In the Michigan baseball team's first game against Penn State on Saturday, senior pitcher Chris Fetter gave the Wolverines a chance to pull out the win.

But the Wolverines didn’t make the offensive plays Fetter needed and lost 6-4 in 10 innings.

“I felt great,” said Fetter, who gave up two earned runs and had 11 strikeouts in eight innings. “That was probably the best stuff I’ve had all year. That’s why I just wanted to keep going with it. There was that inning there when I gave up three runs, couple of decent hits in there and just some plays that didn’t go our way. That’s baseball.”

Fetter said it was important for the starters in the second leg of Saturday's doubleheader to pitch deep into the game, since the Wolverines' bullpen has been hindered by injuries.

Junior pitcher Eric Katzman stayed in the second game for 7.1 inning to get the 9-5 win for Michigan.

Despite getting some rest the day before, the bullpen still struggled Sunday. Five relievers gave up a total of 11 runs in a 16-5 loss.

Michigan has allowed an average of 9.6 runs in its last five games. The Wolverines went 2-3 in those games, including a 14-13 win over mid-major team Oakland.

But Fetter has a formula to end the pitching staff’s woes.

“You have to establish that you are going to throw strikes and keep the ball down in the zone," Fetter said. “We have a bunch of guys that have been throwing decently. But if they’re throwing strikes, they’re up in the zone — or they’re not throwing strikes."

Keeping a positive perspective: After starting the season 10-2, the Wolverines are just 8-8 in their last 16 games.

Although Michigan (3-3 Big Ten, 18-10 overall) usually matches up well against its competition, Sunday’s game was the fourth time this year the Wolverines have lost by more than eight runs.

“Considering all the guys we lost, if you really think about it, we’ve had to play some pretty decent baseball to get to (18-10),” Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. “That’s part of the journey when you have a lot of new faces in the lineup."

Although Michigan lost its series against Penn State, the Wolverines have a 3-3 Big Ten record, and are just one game behind conference leader Illinois.

The Wolverines will face the Fighting Illini at home this weekend.

"Reality is, as bad as this loss was, and as bad as losing this series is, we’re 3-3 and the first Big Ten team is 4-2 and we’re playing them,” Maloney said.