Michigan baseball hosts Purdue Fort Wayne in midweek clash

The Michigan Wolverines play host to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons as they look to get back on track after dropping the weekend series to Iowa.

The Wolverines currently sit at 14-13 on the year heading into today’s game.

Purdue Fort Wayne has struggled mightily so far this season. Simply put, it would be a big surprise if the Mastodons leave Ann Arbor with a win.

Purdue Fort Wayne is currently 4-22, however, one of their four wins came against a team that Michigan lost to: the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. The Mastodons did lose to the Grizzlies as well, as they dropped two of three in a series between the two squads.

Cade Fitzpatrick has been a force at the plate this season for Purdue Fort Wayne. Fitzpatrick is hitting .386 and has six home runs on the season. The rest of the lineup is more balanced around the .250-.300 range, but the Mastodons have a couple guys struggling as well. Isaiah Hart and Dylan Stewart are both below .200 on the season, as Hart hits .165 and Stewart hits .114. Purdue Fort Wayne’s bats shouldn’t give Michigan pitching too much of an issue.

The Mastodons’ pitching has struggled keeping runs off the board so far this year. Rex Stills has the best ERA on the team with 3.71, while everyone else on the staff has an ERA over 5.00. The teams total ERA is 8.19. For any non baseball folk reading, that’s not great.

Michigan matches up well with the Mastodons. This is a good opportunity for the Wolverines to get back in the win column and get some confidence going into their next series. The next one is a big one as the Wolverines try to avoid a second straight series loss when they host Cal State Fullerton this weekend.