Michigan to Resume B1G Slate with Four-Game Series at Indiana

» No. 25 Michigan will travel to Bloomington, Ind., to face Indiana in single games Friday and Sunday and a doubleheader Saturday.
» Michigan ranks third nationally with a 0.92 team ERA, while starting pitchers Meghan Beaubien and Alex Storako both list top-10 in strikeout per seven innings.
» Lexie Blair boasts a .475 batting average and has posted at least one hit in every game this spring.

THIS WEEK
Friday, March 26 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), 4 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, March 27 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), Noon
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, March 27 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), 2 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, March 28 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), Noon
TV: Big Ten Network+ | Live Stats | Live Video

• Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan softball team (9-3, 9-3 Big Ten) will resume its 2021 schedule with a four-game set against Indiana (7-5, 7-5 Big Ten) at Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington, Ind. The series will kick off with a 4 p.m. game on Friday (March 26) before a noon doubleheader on Saturday (March 27) and a noon finale on Sunday (March 28). All games will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus.

• Michigan owns a sterling 0.93 team earned-run average and ranks third in the nation in the category, trailing only Binghamton (0.58) and Illinois (0.84). Individually, junior RHP Alex Storako ranks 14th nationally with a 0.49 ERA, while senior LHP Meghan Beaubien is 38th with a 0.95 ERA. The Wolverines have earned shutouts in six of their 12 games this season; Storako owns three complete-game shutouts, while Beaubien boasts two.

• Storako and Beaubien both stand among the nation's top-10 strikeout pitchers. Storako ranks second with a 14.3 strikeouts-per-seven-innings average, while Beaubien is sixth with a 13.2 strikeout average.

• Both Wolverine aces have tied Michigan's program record with a 19-strikeout game this season. Beaubien achieved the feat in a one-hit shutout against Purdue in the season opener (Feb. 26), while Storako did it two weeks later in a one-hit shutout against Nebraska (March 11). They are tied with Wolverine All-American Jennie Ritter, who fanned 19 in eight innings against Oklahoma in the 2006 NCAA Regional final. The 19-K outings this season are the sixth-most recorded by a Big Ten pitcher and tied the conference's record for most strikeouts in a seven-inning game, sharing the spot with Indiana's Amy Unterbrink (March 17, 1986 vs. UT Arlington).

• Beaubien tossed the fifth no-hitter of her collegiate career in the series opener against Nebraska (March 11), allowing an unearned run in the sixth and four walks while striking 14 Cornhuskers. It was Beaubien's first no-hitter since 2019 -- since posting an 8-0 win against CSUN on Feb. 23, 2019 -- and her third that went a full seven innings. Beaubien also earned a combined no-hitter in 2018.

• Junior outfielder Lexie Blair led the Wolverines with a .475 batting average (19-for-40) over opening two weekends of the season. She posted at least one hit in each of U-M's 12 games and owns a .700 slugging percentage with three doubles and a pair of home runs. Blair batted .406 as a freshman (2019).

• Blair posted two hits in U-M's last game of the shortened 2020 season (against Boston University), so her current hitting streak stands at a career-long 13 games.

• Blair and junior catcher Hannah Carson list as two of just 43 players nationally yet to strike out this season and share the nation's lead for "toughest to strike out." Blair has struck out just 18 total times in her collegiate career -- a span of 93 games and 307 at-bats.

• Michigan will play a conference-only schedule in 2021 and, for the first time under the current 14-team field, will face every Big Ten team. U-M has not played a conference opponent since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which prematurely ended last season after just 23 games. As such, Michigan remains the reigning Big Ten regular-season and tournament champion. In sweeping the 2019 titles, the Wolverines earned their second straight outright championship -- and 21st overall -- with a near-perfect 22-1 regular-season record and added their first Big Ten Tournament title since similarly sweeping the conference crowns in 2015.

• Head coach Carol Hutchins is in her 37th season at the helm of the Wolverines. She has compiled a 1,640-528-5 record over her 38 overall seasons as an NCAA head coach. Hutchins ranks as the second-winningest coach in NCAA softball behind Arizona's Mike Candrea (1,647-427-2). She previously became NCAA softball's all-time coaching wins leader when she earned her 1,458th with an 8-0, five-inning win at Indiana on April 2, 2016, and, more recently, became the first to reach 1,600 wins with a 6-2 decision at Ohio State on April 13, 2019.