Michigan to Resume Home Slate with Midweek Matchups vs. WMU, Miami (Ohio)

Tuesday, March 22

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:00 PM

Michigan

Western Michigan

(Michigan Photography)

Michigan to Resume Home Slate with Midweek Matchups vs. WMU, Miami (Ohio)

3/22/2022 11:04:00 AM | Softball

By: Leah Howard

Schedule Update: Wednesday's (March 23) game against Miami has been moved to 3 p.m. (originally scheduled for 4 p.m.) due to the weather forecast.

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The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan softball team (17-6) will kick off a busy week home with a pair of Midweek MACtion games against Western Michigan (10-15) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday (March 22) and Miami (Ohio) (10-10) at 3 p.m. on Wednesday (March 23) at the Wilpon Complex, home of Alumni Field.

• Michigan is 4-0 at home this season and has improved its overall program home record to a stellar 595-139-1 at Alumni Field since its 1982 construction. Last season, U-M went 12-1 at Alumni Field.

• The Wolverines have batted .343 over their four home games with a 29-6 run differential. Five Michigan players have hit over .350, most notably senior outfielder Lexie Blair with a .500 average (6-for-12), two homers and five RBI over the four-game stretch.

• U-M's hitting success at home is the latest example of its continued offensive progress over the last month. Michigan batted .338 over its 10-game spring break trip (Feb. 25-March 5) -- a 99-point improvement over its .239 team batting average entering the Duke Invitational. Four different U-M hitters posted averages of .400 or better over the stretch: graduate students Kristina Burkhardt (.514) and Melina Livingston (.462), junior Lauren Esman (.458) and junior Audrey LeClair (.438).

• Michigan has also significantly improved its home run production with 16 over its last 14 games, including five over its four home games, after entering the spring-break trip with just one on the season. Seven different Wolverines have at least one homer this season, while sophomore Sierra Kersten leads the team with four long balls -- the first long balls of her collegiate career -- and Esman, senior Hannah Carson and sophomore Keke Tholl all have three.

• Burkhardt leads the nation with 14 doubles this season and, adding two triples, nearly half of her 35 total hits have gone for extra bases this season. She continues to lead the Wolverines at the plate with a career-best .467 average and boasts 19 RBI. She has recorded at least one hit in all but two games this season and currently owns a 12-game hitting streak.

• U-M's pitching staff combined for a 0.58 earned-run average at home this season, with two shutout wins, 47 strikeouts and a .077 opposing average over the four-game stretch.

• Senior RHP Alex Storako leads the conference and ranks fifth nationally with 13 wins already his season and lists eighth with 138 total strikeouts and seventh with a 12.3 strikeouts-per-seven-innings average. She owns eight double-digit strikeout games, including 16 in her most recent outing against Oakland. Storako also led the nation last season with a 12.9 strikeout average, while the Michigan staff posted the nation's top team mark with a 10.76 strikeout average.

Last Time Out

Michigan claimed a pair of midweek wins last week against Toledo (8-0, March 15) and Oakland (6-0, March 16) at Alumni Field before a weekend off. Kersten posted two hits and two RBI in each game, including a two-run homer in the latter, while Blair also knocked out a three-run shot to break a scoreless tie against Oakland in the fifth inning. Carson headlined the Toledo game with three hits and three RBI. LHP Meghan Beaubien tossed a two-hit shutout against the Rockets, while Storako fanned 16 and allowed just one hit in U-M's shutout's against the Golden Grizzlies. [ Recaps: Toledo | Oakland ]

Up Next

Friday, March 25 -- vs. Nebraska (Wilpon Complex), 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 26 -- vs. Nebraska (Wilpon Complex), 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 27 -- vs. Nebraska (Wilpon Complex), 3 p.m.