Wolverines to Head to Columbus for Weekend Rivalry Series

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (27-17, 11-10 Big Ten) heads to Ohio and faces off against rival Ohio State at Bill Davis Stadium for a three-game series. The series is scheduled to begin on Friday (May 2) at 6 p.m., continues on Saturday (May 3) at noon, and wraps up on Sunday (May 4) at 1 p.m., with Friday and Sunday streaming live on B1G+ and Saturday airing on Big Ten Network.

• Michigan enters the series against Ohio State sitting seventh in the Big Ten after a weekend sweep over Michigan State. U-M won the first two games 8-2 and 9-2 and survived a late MSU comeback in the final game after a six-run first inning to win 6-5. The Wolverines head on the road again for a weekend series for the first time since the start of April against Oregon.

• Greg Pace Jr. has hit .379 with a team-leading .828 slugging percentage over the last ten games. Over the past four games, Pace hit .615 with eight runs, with six going for extra bases, including three home runs. He slugged an impressive 1.15 over the midweek win over Bowling Green and the sweep over Michigan State. This season, he is hitting .329 with 22 runs and 18 RBIs, starting 22 games, including the last 16 contests.

• Benny Casillas leads the Big Ten conference in batting average and ranks 12th nationally with a .419 average. He is third among the Power Four conferences in batting average and is just one of 25 players hitting above .400 this season. Casillas is also tied for the conference lead in hits with 67 and is fourth in on-base percentage at .505. He has reached base in every start this season for the Wolverines and has started 42 of the team's 44 games this season.

• Mitch Voit ranks in the top 10 in the Big Ten in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, slashing .371/.498/.673 this season. Voit is the only Wolverine to start every game this season, doing so at second base. He is the active career leader in almost every offensive category and is tied for seventh all-time in home runs with 31. Voit had an extra-base hit drought with zero in 10 games from April 4th through the 18th but has tallied five over his past six games.

• Matt Spear started every game behind the plate against the Spartans and has done so 28 times this season. He tallied six hits with five runs and seven RBIs over the past week, including a home run against Bowling Green. Spear scored a run in all four of the previous games and had a three-hit day in the series opener against Michigan State. This season, he is hitting .250 with 22 runs and 23 RBIs.

• Brayden Jefferis has seen 18 starts and 30 appearances as a freshman. Over his last nine appearances, he is hitting .304, good for fifth on the team, with three runs and three RBIs with a .429 on-base percentage. This season, Jefferis holds a .315 batting average with 13 runs and 12 RBIs. He has seen starts at all three outfield positions and action across the infield as well.

• Kurt Barr started the year as the Saturday starter and at one point was out of the rotation before working himself back in on Sundays. This past weekend, Barr earned the start on Friday against the Spartans and pitched six innings and allowed just one run in a win to improve to 5-3 on the season. Barr leads the Wolverines in strikeouts this season with 62 and is seventh in the Big Ten and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings. He holds a team-leading 3.70 ERA through 56 innings.

• David Lally Jr. leads the Wolverines in innings pitched this season with 58.1 and has two complete games. Lally is one of 40 players with at least two complete games this season and the only one in the Big Ten. He holds a team-leading 1.27 WHIP and has struck out 43 batters. Lally has allowed four earned runs over his last three starts with 12 strikeouts and earned the win against Michigan State on Saturday with 6.2 innings pitched.

• Tate Carey has transitioned to a starter for the Wolverines, beginning with his no-hitter against Akron and continuing on Sunday against Mount St. Mary's, Iowa and Michigan State. Over his four starts, Carey holds a 3-0 record with a 1.25 ERA over 21.2 innings pitched with 26 strikeouts. He has walked just five batters and held opponents to a .145 batting average against. This season, he holds a 7-0 record, which ranks second in the Big Ten conference in wins and is 20th nationally.

• Will Rogers has seven saves this season, which is tied for fourth among seniors in U-M program history, and he is 14th all-time in career saves at Michigan. Rogers holds a 4.47 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over 46.1 innings and 18 appearances.

• Ohio State is 11-30 overall and ranks last in the Big Ten at 3-18. The Buckeyes' three conference wins came in a doubleheader sweep over Oregon and a 16-8 win over the Scarlet Knights last weekend. All-time, Michigan is 173-114-2 against the Buckeyes and 78-60-1 in Columbus. The Wolverines won the series last year in Ann Arbor, but the Buckeyes swept the U-M in their last meeting in Columbus.