Wolverines to Entertain Terrapins in B1G Weekend Series

THIS WEEK
Friday, April 13 -- vs. Maryland (Wilpon Complex), 4 p.m.
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Saturday, April 14 -- vs. Maryland (Wilpon Complex), 2 p.m.
Live Stats
Sunday, April 15 -- vs. Maryland (Wilpon Complex), 2:30 p.m.
Live Stats | WLBY Radio | TV: Big Ten Network

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (19-11, 6-0 Big Ten) will start a six-game homestand this weekend as it hosts Maryland (16-17, 3-3 Big Ten) in a Big Ten Conference series at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium. The weekend will kick off on Friday (April 13) with a 4 p.m. contest and will continue Saturday (April 14) with a game at 2 p.m. The series finale is scheduled for Sunday (April 15) at 2:30 p.m., and fans can watch Sunday's game live on Big Ten Network.

• Michigan earned its first ranking this week as the Wolverines appeared at No. 16 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. Michigan was ranked 13 out of the 15 weeks of the 2017 regular season.

• Friday's game (April 13) will kick off a six-home homestand for the Wolverines, who are set to host 22 games at the Wilpon Complex this season. To date, Michigan is 11-1 at home after dropping its home opener on March 14. Through 12 games played at the Wilpon Complex, the Wolverines have posted a .318 batting average with 95 runs scored in addition to a 2.50 earned-run average.

• The Wolverines have now won 15 games in a row, which marks the longest win streak under head coach Erik Bakich. The next longest win streak by a Wolverine team came in 2008, when Michigan won 16 consecutive games. Through 151 seasons, the longest win streak of any Michigan team came in 1985, when the Wolverines won 24 consecutive games to close out the regular season before advancing to the NCAA South Regional.

• Prior to their 15-game win streak, the Wolverines were 4-11 on the season with a .219 team batting average and a 4.66 team ERA. Since a win against Bowling Green on March 16, Michigan has hit for a .306 team average with a .433 slugging percentage and a 2.00 team ERA.

• Michigan's win streak includes four series sweeps and three wins in midweek non-conference games. The Wolverines have also earned four shutout victories during the run, including three in Big Ten action. Michigan picked up two shutout wins in a doubleheader at Northwestern last weekend, which marked the first back-to-back shutouts by a Wolverine team in conference play since 2006.

• Michigan's pitching staff surrendered three runs (two earned) over three games at Northwestern last weekend to combine for a 0.67 ERA. Wolverine pitchers surrendered just three hits between both games of a doubleheader on Saturday (April 7), but gave up seven hits in the series finale on Sunday (April 8). Michigan pitchers struck out a combined 32 batters and gave up just one extra-base hit through the entire series.

• With a 6-0 record in Big Ten Conference action so far, the Wolverines are the lone unbeaten team in Big Ten play this season. The Wolverines rank second in the conference with a 3.29 team ERA and lead the Big Ten with a conference-low .224 opposing batting average. Michigan is also tied for second with 52 stolen bases.

• Freshman southpaw Ben Dragani leads the Big Ten with a 1.13 ERA and a conference-best .150 opposing batting average. Through three starts and nine total appearances, the lefty has surrendered just six runs (five earned) through 39.2 innings pitched.

• Junior Ako Thomas, Michigan's leadoff man, ended his streak of reaching base safely on Saturday (April 7) in the second game of the doubleheader. The junior had previously reached base in 28 consecutive games, and had put together a run of 38 consecutive games in which he reached base safely during the 2017 campaign.

• Sophomore Dominic Clementi has been the go-to man for Michigan in pinch-hitting situations as of late. In seven at-bats as a pinch-hitter, Clementi has compiled a .571 batting average with a 1.143 slugging percentage and a .6225 on-base percentage. The sophomore also leads the team with two pinch-hit triples and four RBI.

• The Maryland squad is currently 16-17 overall with a 3-3 record in the Big Ten, which ranks ninth in the conference. After dropping their series against Illinois last weekend, Maryland started this week with a 2-1 victory at James Madison on Tuesday (April 10), which lasted 12 innings. The Terps also picked up two Big Ten wins at Northwestern to clinch the series at the end of March.

• Michigan holds a 12-7 advantage in the all-time series against Maryland. The two squads faced off 12 times from 1935-57, but did not square off again until 2015, after Maryland joined the Big Ten. Since then, the series has been tight, with Michigan holding a 4-3 record. In their last meet-up in 2017, the Wolverines won, 6-2, though they dropped the series to the Terps.

• After losing 15 players at the end of the 2017 season, including a program-record 11 in the Major League Baseball Draft, the Maize and Blue added 14 players to its roster in the offseason. The roster additions included 12 freshmen and two junior college transfers that hail from seven different states, and the Wolverine recruiting class was ranked No. 10 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, marking the highest ranking for a Big Ten recruiting class.