Michigan baseball stays hot and takes series from Ohio State

The Michigan Wolverines baseball team picked up a big series win this weekend, taking two of three from the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Wolverines came into the series hot, winning six of their last seven. With the series victory, Michigan has now won eight of the last 10. They are now 22-16 overall and 8-4 in conference play.

Here’s what happened this weekend against the Buckeyes.

Game 1

It took extra innings to settle the battle that went down in this one. It looked like it might not be much of a contest as the Buckeyes took an early 5-0 lead in the 2nd inning. But Michigan continued to chip away throughout the game before finding itself down to the last strike facing an 8-6 deficit.

Enter Jimmy Obertop: The junior took the first pitch he saw and put it over the fence, tying the game and sending this one into extra innings.

Clark Elliott capped off his big game with his third hit being a walk-off single to give the Wolverines the win. Cut the Buckeyes some slack, though. The weather wasn’t great on Friday and we all know Ohio State teams struggle with that.

Game 2

This was a wild one. Joe Stewart had one of the most historic games in Big Ten baseball history by hitting three home runs, two of which were grand slams, and totaling 11 RBIs. He carried most of the offensive load, and things looked over as Michigan had a 14-2 lead going into the 7th inning.

The Buckeyes wouldn’t quit, though. They rallied to score 11 runs in the final few innings, but it was still wasn’t enough as the Wolverines clinched the series victory with a 16-13 win.

Game 3

The final game of the series was another nail-biter. Back and forth the whole game, neither team had any big leads, but Michigan put itself in great position to come away with a sweep as it entered the 9th inning with a 5-3 lead.

The Buckeyes drew one run closer with a solo shot to make it 5-4. Then, down to their final strike, they added one more to tie the game at five. Ohio State wasn’t done either, as a single later in the inning brought in another run to give the Buckeyes a 6-5 lead.

Michigan threatened in the bottom of the 9th with runners on second and third with two outs, but a line drive by Matt Frey was caught on a dive by the right fielder and Ohio State avoided the sweep.

Michigan is back in action next weekend with a series against Purdue.