Wolverines Sweep Nittany Lions Behind Pitching Performances of Rennard, Denner

Sunday, March 26

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:00 PM

Michigan

12-11, 0

Penn State

12-8, 0

Penn State

Michigan

Noah Rennard (Michigan Photography)

Wolverines Sweep Nittany Lions Behind Pitching Performances of Rennard, Denner

3/26/2023 4:46:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Conor Stemme

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team earned a series sweep of its first Big Ten series of the season, defeating Penn State 3-1 on Sunday (March 26) at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.

The Wolverines were anchored by Noah Rennard and Jacob Denner, who combined to throw seven 1-2-3 innings.

Rennard struck out the first batter of the game on three pitches before the Nittany Lions (12-8, 0-3 Big Ten) hit two singles with two outs, both a lineout got the right-hander out of trouble.

Michigan (12-11, 3-0 Big Ten) opened the scoring in the third inning. Jack Van Remortel led off the inning with a hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a double by Mitch Voit. The next batter, Jonathan Kim grounded out to shortstop, but Van Remortel scored. Cody Jefferis singled soon after to score Voit and gave the Wolverines a 2-0 lead after three innings of play.

Penn State was shut down by Rennard who pitched four straight three up, three down innings. In the sixth inning, Penn State cut the Michigan lead to one after a leadoff single and double -- PSU's first baserunners after the first inning -- scored a run. Rennard issued his only walk of the game before being replaced by Denner, who struck out the only batter he faced in the sixth to strand a pair. In the seventh, Denner tallied two more punchouts to start the first of two 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth.

Michigan put its final run on the board in the bottom of the eighth, started by a Gabe Sotres single to left field. Two groundouts advanced him to third before Kim singled to plate Sotres' insurance run.

Denner went back to the mound in the ninth, inducing three straight pop outs to earn his first save of the season.

Rennard (3-0) picked up the win after allowing one run on just four hits and a pair of strikeouts against on walk in his 5.2 innings of work. Denner tossed 3.1 innings of relief, striking out three Nittany Lions without allowing them a single base runner.

Kim had another good day at the plate, going 1-for-3 and driving in two of Michigan's three runs.

The Wolverines will wrap up their eight-game homestand on with a non-conference game against Central Michigan on Tuesday (March 28) at 4 p.m. Admission is free for the contest.