Michigan offense explodes in 21-5 rout of Minnesota

The Michigan Wolverines moved to 16-7 on the season on Friday afternoon in a 21-5 thumping of Minnesota (4-18) in the series opener of a three-game set in the Twin Cities. The day was headlined by five home runs as a team, two of which were hit by junior Danny Zimmerman. He would finish the day with six RBI.

Steve Hajjar got the start for Michigan on the mound and was touched up for a two-run home run in the first inning, which would be the last pair of runs Minnesota scored until the seventh inning. Hajjar went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits with six walks and seven strikeouts.

The Wolverines took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Jordon Rogers’ first career home run to left field. Minnesota answered with the two-run shot mentioned above, then had 20-straight runs scored against them. Michigan scored a run in each of the first seven innings of the game. After one each in the first and second, they would follow it up with four runs in the third, two in the fourth, seven in the fifth and three each in the sixth and seventh innings. Minnesota would get a run back in the bottom of the seventh and put two more on the board in the bottom of the ninth.

Other home run hitters on the day were Griffin Mazur (two-run shot in the fourth) and Ted Burton (two-run HR in the seventh). Mazur, Benjamin Sems, Zimmerman and Burton all had multiple RBI days for the Wolverine offense.

The Wolverines finished the day with 18 hits and 14 walks drawn as a team in what was a dismantling of the Minnesota pitching staff that clocked in just under four hours.

This was one of the most fun box scores to go through of the year and was a big statement made right off the bat this weekend. Minnesota is a mess right now and Michigan rightfully took advantage of that as they look to keep rolling. Saturday and Sunday’s game are set for 2 p.m. ET starts and will be broadcast via Big Ten Network+.