game this season joined by Dernedde. He is second on the team with a .301 average and has 50 walks on the season which sits second in the conference and 19th nationally for a team-leading .451 on-base percentage. He is also just one walk away from tying a program record for walks in a single season.
• Dernedde is the only Wolverine to start every game this season and has done so at shortstop. He is fifth on the team in batting average (.251) and holds a .375 on-base percentage. Dernedde has drawn 25 walks and been hit a team-leading 14 times this season. He also has four home runs on the season, with three coming in the past five games.
• This season, Mitch Voit is leading the team at the plate with 61 hits and 20 doubles. Voit's doubles are second in the conference behind Tyler Cerny (Indiana). He also has 11 home runs on the season, which is tied for second on the team. He is just six doubles away from the single-season record for Michigan. Over the past 12 games, he has four home runs with a pinch-hit home run against Kent State in the ninth inning and homers against MSU, Purdue and Akron.
• In conference play, U-M's pitching staff has found a new level and is second in the conference in team ERA at 5.11. The 5.11 ERA is almost a full point lower than the team's season ERA. The Wolverines have pitched the most innings in the conference at 216.2 and are middle of the pack in WHIP at 1.57. Michigan's rotation has been led by Barr, Denner, Voit and Dylan Vigue, among others.
• Barr has taken a big step up in his sophomore season and leads the team in ERA at 3.52 and is second in strikeouts with 50. He is also holding opponents to a .222 batting average whichleads the team. In conference games, Barr holds a 3.64 ERA which is fifth among Big Ten pitchers with 30 or more innings.
• Denner has been a versatile weapon this year for the Wolverine pitching staff with 26 appearances and four starts. He currently holds a 3.91 ERA overall and a 2.09 conference ERA. His Big Ten ERA is third among qualified pitchers in the conference and second among pitchers with over 30 innings pitched. Denner holds an 8-4 record with four saves. He sits third in the U-M record books in all-time career appearances (92), fifth in career innings (278.1), and is tied for fifth in strikeouts at 256.
• U-M is second in the nation with 59 double plays which trails the College of Charleston by just one. The Wolverines turned two in the first game of the IU series but did not turn anymore after that. Dernedde and Mack Timbrook are one of the best double-play combos in the nation, turning 41 and 40, respectively. Michigan has turned a double play in 38 of its 56 games with a season-high of four twice, and has turned more double plays this year than in 20 of the last 24 years, including the past 12 seasons.
• Michigan has been the No. 4-seed three times previously in the Big Ten Tournament -- once in 1996, once in 1999and most recently in 2005. The Wolverines won the tournament in 1999, going 3-1 in Columbus, Ohio. In 1996, U-M finished fourth after losing both games. In 2005, U-M went 1-2, beating Iowa in the second game but dropping the tournament opener to OSU and an elimination game to Purdue. U-M has not been the fourth seed since the tournament moved to Omaha in 2018, and is 2-2 in opening matches.
• The Wolverines are familiar with the Iowa Hawkeyes having played them in a three-game series this year and 10 times since 2022. U-M won the series in Iowa this year, winning both games of a doubleheader on Saturday to take the series. The Hawkeyes got the better of the Wolverines last year in the tournament, winning 13-3 in the opener and 5-0 in the game that eliminated U-M. Michigan defeated the Hawkeyes in 2022, clinching a 13-1 win en route to the tournament title. Overall, U-M is 9-5 in Big Ten Tournament games against Iowa.
