Michigan to Play at Purdue in Regular-Season Finale

THIS WEEK
Thursday, May 11 -- at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 6 p.m.
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Friday, May 12 -- at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 7 p.m.
Live Stats | TV: Big Ten Network
Saturday, May 13 -- at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 1 p.m.
Live Stats | TV: Big Ten Network

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team will wrap the regular season this weekend (May 17-19) with a Big Ten Conference series at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The weekend series will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday (May 17) and will continue on Friday (May 18) with a game at 7 p.m. The finale of the 2018 regular season is set for Saturday (May 19) at 1 p.m. Fans can watch both the Friday and Saturday contests live on the Big Ten Network.

» The Wolverines (32-16, 15-5 B1G) currently sit in second place in the Big Ten Conference, while the Boilermakers (32-16, 14-6 B1G) are in third place. Michigan is just one game out of first place behind Minnesota (34-13, 16-4 B1G), while Purdue is two games ahead of Ohio State (33-17, 13-8 B1G) and Illinois (29-17, 13-8 B1G).

» Following the weekend series at Purdue, the Wolverines will head to Omaha, Nebraska, for the Big Ten Conference Tournament, May 23-27. Michigan has advanced to the Big Ten Tournament each of the six seasons of head coach Erik Bakich's tenure with the Wolverines.

» The Wolverines dropped two spots this week to sit at No. 17 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 Newspaper poll on April 9, and were ranked as high as No. 7 (April 23). Michigan was ranked 13 of the 15 weeks of the 2017 regular season.

» Senior right-handed pitcher Jayce Vancena earned his first Big Ten weekly award on Monday (May 14) after picking up two wins last week. The righty tossed a career-high 6.1 scoreless innings of relief at Michigan State on Wednesday (May 9), scattering just four hits and striking out four in the effort. The Millbury, Ohio, native returned to the mound in relief on Sunday (May 13) against Illinois, throwing two scoreless frames in extra innings to propel Michigan to a 5-4 victory in its final home game of the season.

» Freshman outfielder Jordan Nwogu was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday (May 14) after helping Michigan to three wins last week, including non-conference victories at Central Michigan (May 8), at Michigan State (May 9) and at home against Big Ten opponent Illinois (May 13). The freshman led the Wolverines in multiple offensive categories for the week, including hits (nine), RBI (six), and runs scored (five), as he posted a .529 batting average to go with a 1.235 slugging percentage and .606 on-base percentage.

» The Maize and Blue ranks third in the Big Ten with a 3.49 earned run average and ranks second with an impressive .233 opposing batting average. All three members of Michigan's weekend starting rotation are also ranked in the top 11 in the conference for earned run average, including sophomore righty Karl Kauffmann, who ranks fifth.

» The Wolverines are led at the plate by Nwogu, whose .398 batting average includes six homers through 40 games played. Sophomore Dominic Clementi (.378), junior Jonathan Engelmann (.367) and freshman Jesse Franklin (.315) also are hitting over the .500 mark and slugging over .500 on the season.

» A loss at Iowa in the series opener (April 27) snapped a 20-game win streak for the Wolverines, who had not lost a game since dropping their home opener to Lawrence Tech on March 14. The win streak marked a new record under Bakich and stands tied as the third longest in program history.

» Prior to its 20-game win streak, Michigan was 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, the Wolverines have won 27 of their last 30 games, including 20-straight wins before dropping the series at Iowa.

» Purdue will go into the week with a 30-18 overall record and a 14-6 record in Big Ten play with the hopes of moving up in the conference to secure a higher seed for the Big Ten Tournament. The Boilermakers are coming off a series loss at Ohio State which featured losses on both Friday (May11) and Sunday (May 13) and snapped a 13-game win streak for Purdue. The Boilermakers are led Friday night by starter Tanner Andrews, who ranks seventh in the Big Ten with a 2.97 ERA. Sophomore outfielder Skylar Hunter leads Purdue's everyday starters at the plate with 40 runs and a .328 batting average, which ranks tied for 14th in the conference.

» Michigan and Purdue first met in 1893 and have played a total of 205 games since then, with the Wolverines holding a 146-59 overall lead against the Boilermakers. The Maize and Blue is 8-1 against the Boilermakers since 2014, and has outscored Purdue by 42 runs during that stretch. The Wolverines swept the most recent series, which occurred in 2017 at the Boilermakers' home field.

» 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.