Michigan Beats Rutgers, Wins Weekend Series

Friday, May 20

Ann Arbor, Mich.

8:00 PM

Michigan

28-24, 12-11

Rutgers

40-14, 16-7

Rutgers

Michigan

Joe Stewart (Michigan Photography)

5/20/2022 11:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Kurt Svoboda

» Rutgers scored its each of its seven runs with two outs, with five of them being unearned.
» Michigan scored five times in the fifth inning to tie the game, punctuated by Joe Stewart's three-run homer.
» Michigan took its first lead in the sixth on an RBI double from Jimmy Obertop.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team came back from a five-run deficit Friday (May 20) as the Wolverines scored the final seven runs of the game to defeat Rutgers by a score of 9-7 and win the weekend series from the Scarlet Knights at Ray Fisher Stadium.

In the second inning, a costly fielding error on starting pitcher Jacob Denner opened a four-run inning for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights took a 5-1 lead thanks to a trio of two-out hits.

Rutgers extended its lead to 7-2 in the fourth inning thanks to another error as the Scarlet Knights again plated all of their runs with two outs. However, Michigan had some magic in its bats and tied the game in the bottom of the frame.

Three Rutgers hurlers struggled to throw strikes as two runs came across on wild pitches before Joe Stewart smashed a three-run homer over the left field wall to tie the game on a ball that came off his bat at 106 miles per hour.

Michigan took its first lead in the bottom of the sixth, working against RU closer Dale Stanovich, who entered play with a paltry 1.37 ERA and a .156 batting average against. Jake Marti singled to lead off and Stewart followed with a single. Jimmy Obertop then launched an RBI double off the wall in centerfield for an 8-7 lead.

A suicide squeeze by Brandon Lawrence in the seventh inning gave Michigan a 9-7 lead as he laid down a perfect bunt to score Ted Burton, who doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Senior closer Willie Weiss entered the game in the sixth inning with a runner on base and was superb in his relief effort. The righty threw 3.0 innings of one-hit relief with four strikeouts in eventually earning the win. As he did in Friday's win, Cameron Weston threw the ninth inning and recorded all three outs with the strikeout for the save.

Stewart finished the game with a homer, double, single, three RBI and a stolen base, while Obertop and Bertram had two hits apiece.