Four Home-Run Day Carries Wolverines to Road Victory Over Xavier

Wednesday, March 15

Cincinnati, Ohio

3:00 PM

Michigan

7-9

Xavier

7-9

Michigan

Xavier

Jonathan Kim (Michigan Photography)

Four Home-Run Day Carries Wolverines to Road Victory Over Xavier

3/15/2023 6:39:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Conor Stemme

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The University of Michigan baseball team defeated Xavier 7-3 behind four home runs, including three career-first blasts, on Wednesday (March 15) at Hayden Field.

Michigan (7-9) got on the board early with a three-run second inning. Gabe Sotres reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the inning and stole second with two outs. Jack Van Remortel doubled down the right-field line which opened the scoring as Sotres made it around from second. Jonathan Kim extended the lead as he hit a home run to right field for his first collegiate home run in his fourth career start.

The hot hitting continued in the third as Burton singled with one out. He was caught stealing attempting to swipe second base before Joe Longo hit a home run to left field -- his first career homer -- and Michigan led 4-0 after three.

In the top of the fourth, Mitch Voit extended the lead, taking yard the first pitch he saw for his first career home run, this one to left-center. The Wolverines added another in the fourth when Joey Velazquez reached base to start the rally. He moved around the bases on a bunt, groundout and a single by Cody Jefferis.

U-M added one more run in the sixth after Van Remortel hit a solo shot to extend the lead to 7-0.

Xavier (7-9) scored its first run in the seventh, despite threatening a few times before. In the first, Xavier opened the game with two singles, but Ahmad Harajli struck out two to avoid any damage. The Musketeers had the bases loaded with one out in the second, but a 6-4-3 double play got Michigan out of the inning scoreless. Xavier had runners reach in the third, fourth and fifth, but all were left on base.

Kurt Barr (1-1) came in for Harajli in the fourth. Harajli's final line was three hits allowed over three innings pitched with three walks and five strikeouts. Barr also pitched three scoreless innings, scattering a pair of hits while walking one and fanning two to pick up the win. One of his strikeouts ended the fifth inning to strand Xavier runners at the corners. In the sixth, Barr tossed a 1-2-3 inning on three pitches, the second time for the Wolverines this season.

Xavier added runs late with a seventh-inning home run off Jacob Denner and a two-run home run in the ninth off Mitch Voit. Michigan managed one hit over the final three innings, a Kim double, but the Michigan rode the early-inning runs to victory.

The Wolverines next return home to open an eight-game homestand with a three-game series against Bradley, starting on Friday (March 17) at 4 p.m. at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.