U-M to Start Five-Game Homestand with Two Midweeks

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (17-14) will return home and host two midweek contests this week starting with Akron (9-22) on Tuesday (April 8) at 4 p.m. before hosting Oakland (8-25) on Wednesday (April 9) at 4 p.m. Both games will stream live on B1G+ from the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.

Notes

• Michigan split the last week, winning a midweek contest against Eastern Michigan in run-rule fashion before heading out to Oregon. The No. 15-ranked Ducks took the first two games, 15-2 and 13-3, but U-M responded, winning the series finale. In a game with multiple lead changes, the Wolverines won, 12-11, holding off a late Oregon rally in the eighth and ninth.

• This season, Benny Casillas is hitting .408 with a 1.050 OPS and is second on the team in hits and runs. Casillas tallied six hits over the previous week with two runs and four RBIs. Casillas is nationally 43rd in batting average and third in the Big Ten. He also ranks in the top 10 in the Big Ten in doubles, doubles per game and on-base percentage. He is just two hits away from reaching 200 hits in his career after 156 over three years at LMU before 42 this season.

• Cole Caruso is also two hits away from reaching the 200-hit milestone with 109 over his first two years at USC Upstate, 55 last season and 34 this year. Caruso is now third on the team in batting average, hitting .301, and leads U-M in home runs with nine. Entering the season, Caruso had just seven home runs in 158 career games and has nine through 31 games this season.

• Colby Turner led the Wolverines to the series finale win over Oregon, accounting for eight of the 12 runs Michigan scored as he crossed the plate three times and brought home five RBIs. He hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, the first of his career, and had an RBI triple in the 3rd inning. Turner is hitting .280 this season with a .936 OPS, good for third on the team. He has 14 runs, 27 RBIs and four home runs.

• Brayden Jefferis has started the past six games across four positions. Over those games, he has totaled nine hits, five runs and five RBIs. He tallied two hits in the last two games against Oregon and now sits at a .341 batting average. Jefferis has nine runs, eight RBIs and a triple in 41 at-bats for the season.

• Greg Pace Jr. hit .333 over the past week with three hits, four runs and two RBIs. He has homered in two of the past five games and has five in his career. This season, Pace has scored nine runs on six hits with five RBIs and eight walks.

• Akron is 9-22 and 3-12 in the Mid-American Conference. Earlier this season, the Zips took one game in a four-game series against Purdue and were swept by Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Akron is coming off a series victory against the Toledo Rockets. All-time, Michigan is 3-2 against the Zips, winning the contest last year, 14-4, but dropping a game to Akron 11-10 in 2023.

• Oakland is 8-25 and 3-9 in the Horizon League. The Golden Grizzlies lost to Michigan State earlier this season and split two midweek games with Akron. Oakland is coming off a series loss to Youngstown State but took the series finale in run-rule fashion, winning 15-5. All-time, Michigan is 31-6 against the Golden Grizzlies and won the contest last season, 13-5, but dropped a game in 2023, 4-1.