Michigan to Open Road Swing at Louisville with Friday Doubleheader

» Michigan plays a three-game series at Louisville this weekend, March 11-13.
» All three games against the Cardinals will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
» With inclement weather in the forecast, the teams will open with a Friday doubleheader
» Michigan's home opener is scheduled for March 18 vs. Dayton.

THIS WEEK
Friday, March 11 – at Louisville (Louisville, Ky.), 1 p.m. (Game 1)
Stream: ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | Live Video
Friday, March 11 – at Louisville (Louisville, Ky.), 4:30 p.m. (Game 2)
Stream: ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, March 13 -- at Louisville (Louisville, Ky.), 1 p.m.
Stream: ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | Live Video

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team enters the final stretch of an early-season road swing when the Wolverines travel to the University of Louisville for a three-game series this weekend, March 11-13.

• Michigan (7-5) and Louisville (8-3) will play a trio of day games at Jim Patterson Stadium with a Friday doubleheader and a single game on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

• The Wolverines posted a 2-3 record last week with wins over Florida Atlantic (March 2) and Maryland (March 4) and close losses to FAU, East Carolina and Indiana State.

The Week That Was

• In five games last week, junior Ted Burton batted .542 (13-for-24) with a .560 on-base percentage and slugged an impressive 1.042 on the strength of six doubles and two home runs to go with 11 RBI. He also scored a team-high seven runs during the week.

• Burton had an eye-opening two-game series at Florida Atlantic, collecting eight hits in two games, including five doubles and a home run against the Owls.

• Graduate Student Matt Frey also had a solid week, batting .450 with a .538 on-base percentage, two homers and eight RBI. Junior catcher Jimmy Obertop continues to get on base at an alarming clip with a .615 on-base percentage to accompany a .412 batting average in those five games.

• Junior Joey Velazquez connected for a pinch-hit, three-run homer in his first at-bat of the season Friday (March 4) to help Michigan overcome an early 4-0 deficit and beat No. 21-ranked Maryland by a score of 7-4.

• Sophomore Dylan Stanton earned his first career start against East Carolina and recorded his first collegiate hit in the game, a single.

Scouting the Opponent

LOUISVILLE

• Louisville enters midweek play at 8-3 overall and riding a five-game winning streak. The Cardinals, who have already enjoyed eight home games, host TCU at noon on Tuesday (March 8) ahead of the U-M series.

• Louisville has not played a particularly difficult schedule in the early going, save for a 9-2 loss to Connecticut in the opening weekend of play. The Cardinals enter the week with an RPI of 125.

• The team is led offensively by Ben Bianco (.500 batting / .559 on-base / 1.595 on-base plus slugging) and Christian Knapczyk (.432 avg., .554 obp., 1.145 ops., 5-5 stolen bases) while Ben Metzinger (.341 avg.) leads the team with five homers and 20 RBI.

• Tate Kuehner is 2-0 on the mound with a 1.23 ERA and has allowed just 10 hits in 14.2 innings of work so far. Fellow starter Riley Phillips has had similar success with a 1-0 record, a 2.77 ERA and 14 strikeouts through 13.0 innings of work.

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 enters 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 enters 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 become 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).