Michigan baseball hosts Iowa for first Big Ten series in Ann Arbor

The Michigan Wolverines baseball team looks to bounce back from its midweek loss to Oakland as the Iowa Hawkeyes visit Ann Arbor this weekend.

Michigan won the first series of conference play last weekend when they took two out of three against Nebraska.

The Wolverines need to keep that momentum rolling as they take on the Hawkeyes this weekend. Michigan has struggled a little bit in non-conference play, so starting Big Ten play with two straight series wins would be huge.

Iowa is a very beatable team and with Michigan being at home, the Wolverines have a great opportunity in front of them to get out to a very strong start in conference play.

Iowa is currently 12-9 on the season with its best win coming against 17th ranked Texas Tech. Michigan has also played the Red Raiders this season, a game in which the Wolverines blew a late lead and lost 7-6.

On offense, Iowa is a very consistent team. There are a couple outliers as Peyton Williams (.364 BA) and Keaton Anthony (.347) stand out above the rest, but for the most part the Hawkeyes lineup hits in the .270-.300 range. That’s a pretty solid lineup. Any team that has six guys hitting over .270 is going to have a pretty good offense.

On the pitching side, Iowa isn’t quite as strong, but it’s still solid. Out of the Hawkeyes top three pitchers in innings pitched, Ty Langenberg has the best ERA with a 2.30. The other two main arms for Iowa have ERAs over 3.00. Out of the bullpen, Luke Llewellyn has been the most solid arm for the Hawkeyes. Llewellyn has only thrown 6.2 innings this season, but he has an ERA of 0.00. 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball is impressive. Those two stand out above the rest of the Hawkeyes pitching staff, and it is likely that Michigan sees both of them this weekend.

This should be a very competitive series, and one Michigan could definitely find a way to win.