Michigan to Head to South Bend for NCAA Tournament Regional Action

» Michigan is the No. 3 seed in the South Bend Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
» Michigan earned its ways into the tournament after it finished third in the Big Ten regular-season race and led all schools with eight all-conference selections.
» Michigan and Connecticut join host Notre Dame and Central Michigan in the double-elimination regional.

THIS WEEK
NCAA Regional (Interactive Bracket | Tickets)

Friday, June 4 -- vs. Connecticut (South Bend, Ind.), 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, June 5 -- vs. Central Michigan (South Bend, Ind.), Noon
TV: ESPN3 | Live Stats | LIve Video
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (27-17) will head to South Bend., Ind., to begin begin its 25th trip to the NCAA Tournament with regional play this weekend (June 4-7) at Notre Dame's Frank Eck Stadium. The Wolverines will open play against Connecticut (30-10) on Friday (June 4) at 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN3.

Host Notre Dame (30-11) will play Central Michigan (40-16) in Friday's first game at 1 p.m. The losers and winners of Friday's games will face off Saturday (June 5) at noon and 6 p.m., respectively, in a double-elimination format. There are two games scheduled for Sunday (June 6) at noon and 6 p.m., and an "if necessary" game on Monday at 1 p.m.

Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at und.com/buytickets. Single-session tickets will be available for $8 per session, and all seating is general admission.

Michigan in the NCAA Tournament

• The Wolverines will make their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Erik Bakich and 25th overall. This season's at-large selection is Michigan's third since 2017, having also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2015 by way of winning the Big Ten Tournament.

• In its most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019, Michigan advanced to the Championship Series against Vanderbilt, eventually losing in the final game of the best-of-three series.

• Michigan owns an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 61-47 (.565), including a 52-34 (.605) mark during regional play. The Wolverines have advanced to the College World Series eight times, most recently in 2019, and won national titles in 1953 and 1962.

About the Wolverines

• Michigan led the Big Ten Conference in runs scored (307), runs batted in (280) and total bases (675).

• U-M ranks among the top three in the Big Ten in batting average (.273), hits (405), doubles (87), triples (nine), home runs (55), slugging percentage (.455), walks (212), stolen bases (53), ERA (3.93), opponent strikeouts (408) and opponent batting average (.237).

• On defense, U-M ranks ninth nationally in defensive double plays and catcher Griffin Mazur has thrown out 38.2 percent of attempted base stealers.

• Offensively, in the final four innings of games, Michigan has outscored opposing teams 130-71, including a 59-25 mark in the eighth and ninth innings.

• Michigan's offense is among the most balanced in the nation as eight different players have connected for at least five home runs and seven players with at least six dingers.

• Michigan has connected for six grand slams this season by five different sluggers.

• Michigan's frontline pitchers, Steven Hajjar and Cameron Weston, have combined to post 11 wins and four shutouts with 168 strikeouts in 164.1 innings against just 118 hits for a 2.46 ERA and a .193 opponent batting average.

Hajjar (4-1, 2.85 ERA, 75.2 IP, 58 H, 101 K, .206 b/avg) has a chance at climbing from ninth place into the top five on U-M's single-season strikeout list. His latest start against Nebraska saw him throw a complete-game four hitter. Hajjar enters the postseason in ninth place on Michigan's single season strikeouts list with 101. He has several former Wolverines within sight:

6. Fritz Fisher........105 (1962)
7. Rich Hill...........104 (2002)
8. Chris Fetter........103 (2009)

Fetter is Hajjar's former pitching coach and now the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers.

Cameron Weston (7-3, 2.40 ERA, 78.2 IP, 60 H, 67 K, .214 b/avg), owner of the most victories in the conference (seven) and the second-lowest ERA in the league (2.64), enters play not having allowed more than one earned run in any of his last four starts with two shutout efforts. Over those four outings, he has limited teams to 12 hits in 26.1 innings while striking out 23 and issuing just six walks.

• Opposing teams are batting just .206 against Steven Hajjar and .214 against Weston, the sixth and eighth best marks, respectively, among Big Ten pitchers.

• Four different U-M relief pitchers have ERAs below 3.00, covering 60.1 innings with 75 strikeouts.

• Five different U-M relievers have held opposing batters below a .225 batting average, and six relievers are under .230 against.

• Closer Willie Weiss has recorded 51 percent of his outs via strikeout (38 Ks in 25.1 IP) while holding opposing hitters to a .172 average and just three extra base hits.

• Sophomore Ted Burton is second the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.673), while ranking third in batting average (.355).

• Burton has missed 11 games due to illness, but is fully healthy and on a tear. He leads the Wolverines with a .445 on-base-percentage and has hit safely in 17 of his last 20 games. Over the past 20 games, Burton is batting .387 (29-for-75), with 10 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 25 RBI and 19 runs scored.

• Benjamin Sems sports a .321 batting average, a .395 on-base-percentage and a team-high 52 hits while driving in 30 runs. He has hit safely in 23 of the past 26 games.

• Tito Flores, a Detroit, Mich. native, has hit safely in 15 of his past 16 games and ranks ninth in the B1G with a .327 average. He has 21 extra base hits and a team-high 36 runs batted to go with a .432 on-base-percentage.

Michigan Against the Regional Field

Michigan owns an all-time record of 3-4 against UConn. The teams met four times in the shortened 2020 season with one game in Scottsdale, Ariz., and three games in Port St. Lucie, Fla. There the Huskies claimed the series finale on Feb. 23 in the Sunshine State.

U-M leads 89-47 in the all-time series against regional host Notre Dame, taking their last matchup 4-3 on April 4, 2017, at the Wilpon Complex, home of ray Fisher Stadium.

The Wolverines are 44-30-2 all-time against Central Michigan. The teams last met on May 8, 2018, a 9-2 win in Ann Arbor.