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Michigan exits first weekend with Baseball America’s No. 1 ranking in the country

Michigan made quite an impression in the first four games of the season.

By Anthony Broome
Michigan Photography

The Michigan Wolverines are looking to build and take another step in 2020 as a baseball program after last season’s trip to the College World Series final. The good news for them is that the new campaign has started out as impressive as anyone could have mentioned.

Michigan Baseball went 3-1 in Arizona over the weekend with wins over defending national champion Vanderbilt, Cal Poly and Arizona State on Friday and Saturday. Even with a 7-1 loss to UConn on Sunday, they exit the weekend as Baseball America’s top-ranked team in the NCAA, which is the first time in the 40-year history of the poll that a Big Ten team has held that honor.

Here’s what Baseball America had to say about the Wolverines’ opening weekend:

Even with a weekend-capping loss to Connecticut, Michigan left the biggest impression of any team on Opening Weekend. The clear highlight was Friday’s win over Vanderbilt, which featured a ninth-inning go-ahead home run from fifth-year senior Matt Schmidt. But what they did on Saturday might be more impressive. After taking care of Cal Poly at Talking Stick in the afternoon, they bussed to Phoenix Municipal Stadium to play a road game against No. 3 Arizona State and came away with a 5-0 win. Redshirt freshman lefthander Steve Hajjar was outstanding against the Sun Devils, tossing six shutout innings with three hits and two walks allowed. Outfielder Jordan Nwogu had the best weekend of anyone in the Wolverines’ lineup, going 8-for-16. They’ll get a chance for some revenge against UConn next weekend, when they take on the Huskies in a neutral site series in Florida.

Michigan began the season as the eighth-ranked team in Baseball America’s poll entering 2020. Over the weekend, we posted full game recaps of the win over Vanderbilt, Saturday’s victories over Cal Poly and Arizona State and Sunday’s loss to UConn. As the excerpt above mentioned, the Wolverines next travel to Florida for a three-game series against UConn that starts on Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday.