Quick preview of Michigan Baseball’s mid-week games vs. Stanford, Cal

The Michigan Wolverines are coming off of a competitive weekend series against the Cal Poly Mustangs. After the teams split the first two games of the series, both of which went to extra innings, the Wolverines won the rubber match Sunday afternoon 4-2.

The starting pitching was phenomenal for the Wolverines once again this week. On Friday, junior ace Jeff Criswell went 7.2 innings and only allowed one earned run. Blake Beers on Sunday gave the Wolverines eight stellar innings of two-hit, one earned run ball.

Jordan Nwogu continued to provide a spark at the top of the lineup for the Wolverines. He came through big time in Sunday’s win with four hits. Shortstop Jack Blomgren, who was slotted in at the three hole all weekend, went 6-for-13 with several of those hits coming in the clutch. The duo continues to provide consistent offense at the top of the Michigan order.

The Wolverines stay put in California for the rest of the week. They play a pair of midweek games, starting with Stanford on Tuesday night and Cal on Wednesday before finishing with a three-game weekend set against Pepperdine.

A Look at Stanford Baseball

Similarly to other teams at this point in the season, the Cardinal are still figuring things out, as reflected by their 3-8 record. Left fielder Cole Hinkelman is one guy Michigan pitching should be weary of. The 6-foot-5 freshman has already homered four times this season. Another top bat in the Cardinal lineup is second baseman Austin Kretzschmar. Through 11 games, he leads the team with a .360 batting average.

Max Meier is expected to get the start against Michigan on Tuesday night. He pitched well in his start last Tuesday against Cal, but Stanford would end up losing that game 8-4. The freshman right-hander has posted a 2.35 ERA in his two starts so far this season.

A Look at California Baseball

The Golden Bears return home after suffering a rough three game sweep at the hands of TCU over the weekend. They also carry a 3-8 record into their matchup with the Wolverines, one of those wins coming over Stanford. The big bat in the Cal lineup is third baseman Quentin Selma. Selma, a junior from Clovis, California, leads the team in batting average, hits, and RBI’s.

Southpaw Lucas Gather is in line to start this game against Michigan. He has only pitched 5.2 innings this season, but was effective in his only start, giving his team three innings and allowing just one run.

Game Info

The first pitch of the Michigan-Stanford game is set for 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday night. Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Paige is expected to get the start for the Wolverines. The game will be played at Sunken Diamond, home of Cardinal baseball.

The Michigan-California game will also be a 9 p.m. ET start time on Wednesday night. The starter for the Wolverines is still up in the air and they may opt to use an opener followed by a plethora of bullpen arms to keep guys fresh. This would also keep Criswell, Hajjar, and Beers in line to start the games over the weekend against Pepperdine.

Both are set to stream via Stanford and Cal’s Pac-12 pages.