Michigan baseball heads to Georgia for Mike Sansing Classic

The Michigan Wolverines baseball team had its first game at Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor on Wednesday against the Oakland Grizzlies. The Wolverines went into the game on a five-game losing streak, but the bats couldn’t get going to end the skid.

There wasn’t a whole lot of scoring, but most of it came early on for the Grizzlies. They were able to score two runs in the 2nd and one run in the 3rd to take an early 3-0 lead. In an attempt to end the losing streak, playing from behind was not what Michigan wanted.

Both teams excelled on defense for the next five innings as no runs came across until the 9th inning when Oakland added some insurance to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th. The Wolverines needed a miracle.

Tito Flores homered to begin the 9th to cut the lead to 4-1 and it seemed like Michigan might have some hope, but the next three batters struck out, and Oakland held on to win 4-1. After the game, head coach Tracy Smith voiced his displeasure for how things have been going recently.

The Wolverines have now lost six in a row and have a 4-8 record. Michigan has a lot of work to do to get on track before the Big Ten schedule begins.

What’s next

Michigan now has to quickly shift gears and set its sights on the Mike Sansing Classic in Georgia this weekend, where the Wolverines will play four games — two against UAB and two against Kennesaw State.

First pitch of the weekend is Friday at 1 p.m. against UAB, followed by a 5 p.m. start against Kennesaw State. The Wolverines then play UAB again at noon Saturday and Kennesaw State again at noon Sunday.

This weekend should be a good opportunity for Michigan to pick up some wins after two straight difficult road trips. For example, the Wolverines only played ranked teams last weekend and couldn’t find a way to get a win. That will not be the case as UAB (4-8) and Kennesaw State (5-6) both head into this tournament unranked and with losing records.

Expect a lot of evenly matched games this weekend. All three of these teams have played some ranked teams and have played some lower level competition, and all three have had similar results. Each team will be looking to build momentum after a less than ideal start to the season.

It should be a competitive weekend of baseball, and let’s hope Michigan can come home with some wins.