Michigan
Xavier
Michigan to Travel to Xavier Wednesday, Open Big Ten Play at Nebraska this Weekend
3/22/2022 2:11:00 PM | Baseball
» Michigan travels to Xavier on Wednesday (March 23) for a non-conference game.
» Big Ten play opens this weekend and two of Michigan's games at Nebraska will be televised on BTN.
This Week
Tuesday, March 23 -- at Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio), 3 p.m.
Live Stats
Friday, March 25 -- at Nebraska (Lincoln, Neb.), 7:30 p.m. CDT
TV: BTN | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, March 26 -- at Nebraska (Lincoln, Neb.), 2 p.m. CDT
TV: B1G+ | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, March 27 -- at Nebraska (Lincoln, Neb.), 11 a.m. CDT
TV: BTN | Live Stats | Live Video
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Following a weekend series sweep of Dayton (March 17-20), the University of Michigan baseball team takes back to the road this week for a Wednesday (March 23) game at Xavier before continuing on to Lincoln, Neb. to open Big Ten Conference play with a three-game series at the University of Nebraska (March 25-27).
THE WEEK THAT WAS
• Michigan swept a three-game series with Dayton in its home-opening weekend at Ray Fisher Stadium. Michigan pitchers held the Flyers to just 15 hits in the three-game series, including a 2-1 win on Thursday (March 17) in which they allowed three hits and a 4-2 win on Sunday (March 20) where they allowed just two hits.
Earlier in the week, Michigan lost a heartbreaking 5-4 decision at No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt (March 15) as the Commodores scored three times with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
• Senior Riley Bertram led the way for U-M last week with a .538 batting average and a .667 on-base percentage as the shortstop found himself on base 12 times in four games. He capitalized with two stolen bases, while Joe Stewart (.375) led U-M with four steals during the week.
• Sophomore lefty Connor O'Halloran had a career game in Thursday's home opener as the sophomore lefty struck out a career-high 13 batters while walking just one and allowing one run on two hits in eight innings. On Tuesday (March22) he was named the Big Ten Conference's Pitcher of the Week.
• Senior Noah Rennard also gave a quality start in the second game of the series, throwing 6.0 innings on two-day's rest, scattering six hits and two runs while striking out eight batters.
• Sophomore Chase Allen was superb in two relief outings against the Flyers, as the right-hander threw 5.0 hitless and scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and earn two saves.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
XAVIER
• Xavier enters Wednesday's game with an 8-13 overall record but having taken three of four games from Indiana last weekend.
• The team is led offensively by Andrew Walker's .325 batting average, with Walker adding nine stolen bases in 10 attempts as well. Luke Franzoni has hit nine homers already this season (27 RBI) to go with a .442 on-base percentage, while Jerry Huntzinger (.318) is a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts.   Â
NEBRASKA
• Dayton enters midweek play against South Dakota State at 8-11 overall after dropping two of three games against Texas A&M Corpus Christi at home last weekend.
• The Cornhuskers, who were picked to win the Big Ten, have already established themselves as a formidable foe, having won multiple games in walk-off style in the early going. The team is led by Garrett Anglim's .333 batting average, while Griffin Everitt follows at .329 with five home runs. Nebraska is batting .244 as a team but has shown a propensity for strikeouts with 170 whiffs compared to just 64 walks over 19 games.
• Shay Schanaman has been impressive as the Huskers' Friday night starter, striking out a batter per inning while scattering 13 hits and 13 walks over 27 innings.  The team's other weekend starters, Dawson McCarville (6.23 ERA) and Kyle Perry (6.75 ERA), have competed against strong opposition and have more strikeouts than walks allowed.
ABOUT MICHIGAN BASEBALL
• In the Big Ten Conference preseason coaches poll, Michigan was selected to finish second in the conference behind Nebraska and ahead of Iowa, Maryland, Iowa, Ohio State and Indiana. Ted Burton, Clark Elliott and Cameron Weston were all named to the preseason honors list.
• Michigan entered the season in familiar place as one of the teams to watch in a deep and talented Big Ten Conference. Most baseball media outlets have projected Michigan, Nebraska, Maryland and Iowa as NCAA Tournament teams.
• Michigan entered the campaign following a choppy 2021 season that saw the Wolverines advance to NCAA Regional play despite a decision by the Big Ten Conference to play a conference-only schedule. Michigan finished 27-17 in the regular season, advanced to Regionals and saw three players selected in the MLB Draft, including second rounder Steven Hajjar.
• Michigan has had 12 players drafted in the past four years. The Wolverines led all college programs in players drafted in the opening three rounds in both 2020 and 2019. Additionally, in 2017, Michigan had the most overall draft choices of any college program when a staggering 11 players were selected.
• In 2020, the Maize and Blue became the first school from the Big Ten Conference to earn Baseball America's No. 1 overall ranking, which came in the second week of the season following wins over then-No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 9 Arizona State.
• Michigan advanced to the national championship game in Omaha in 2019, making its eighth overall appearance in the College World Series. The Maize and Blue has two national championships to its credit (1953 and 1962).
