Michigan
Oakland
Home Opener Postponed; U-M to Host Lawrence Tech on Wednesday
3/13/2018 12:54:00 PM | Baseball
THIS WEEK
Wednesday, March 14 -- vs. Lawrence Tech (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
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Friday, March 16 -- vs. Bowling Green (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
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Saturday, March 17 -- vs. Bowling Green (Wilpon Complex), 2 p.m.
Live Stats
Sunday, March 18 -- vs. Bowling Green (Wilpon Complex), 1 p.m.
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• Complete Notes (PDF)
• Coach Bakich on WTKA
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team will open up home play this week with a contest against Lawrence Tech on Wednesday (March 14), before it hosts its first home series this weekend (March 16-18) against Bowling Green. First pitch for Wednesday's home opener is slated for 4 p.m. at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium, and admission will be free for all fans.
• Michigan announced Tuesday (March 13) that its scheduled home opener against Oakland would be postponed due to weather. When Michigan's schedule was originally released in January, the Wolverines were scheduled to open up at home against Bowling Green this weekend, but head coach Erik Bakich added the Oakland and Lawrence Tech games to the schedule last week (March 9). Instead, the Maize and Blue will play four home contests this week rather than five, and will make up the game against Oakland next Tuesday (March 20).
• The Wolverines are coming off a 1-2 weekend at Lipscomb that capped off a 14-game road swing. Michigan won the first game of the series by a 16-13 score on Friday (March 9), but surrendered the lead in both the Friday and Saturday contests to drop the series.
• Senior catcher/infielder Brock Keener led the Wolverines in batting last weekend at Lipscomb. He posting a .444 batting average with two multi-hit games and four runs scored. A junior-transfer in his second season with the Maize and Blue, Keener knocked in three runs and picked up his first career double to go with a .583 on-base percentage.
• This week's home games will mark Michigan's first games played at the Wilpon Complex this season, as the Wolverines played their first 14 games of the 2018 campaign in Florida, California, and Tennessee. Michigan is set to play 24 home games this year, including seven-straight beginning this week, and another seven-straight through the end of March and early April.
• Wednesday's meeting against Lawrence Tech will mark the first meeting between the teams in program history. The Blue Devils eliminated all of their athletic programs in the early 1960s, but reinstated the baseball program in fall 2015 and played its first games of the modern era in 2017. With Lawrence Tech located in Southfield, Michigan, just 39 miles separate the two schools.
• Lawrence Tech boasts a 16-9 record and is on a two-game losing skid as it heads into the week. The Blue Devils are led offensively by sophomore Sean Fannon, whose .369 batting average and .714 slugging percentage lead the team. On the mound, sophomore Sam Brace has compiled a 5-0 record through seven starts with a 3.12 earned run average and a team-leading 25 strikeouts through 40.1 innings pitched.
• Sophomore right-handed pitcher Karl Kauffmann ranks fifth in the Big Ten Conference with 25 strikeouts through six starts. The righty began the season as Michigan's Sunday starter, but made his first Saturday start last weekend at Lipscomb (March 10) when the Wolverines changed up their starting rotation.
• Keener currently leads the Wolverine starters at the plate with a .292 batting average through 10 games played. Keener also boasts a .433 on-base percentage and is ranked second on the team with seven runs scored.
