U-M to Host Michigan State, Penn State for Four-Game Homestand

Tuesday, April 23

Ann Arbor, Mich.

7:00 PM

Michigan

Michigan State

U-M to Host Michigan State, Penn State for Four-Game Homestand

4/22/2019 3:29:00 PM | Softball

By: Leah Howard

» Michigan will host four games this week -- a 7 p.m. slate against Michigan State on Tuesday (April 23) before a three-game weekend series against Penn State, kicking off at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 26).
» The Wolverines boast an 11-0 record at home this season, outscoring the opposition by a combined 102-16 margin.
» Lexie Blair was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after leading Michigan with a .571 average last week; she owns a stellar .418 season batting average.

• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
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The No. 22-ranked University of Michigan softball team (33-11, 15-1 Big Ten) will wrap up the home portion of its regular-season schedule with four home games this week, welcoming Michigan State (15-28, 3-12 Big Ten) and Penn State (22-25, 6-11 Big Ten) to the Wilpon Complex, home of Alumni Field.

The Wolverines will host MSU at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (April 23) for the second half of its home-and-home series before entertaining Penn State for a three-game weekend series. Michigan and PSU will play at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 26), 2 p.m. on Saturday (April 27) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (April 28).

• Michigan will honor its five-member senior class -- Katie Alexander, Faith Canfield, Mackenzie Nemitz, Natalie Peters and Alex Sobczak -- prior to its home finale on Sunday. The group has contributed to a 172-44-1 record, two Big Ten regular-season titles and an NCAA Women's College World Series appearance so far over their four collegiate seasons.

• The Wolverines are 11-0 at home this season, highlighted by series sweeps against Kent State, Nebraska and Indiana, and have outscored their home opposition by a combined 102-16 margin. U-M boasts a stellar 573-136-1 home record at Alumni Field since its 1982 construction. Last season, Michigan went 14-2 at Alumni Field.

• Michigan has overcome deficits in six of its last 10 games -- four early and two late. Most dramatically, the Wolverines scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 7-6 walk-off win in the Indiana series finale (April 7) and, more recently, plated four runs in the top of the seventh to beat Illinois, 9-8, last Saturday (April 20).

• U-M's hitting with two outs has been a strength of late. While the Wolverines are hitting .243 this season with two outs, they have batted .320 (31-for-97) in the same situation over the last 10 games and .381 (16-for-42) over their four games against MSU and Illinois last week. In its two recent seventh-inning comeback wins against Indiana and Illinois, Michigan scored six of seven runs with two outs.

• Michigan posted a .351 team batting average in the Illinois weekend series, including a season-high 17 hits, including six homers, in the series finale. Three Wolverine players hit .500 or better: freshman Lexie Blair batted .600 (6-for-10), senior Natalie Peters hit .571 (8-for-14) and junior Madison Uden hit .500 (5-for-10). The trio combined for 11 runs scored and 10 runs batted in.

• Blair netted her third Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolade in six weeks after leading the Wolverines with a .571 batting average over their four wins last week, boasting a .611 on-base percentage, 1.000 slugging percentage, seven runs scored and seven RBI. She scored in the first and drove in the game-winning run in the seventh in U-M's 2-1 win against Illinois in the series opener. She also went 4-for-4 in the finale with four runs and four RBI -- and was just a triple shy of the cycle.

• Blair currently leads Michigan -- and ranks second in the Big Ten -- with a .418 batting average and owns team bests with 61 hits, 17 doubles and 40 RBI. Three Wolverine freshmen have led the team in hitting since 1995: Sara Griffin (.432, 1995), Amanda Chidester (.350, 2009) and Sierra Romero (.379, 2013).

• Sophomore LHP Meghan Beaubien earned all three wins in U-M's series sweep at Illinois and posted a 2.80 earned-run average with 12 strikeouts and .254 opposing average over 15 innings. Beaubien, who led the nation with 33 wins last season, owns 21 already this year, ranking third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation in the category.

• Michigan earned a 12-1 win in its first meeting against Michigan State last Tuesday (April 16) in East Lansing, overcoming an initial first-inning deficit to score 12 unanswered runs, including four apiece in the fourth and seventh frames. Alexander knocked out two home runs, while Canfield posted three hits and was just a home run shy of the cycle.

• Freshman RHP Alex Storako posted a career-best 15 strikeouts en route to the win in relief against MSU last Tuesday. She entered with bases loaded and no outs in the first inning, got out of it unscathed and proceeded to hurl six shutout innings. She allowed just one hit -- a seventh-inning single -- and issued five walks, while her 15 strikeouts were the most for a Wolverine pitcher since Beaubien fanned 16 against Ball State last season.

• Michigan has belted out 35 home runs over its last 21 games, including a season-high six in the series finale against Illinois on Sunday (April 21). Alexander and Sobczak both homered in the Illinois finale to retain a share of the team lead with nine long balls apiece. Alexander's previous career best was five homers, while Sobczak's was three.

• Sobczak and Nemitz are both having big breakout seasons in their final year at Michigan. Sobczak boasts a career-best .378 batting average -- a 120-point improvement over her previous best average in 2016 -- and similarly already owns career bests in runs (31), hits (37), home runs (9) and RBI (32). Nemitz, after only earning one hit and seven total plate appearances over her first three seasons -- she missed all of 2017 with an injury -- owns a .278 batting average with 20 hits, four homers and 22 RBI.