Few anticipated what followed. Michigan dropped the first two games of the series, 10-5 and 10-4, with shaky performances from usually-dominant Nos. 1 and 2 starters, junior left-hander Tommy Henry and junior right-hander Karl Kauffman. The Wolverines avoided a sweep in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, beating the Buckeyes, 6-2.
Last season, Jordan Brewer was playing against the likes of Dyersburg State and Wabash Valley College. The junior outfielder transferred from Lincoln Trail College, a community college of 1,031 people based in rural Robinson, Ill. — to Michigan last year. The expectations on paper would usually be low for a player making the jump from JUCO to a major Division I program, but coach Erik Bakich had other ideas in the preseason.
Salter ended up making the most of the opportunity for the Wolverines. He notched a single and two RBI on a sacrifice fly and a sacrifice bunt as well as a solid performance behind the plate in No. 24 Michigan’s 6-4 victory over the Sycamores.
With a five-and-a-half hour drive back to Terre Haute ahead of Indiana State on Wednesday evening, even a shortened seven-inning game wasn’t enough to risk pushing up against their firm 7:30 departure deadline. In sharp contrast to yesterday’s hard-fought 8-7 loss –– only its second home loss of the year –– today’s matchup saw Michigan manage to hold their lead after a slow start and beat the Sycamores, 6-4.
This sharp fielding was on display throughout Michigan’s 8-0 win in the final game of its weekend series against the Golden Gophers Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines were eager to round out the series on a high note after hard-fought games Friday and Saturday that ended 4-6 and 5-3, respectively.
That ended up being the final score, as the Michigan baseball team (21-8 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) topped Minnesota (13-15, 6-2) on on Saturday afternoon.
It was a heavyweight pitching battle Friday.
In one corner was Michigan ace junior left-hander Tommy Henry, coming in with a dominant 0.76 earned-run average and a 6-1 record, totaling 57 strikeouts on and just seven walks.
Erik Bakich has said in the past he believes his staff is leading the way on analytics. The defensive shift has taken over baseball, and Michigan is no stranger to using any advantage it can to make the difference.
The defense’s busy first inning would set the tone for the rest of Wednesday evening as a carousel of Michigan pitchers took the mound against Toledo.
Despite its ability to dominate, the Michigan baseball team’s offense has struggled with consistency — evident in last season’s early end after a promising 20-game win streak, as well as its sporadic performances against mid-major opponents this year. In light of this, Michigan’s pitching and defense have been essential in holding opponents to few runs and securing wins even when the offense can’t pull through.