U-M to Wrap Home Slate with Three-Game Set Against Minnesota

THIS WEEK
Tickets | Promotions
Friday, April 29 -- vs. Minnesota (Wilpon Complex), 6 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Video | Live Stats
Saturday, April 30 -- vs. Minnesota (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Video | Live Stats
Sunday, May 1 -- vs. Minnesota (Wilpon Complex), Noon
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Video | Live Stats

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• Complete Notes (PDF)

The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan softball team (29-14, 9-7 Big Ten) will close out its home slate with a three-game set against Minnesota this weekend at the Wilpon Complex, home of Alumni Field. The teams will play at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 29), 4 p.m. on Saturday (April 30) and noon on Sunday (May 1). All three games will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.

• Head coach Carol Hutchins is closing in on another milestone win with a 1,698-547-5 career record entering the weekend. Hutchins reclaimed the mantle among NCAA softball's winningest coaches with the Wolverines' 3-0 win against Northern Kentucky (Feb. 25) after previously holding the top spot for more than two years after passing Margie Wright's record of 1,457 career wins in 2016.

• Senior Lexie Blair returned to the Wolverine starting lineup for the first time since suffering an injury in the Northwestern series opener three weeks prior (April 1) and made a debut at first base after starting 155 collegiate games in the outfield. Blair posted three hits and four RBI in U-M's weekend wins over Ohio State (April 23-24) and delivered the go-ahead two-run double in the fourth inning to complete the Wolverines' rubber-match comeback.

• Graduate student Kristina Burkhardt ranks fifth nationally with 17 doubles and eight with a 0.40 doubles-per-game average this season and lists sixth with six triples and 11th with 0.11 triples per game. Burkhardt's six triples are the most for a Wolverine player since Patti Benedict tied the program record with 11 in 1993. Forty percent (23-of-57) of Burkhardt's hits this season have gone for extra bases.

• Junior Audrey LeClair is enjoying a breakout year with a .346 batting average -- a 179-point improvement over her average last season (.167) -- and boasts career highs in every offensive category, including 19 runs, 27 hits and eight RBI. Primarily a pinch runner over her first two seasons, LeClair has started 30 games in the outfield for Michigan. She currently boasts an 11-game hit stream and owns a team-best .467 average over the stretch.

• Fifth-year senior Taylor Bump came through with a walk-off two-run triple to propel U-M to a 4-3 comeback win against the Buckeyes last Saturday. It was Bump's second late game-winning RBI in five games after laying down an eighth-inning squeeze bunt in U-M's 5-3 win at Maryland on April 15.

• Senior RHP Alex Storako ranks 15th nationally in wins (19), fifth in complete-game shutouts (8), fourth in total strikeouts (251) and sixth in strikeouts per seven innings (11.7). She owns 12 double-digit strikeout games. Storako also led the nation last season with a 12.9 strikeout average, while the Michigan staff posted the nation's top team mark with a 10.76 strikeout average.

• Storako took a no-hitter into the seventh innings in U-M's midweek win at Michigan State last Tuesday (April 19), settling for a stellar 13-strikeout, one-hit shutout. In two appearances against the Spartans this season, Storako fanned 25 and allowed just one run on four hits through 14 innings.

• Graduate student LHP Meghan Beaubien has posted three wins over the last two weekends to move to sixth among the Wolverines' all-time wins leaders with a 94-26 career collegiate record. Beaubien needs four more wins to crack the top-five leaders; two-time All-American Jennie Ritter (98, 2003-06) currently holds the fifth spot.

Up Next

Friday, May 6 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), 5 p.m. CDT
Saturday, May 7 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), 1 p.m. CDT
Sunday, May 8 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), Noon CDT