Michigan baseball coach Rich Maloney called his team's pitiful 3-1 loss to Eastern Michigan a “turning point," of the season. The Wolverines were still 14-6, almost exactly where they were at this point last year.

He echoed similar sentiments a week later when Bowling Green, another sub-.500 Mid-American Conference team, stunned his team.

The next day, the Wolverines rallied to beat Oakland 14-13 in a marathon ballgame. Junior first baseman Mike Dufek claimed that this was a “turning point” in the team’s season. After all, they were only a few days behind last year’s team in getting to 17 wins.

But when the Wolverines lost two of three to Penn State last weekend — including a 16-5 shellacking Sunday afternoon — senior captain Tim Kalczynski put the icing on the cake with his “turning point” declaration:

“It could go one of two ways,” he said. “It could go uphill really fast or downhill really fast. It’s just a matter of how mentally tough we are and how we respond.”

What Kalczynski doesn’t realize is that his team has “turned” so many times that it’s back where it started.

Last season, Michigan had 14 total losses, two at the hands of then-No. 1 Arizona State. And the Wolverines had lost just once to a MAC team, Central Michigan, who they play in Ann Arbor tonight.

After losing two of its most efficient batters in first baseman Nate Recknagel and third baseman Adam Abraham, Maloney knew that, in terms of hitting the long ball, this team would be a shell of its former self. Both Abraham and Recknagel had batting averages over .350, and Recknagel was named Big Ten Player of the Year after breaking the Michigan record for most home runs in a season (23).

“With all the new faces and the inexperience, we’re like a lot of teams in the Big Ten,” Maloney said at Meet the Wolverines Night in February. “A lot of these guys we’re riding on the coattails of older guys. ... Who’s going to rise up?”

If you let the statistics speak for themselves, this team is nearly the same as last year.

Dufek and sophomore outfielder Ryan LaMarre both have risen up in a big way, accounting for the same amount of home runs as the trio of Recknagel, Abraham and slugger Zach Putnam, who also left last season, in as many games. Their performances have helped to elevate the team’s batting average .003 higher than it was at this point last season.

On the mound, senior Chris Fetter has an ERA .22 points lower than his mark from a year ago. But his record is 4-1, compared to 6-0 last season. Even the team’s ERA isn't significantly up from this point last year.

So what makes this team look so different?

Maloney talked all year about giving up what he calls “freebies” and cashing in on opportunities to manufacture runs. But the Wolverines just aren’t executing on a consistent basis.

The truth is, this team's role players aren't filling the void left by last year's seniors — Jason Christian, Derek VanBuskirk and Leif Mahler, among others.

Against Penn State on Sunday, Michigan allowed the Nittany Lions to catch fire and score 12 unanswered runs in the fifth through eighth innings after keeping the game close.

In their narrow win against Oakland, the Wolverines surrendered eight total runs in the second and third innings — a gargantuan sum that they barely eclipsed.

And when a team as young as Michigan faces deficits like that on a weekly basis, it’s bound to get discouraged. From the plate, that has translated into troubles seeing the ball, especially for players who aren’t named LaMarre or Dufek.

The Wolverines have struck out 65 more times than they had at this point last season.

Senior second baseman and tri-captain Kevin Cislo said it best:

“It’s about inconsistency,' he said. "Our pitchers will do well and our hitters won’t or vice-versa. This is our first year with a lot of guys together, so it’s going to take some time.

“But there’s no question, we’ve got to come out and play with more consistency.”

After Penn State dominated last year's Wolverines by nine runs, Michigan won 12 straight games, including a decisive four-game sweep of this year’s current Big Ten leader, Illinois.

Yes, this year’s team has two more losses. But the Big Ten is wide open with Michigan just one game out of first place.

The Fighting Illini await the Wolverines this weekend — and the talk about "turning points" could finally end with a series win this weekend.