Michigan to Begin B1G Play with MSU Home-and-Home

THIS WEEK
Friday, March 23 -- vs. Michigan State (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
Live Stats | BTN Plus | Radio: 1050 WTKA | WCBN Radio
Saturday, March 24 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 1 p.m.
Live Stats | BTN Plus
Sunday, March 25 -- vs. Michigan State (Wilpon Complex), 1 p.m.
Live Stats | BTN Plus | Radio: 1050 WTKA | WCBN Radio

• Follow #Team152: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

• Complete Game Notes
• Coach Bakich on WTKA

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team will ride its five-game win streak into its Big Ten Conference home opener this weekend, as the Wolverines take on Michigan State in the traditional home-and-home series. The three-game series will begin on Friday (March 23) at 4 p.m. at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium, and Saturday's game (March 24) will take place at Michigan State. The series will wrap up at Ray Fisher Stadium on Sunday (March 25) at 1 p.m.

» Friday's contest will wrap a seven-game homestand for the Wolverines after Michigan spent the first 14 games of the 2018 season on the road or at neutral sites. The Maize and Blue is now 5-1 at home, and will begin another seven-game homestand when the Wolverines return home Sunday (March 24) for the weekend finale against the Spartans. In total, Michigan is set to play 24 home games this year.

» The Wolverines are 5-1 at home after dropping their home opener to Lawrence Tech (March 14) and responding with five-straight wins over Bowling Green (March 16-18), Oakland (March 20) and Western Michigan (March 21). Through six games played at the Wilpon Complex, the Wolverines have compiled a .311 team batting average and outscored their opponents, 43-34.

» Michigan's lead-off man, junior Ako Thomas, has reached base in all 20 of this season's games after he put together a run of 38 consecutive games in which he reached base safely last year. Thomas leads the Wolverines in runs (17), doubles (eight) and on-base percentage (.402). He also recorded the two-out, bases loaded game-winning hit in Wednesday's (March 21) 7-6 walk-off victory over Western Michigan.

» Junior outfielder Jonathan Engelmann leads Michigan's everyday starters at the plate with a .295 batting average through 20 games started. He is tied with Thomas for the team lead in hits (23).

» Sophomore Tommy Henry will return to his starting role Friday (March 23) to kick off Big Ten Conference play. Through five starts and 30 innings pitched, the lefty ace boasts a 2-0 record with a 3.90 earned-run average. He's also surrendered just 13 earned runs and struck out 26 batters.

» Freshman southpaw Ben Dragani made his first career start last weekend against Bowling Green (March 18) and will remain in the starting rotation this weekend against Michigan State. In his start against the Falcons, Dragani tossed a career-high seven innings and scattered five hits and allowed one run (unearned). He also struck out a career-high six in the effort.

» Michigan State enters the weekend with a 6-13 record and sits at the bottom of the Big Ten Conference through non-conference action. The Spartans are on a two-game losing skid but recently split a four-game series against Niagara in Michigan State's home opener this past weekend. In spite of a tough start to the season, the Spartans are led offensively by sophomore Justin Antoncic, who boasts a .322 batting average through 17 games, which includes six extra-base hits. Redshirt-freshman Mason Erla is Michigan State's go-to starting pitcher with a 2.15 ERA and a 3-0 record.

» The Wolverines boast a 198-106-2 all-time record against the Spartans, with the teams' first meeting occurring in 1884. Michigan posted a 3-1 record over Michigan State during the 2017 campaign, which included a three-game Big Ten Conference series and one non-conference midweek contest. The teams' last meeting came in the final game of the regular season, which Michigan took by a 2-1 score in 10 innings at the Spartans' home field in East Lansing, Michigan.

» Freshman outfielder Jordan Nwogu earned his first conference honor on Monday (March 19) when he was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week. Nwogu helped lead the Wolverines to their first series sweep (March 16-18), as they earned three-straight wins over Bowling Green to improve to 3-1 at home. The freshman from Ann Arbor, Michigan, ended the week with an impressive .636 batting average, 1.092 slugging percentage, eight runs batted in, two doubles, and a home run after registering multiple hits in all three contests. Nwogu helped lead Michigan to its 8-6 win on Saturday (March 17) when he scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt to give the Wolverines their eighth and final run.

» After losing 15 players at the end of the 2017 season, which included a program-record 11 in the Major League Baseball Draft, the Maize and Blue added 14 players to its roster in the offseason. The roster additions included 12 freshmen and two junior college transfers that hail from seven different states. The Wolverine recruiting class was ranked No. 10 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, which marked the highest ranking ever for a Big Ten recruiting class.