The Michigan baseball team returned from a long road trip out in California earlier this week for its home opener against Western Michigan. After winning the series at Pepperdine, the Wolverines were in good shape going into their home opener at Ray Fisher Stadium on Tuesday.
Let’s quickly recap that contest against the Broncos and preview this weekend’s series at the No. 1 team in the country, the UCLA Bruins.
Western Michigan recap
Michigan improved to 9-6 overall on the season with a narrow 3-2 victory vs Western Michigan on Tuesday
in Ann Arbor. The Broncos got on the board first to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Wolverines didn’t let that hold for long.
Noah Miller got Michigan on the board with a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning. The Broncos tied it up 2-2 in the second, and that score held until the sixth inning. That’s when Evan Haeger’s sacrifice bunt put the Wolverines up 3-2. The defense did its job for the remainder of the game, and Michigan earned the 3-2 victory, with Slade Moore getting the win on the mound.
UCLA preview
Michigan just got back from California, but the team is headed out west again to take on the No. 1 UCLA Bruins this weekend.
Last season, the Bruins finished tied atop the conference standings with a 22-8 Big Ten record. They also finished the year 48-18 overall. UCLA got to the College World Series and won its opening game win before dropping the next two games to LSU and Arkansas to be eliminated. Still, it was a great year, and the Bruins have sky-high expectations once again this season.
The Bruins are off to another scorching hot start this season, as they are currently 14-2 to start the year. UCLA has earned impressive wins over No. 4 Mississippi State, No. 7 TCU (three times), No. 20 Tennessee and No. 23 Texas A&M. In the Big Ten, UCLA is 3-0 with three wins against Ohio State.
A matchup with UCLA is as tough as it gets. This will be a major test for the Wolverines, and it will be good to see how Michigan compares to the top team in the country.
Players to watch
To be frank, the entire UCLA starting lineup belongs in this category. However, we will get specific and show you the best of the best.
The best bats in the lineup are outfielder Will Gasparino, first baseman Mulivai Levu, infielder Roman Martin and infielder Roch Cholowsky. Gasparino leads the team with a ridiculous .418 batting average. He is 23-of-55 with 11 homers and 30 RBIs in 16 games. He is going to be a tough out all weekend.
Levu is hitting .377 to begin the season. He has five homers and 23 RBIs so far. Not quite on Gasparino’s level, but still extremely impressive. With less power is Martin, but he is still an on base machine. He is hitting .356 with one home run and 15 RBIs. Lastly, Cholowsky who was named the Player of the Year in college baseball last season and is still one of the most dangerous players in country, as he is currently hitting .316 with nine home runs and 22 RBIs.
On the rubber, Michigan will almost surely face Logan Reddemann and Michael Barnett, but the third starter is tougher to predict. That is largely due to the fact that by the time the Bruins reach the third game of a series, the other team is so depleted that they don’t need to rely on one arm to pitch a lot of innings to earn a win.
Reddemann has been solid this year, giving up 17 hits and seven earned runs in 21.1 innings pitched. His command is arguably his biggest strength, as he has struck out 33 batters and has walked just four. He currently has a 2.95 ERA on the season. Meanwhile, Barnett has a 3.57 ERA, giving up seven earned runs on 12 hits in 17.2 innings. He has struck out 16 and walked eight.
This is a great series to see how Michigan stacks up with the best of the best. The Wolverines have a few pretty impressive wins over ranked teams to begin the year, but UCLA is on a completely different level.
Series schedule
- Game 1: Friday, March 13, 9 p.m. ET, B1G+
- Game 2: Saturday, March 14, 5 p.m. ET, B1G+
- Game 3: Sunday, March 15, 4 p.m. ET, B1G+
