Michigan to Host Rutgers for Three-Game Weekend Set

Friday, April 23

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:00 PM

Michigan

Rutgers

4/21/2021 11:44:00 AM | Baseball

By: Kurt Svoboda

» Michigan hosts Rutgers in a three-game series starting Friday.
» Michigan is ranked No. 23 by D1Baseball.com, No. 23 by Baseball America and No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
» Minnesota enters play having lost four straight and nine of its last 10

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan baseball team (18-7, 18-7 Big Ten) returns home Friday through Sunday (April 23-25) for a three-game set against Rutgers (12-12, 12-12 Big Ten) at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium this weekend. On Friday (April 23), the series opens with a 4 p.m. game, with Saturday's (April 24) contest scheduled for 2 p.m. The finale is scheduled for Sunday (April 25) at 1 p.m., and all three games will be streamed live on Big Ten Network+.

About the Series

• Michigan leads the all-time series against Rutgers by a count of 11-5. After meeting for the first time in 1912, the teams did not play again for 99 years when Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference. The Wolverines have won five straight, including a 2019 series sweep at Ray Fisher Stadium, highlighted by a 10th-inning three-run walk-off home run by catcher Joe Donovan in a 4-1 victory in the final game of the series.

About U-M

• Michigan is ranked No. 23 in the latest edition of the D1Baseball.com poll (April 19) after last weekend's sweep of Minnesota. The Wolverines also are ranked No. 23 Baseball America and No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

• Michigan (18-7) swept Minnesota on the road last weekend, winning by scores of 21-5, 4-0 and 9-5. Michigan belted five of its eight home runs over the weekend in Friday's game, with Danny Zimmerman delivering two of them, including a grand slam. Christan Bullock (.500), Benjamin Sems (.417), Griffin Mazur (.400) and Clark Elliott (.400) all enjoyed success at the plate while Riley Bertram stole four bases in three games, including a pair of steals of third base.

• Michigan will look to lefty Steven Hajjar (2-0, 2.90 ERA, 40.1 IP, 49 K) on Friday, righty Cameron Weston (4-1, 2.72 ERA, 43.0 IP, 36 K) on Saturday and Jacob Denner (3-0, 3.77 ERA, 31.0 IP, 31 K) on Sunday.

• Benjamin Sems leads the offense with a .345 batting average, while ranking fourth on the team with 18 RBI. Christian Molfetta follows close behind at .316, while adding 11 extra base hits. Clark Elliott was on base last weekend at a .600 clip and leads the team with a .451 on-base percentage this season to go with a .315 batting average. Jimmy Obertop has hit eight home runs, including two of the team's four grand slams this season, and leads the team with 21 RBI.

• Michigan's bullpen has been solid through the first half of the season. Joe Pace (2-1, 1.84 ERA, 14.2 IP, 12 H, 20 K) has dazzled in various middle- and late-inning situations. Closer Willie Weiss (4-1, 2 SV, 1.32 ERA) continues to rank among the conference leaders in strikeouts per innings pitched with 22 Ks through 13.2 innings of work, including a Saturday effort against Minnesota in which he struck out all five batters he faced -- two batters with the bases loaded.

Scouting Rutgers

• Rutgers (12-12, 12-12 B1G) enters the weekend series needing to stack up some victories but already armed with some impressive wins this season. Although they lost a four-game weekend series to Iowa 3-1, all of the games were close.

• Ryan Lasko earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week for third time in four weeks, giving Scarlet Knights' players the honor in five of the seven weeks it has been awarded this season and each of the last four. In Rutgers' 8-7 comeback win over Iowa on Sunday (April 18), Lasko reached base four times with two hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch to score three times. The outfielder also had a multiple-hit performance in game two with a homer after going deep on Friday to knock in four altogether. Overall, Lasko slashed .333/.421/.800 with five hits, six runs and five RBIs in the four-game series against the Hawkeyes. Lasko leads Big Ten freshmen in slugging percentage (.688) and homers (eight), ranking fourth and sixth, respectively, in the conference in the categories. He holds a .325 batting average and .396 on-base percentage with 19 RBIs, 17 runs and 55 total bases.

• The weekend pitching rotation will be Harry Rutkowski (2-2, 3.83, 44.2 IP, 36 H, 17 BB, 40 K), Ben Wereski (4-2, 3.10, 40.2 IP, 33 H, 4 BB, 34 K), and Brent Teller (1-2, 4.40, 28.2 IP, 30 H, 11 BB, 21 K).