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The Michigan Wolverines baseball team traveled midweek for an away game against the Xavier Musketeers. After an 8-2 loss, the Wolverines look to rebound quickly as Big Ten play opens this weekend against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Here’s what happened against Xavier:
Xavier Recap
This one was close for the first few innings before the Musketeers pulled away. Michigan actually jumped on Xavier early plating one run in the top of the 1st inning. The teams went back and forth trading leads, with the score eventually becoming 4-2 in favor of Xavier in the bottom of the 4th. The Musketeers scored four in the frame and shut down the Michigan bats after that, going on to win 8-2.
Despite the low scoring output, the Wolverines did put up eight hits and had three players record multiple hits: Clark Elliot (3), Matt Frey (2) and Jimmy Obertop (2).
Michigan is now 11-9 following the loss.
Nebraska Preview
While Michigan played Maryland earlier this season, this is technically the opener of the Big Ten season for both the Wolverines and Nebraska.
The Huskers have struggled a bit out of the gates this season as they’ve begun the season 8-11. They did have a three-game series with No. 17 TCU, where they were swept by the Frogs.
Nebraska is an okay team. They aren’t bad but they aren’t special. This is a very winnable series for Michigan and a series they should win if they want to be competing for a Big Ten title.
On offense, the Huskers have a team average of .244. They have two players hitting over .300: Garrett Anglim (.333) and Griffin Everitt (.329). Those two guys are the players to keep an eye out for on offense for Nebraska. Those two dudes can hit, but the majority of the Husker lineup isn’t as threatening.
The Huskers have a similar scouting report with pitching: nothing too special. The team ERA is 4.86. Jaxon Jelkin has been great out of the pen as he hasn’t allowed an earned run in 3 appearances, but he’s only thrown 4.1 innings. Still, a 0.00 ERA is always something to note.
Koty Frank and Shay Schanaman have been the most consistently good pitchers for Nebraska. Frank has a 1.64 ERA with 22 IP and Schanaman has a 2.67 ERA with 27 IP.
Those two can pitch.
It should be a pretty even matchup this weekend, and it’s sure to bring a lot of excitement as Big Ten baseball always does.