Michigan
Penn State
Michigan to Wrap Homestand with Penn State Series
4/18/2018 1:43:00 PM | Baseball
THIS WEEK
Friday, April 20 -- vs. Penn State (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
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Saturday, April 21 -- vs. Penn State (Wilpon Complex), 2 p.m.
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Sunday, April 22 -- vs. Penn State (Wilpon Complex), 1 p.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Following a two-game sweep of Maryland last weekend, the University of Michigan baseball team (21-11, 8-0 Big Ten) will wrap a five-game homestand this week as it hosts Penn State (7-22, 1-8 Big Ten) in a Big Ten Conference series at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.
• The weekend series is set to begin on Friday (April 20) at 4 p.m. and will continue Saturday (April 21) with a game at 2 p.m. before the series concludes on Sunday (April 22) at 1 p.m.
• The Wolverines moved up five spots this week to No. 11 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. Michigan earned its first ranking of the season prior to the Maryland series as the Wolverines appeared at No. 16 in the Collegiate Baseball poll on April 9. Michigan was ranked 13 out of the 15 weeks of the 2017 regular season.
• This weekend's series against Penn State will wrap up a scheduled six-game homestand for the Wolverines, who were originally scheduled to host 25 games at the Wilpon Complex this season. To date, Michigan is 13-1 at home after dropping its home opener on March 14. Through 14 games played at the Wilpon Complex, the Wolverines have posted an impressive .318 team batting average with 111 runs scored in addition to a 2.59 team earned-run average.
• Michigan has now won 17 games in a row, which marks a new record under head coach Erik Bakich and is tied for the program's longest win streak since 1988, when the Wolverines won 18 straight. Through 151 seasons, the longest win streak of any Michigan team came in 1985, when the Wolverines won 24 games in a row to close out the regular season before advancing to the NCAA South Regional.
• The Wolverines' win streak ranks as the second-longest to date in the NCAA this season behind Tennessee Tech, as the Golden Eagles are currently on a 21-game win streak.
• Prior to the start of their 17-game win streak, the Wolverines were 4-11 on the season with a .219 team batting average and a 4.66 team ERA. Since a win against Bowling Green on March 16, however, Michigan has hit .307 with a .457 slugging percentage and a 2.13 ERA.
• A series sweep of Maryland marked Michigan's fifth consecutive sweep and the fourth straight sweep in Big Ten play. The Wolverines sit atop the Big Ten Conference standings as the lone unbeaten team with an 8-0 record. To date, Michigan is also the only team in a Power Five conference without a loss in conference play.
• The Maize and Blue ranks second in the Big Ten with a 3.29 earned-run average and boasts a conference-low .223 opposing batting average. All three of Michigan's starting pitchers are also ranked in the top 10 in the conference for ERA.
• Freshman Jesse Franklin earned his second Big Ten recognition on Monday (April 16) when he was named the Big Ten Conference co-Player and Freshman of the Week. The Seattle, Washington, native helped the Wolverines go 2-0 on the weekend and extend their win streak to 17 games with a two-game series sweep of Maryland. Franklin posted a .625 batting average and a 1.750 slugging percentage over the two contests and totaled a team-leading five hits, which included three doubles and two home runs. He also led Michigan with five RBI and scored three runs.
• Freshman southpaw Ben Dragani leads the Big Ten and ranks 19th nationally with a 1.38 ERA and a conference-best .167 opposing batting average. Through four starts and 10 total appearances, the lefty has surrendered just eight runs (seven earned) through 45.2 innings pitched.
• Penn State enters the week with a 7-22 overall record and will host Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday (April 18) before making the trip to Ann Arbor this weekend. The Nittany Lions are led by junior right-handed pitcher Justin Hagenman, whose 2.92 earned run average ranks tied for eighth in the Big Ten over a team-high 52.1 innings pitched this season. Junior catcher Ryan Sloniger leads Penn State at the plate with a .292 batting average.
• In the previous 94 matchups between Michigan and Penn State, each team has 47 victories. The Nittany Lions are the only conference team which the Wolverines are currently tied with in the all-time series. The two programs met for the first time in 1909, with Penn State claiming a 9-7 victory. The next meeting came in 1975 when the Wolverines swept a three-game series. Recently, Michigan has had the upper hand, winning the previous five games and eight of the last nine.
• After losing 15 players at the end of the 2017 season, including 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, and the Wolverine recruiting class was ranked No. 10 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, marking the highest ranking for a Big Ten recruiting class.
