Friday night, sophomore pitcher Trent Szkutnik took to Twitter to tell his followers that he had just watched “Pitch Perfect”, a popular movie about a singing competition. It was fitting that just a few hours earlier, Szkutnik had shown that his pitches were working perfectly.

In the opening game of the series against Penn State (0-9 Big Ten, 7-29 overall), the southpaw went 6.2 innings, giving up only one run while striking out 12 batters, the most by a Wolverine pitcher since Chris Fetter struck out 13 against Illinois in 2009.

“It was exactly what we needed him to do to set the tone on Friday night like that,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “He just pounded the strike zone, and that was great tempo. He had all of his stuff working and got a lot of swing and misses.”

Though Szkutnik turned in a dominating performance, he got no run support behind him and was stuck with the no-decision. The Wolverines (7-2, 20-14) scored all five runs in the 5-1 victory in the bottom of the eighth, when Szkutnik was no longer in the game.

“(Szkutnik) really just enabled us, even though we were not scoring any runs, to keep the game right where it needed to be,” Bakich said.

Szkutnik’s previous career high for strikeouts was eight. He surpassed that total in the fourth inning, striking out at least one batter in every inning but really humming in the second and third inning when he struck out the side.

“(Friday) absolutely felt good,” Szkutnik said. “I was throwing three pitches for strikes which is always huge for anybody. It gives you a chance to go out and win.”

While Szkutnik had all three pitches working in harmony, he mostly utilized his slider and fastball to toy with hitters. His ability to locate both of them on both sides of the plate was a big contributor to his success.

Skutnik ran into trouble during the seventh, when he surrendered a run and put runners on first and second before being taken out of the game. Sophomore Matt Ogden relieved Szkutnik and got out of the jam with no runs allowed. Michigan went on to win the game, and Ogden recorded the victory.

Szkutnik has been pitching much better as of late — his best performances came in his last three games against Minnesota, Michigan State and Friday against Penn State. Michigan went on to sweep the series against Penn State for its second sweep in as many weeks.

If Szkutnik continues to pitch as he has been, it won’t just help Michigan continue its winning ways, it will be music to Bakich’s ears.