Michigan
Illinois
Wolverines Earn No. 7 Seed for B1G Tournament; Will Face Illinois, #13 UCLA
5/18/2025 1:30:00 PM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan baseball team (33-21, 16-14 Big Ten) will head to the 2025 Big Ten Tournament presented by IFS.ai as the seventh seed in Omaha, Neb. Michigan will open the tournament against No. 11 seed Illinois on Tuesday (May 20) at 10 a.m. CT and then face second-seeded and No. 13-ranked UCLA on Thursday (May 22) at 10 a.m. CT as part of the first year of pool play. Both games will air live on the Big Ten Network from Charles Schwab Field Omaha.
Notes
• The Wolverines enter the weekend as the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the first time in program history. Overall, in the Big Ten Tournament, U-M is 62-47 and 13-11 in Omaha, Neb. Michigan is coming off two series losses to Nebraska and Indiana but won the finales in both series.
• With the introduction of four new teams, the Big Ten Tournament expanded to 12 teams and a pool play format. Michigan is in Pool B, one of four pools, each with three teams. Each team in the pool will face each other once, and the overall winner of the pool will advance. If all three teams are tied, the highest seed will advance to the semifinals. The single-elimination semifinals will take place on Saturday (May 24) with the Big Ten Tournament final on Sunday (May 25).
• Benny Casillas leads the Big Ten Conference in batting average with a .406. He is second in the conference in hits with 80 and hits per game at 1.51. Casillas' average is 16th in the nation and he is one of just 20 players hitting over .400 this season. The graduate student has four home runs this season, all coming in the last 15 games. He now leads the team in runs scored with 52 after scoring four against Indiana.
• Mitch Voit ranks in the top 10 in the Big Ten in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The junior is slashing .347/.474/.658, with his slugging percentage leading the team. Voit has 13 home runs this season and 34 in his career, which is good for fourth all-time in Michigan program history. He also has entered the top 10 in career total bases with 348, passing Coley Crank who had 347 in 678 at-bats.
• Cole Caruso is second on the team in home runs with 11, his single-season high. The senior homered twice in the series finale against Nebraska. Caruso added two hits in the series against Indiana and has played in 91 straight games and 114 career games as a Wolverine.
• Jeter Ybarra added a home run over the weekend for his seventh of the season. Over the last 10 games, Ybarra is hitting .343 with 12 hits, five runs and 12 RBIs. He also leads the team with a .478 on-base percentage over that stretch, with seven walks and three hit-by pitches. Ybarra is one of three players to play in all 54 games this season, joining Voit and Caruso.
• Matt Spear and Noah Miller split the catching duties over the weekend, and both went 2-for-5 with a run scored. Miller tallied his first collegiate home run in the series opener to lead the team with a 1.000 slugging percentage for the weekend. Both catchers have seen action behind the plate with Spear starting 35 games and Miller starting 19. Miller is hitting .270 while Spear has caught 12 runners trying to steal.
• Kurt Barr leads Michigan in ERA and strikeouts this season and is second in innings pitched. Barr holds a 4.26 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP across 69.2 innings with 74 strikeouts. The junior is fifth in the Big Ten Conference in strikeouts this season, with a game-high 10 against Purdue. Over his last six starts, Barr has four quality starts with 29 strikeouts.
• Tate Carey picked up his ninth win this season after two scoreless relief innings against Indiana on Saturday (May 17). Carey has a 3.35 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP over 51 innings with 45 strikeouts. The freshman has started six games this season and holds a 1.59 ERA over those games. With his record, Carey is tied for second most all-time as a freshman in Michigan program history.
• Will Rogers earned his eighth save on Saturday, pitching the final three innings with four strikeouts against Indiana. Rogers is fourth in the conference in saves and 29th in the NCAA. He is now tied for third in program history for saves as a senior and seventh for most saves in a season. The senior holds a 4.34 ERA with a 1.34 WHIP over 22 appearances and 56 innings.
• Illinois finished the regular season with a 29-23 overall record and a 14-16 conference record to earn the No. 11 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The Fighting Illini are coming off a series win over Ohio State. Michigan and Illinois faced off in Vero Beach, Fla., to open Big Ten play, and the Wolverines won the series. Michigan is 164-121-3 against Illinois all-time and 12-4 in the Big Ten Tournament.
• UCLA earned the second seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 39-15 overall record and 22-8 conference record. The Bruins defeated Northwestern in the final regular-season series and swept Illinois the weekend before. UCLA beat Michigan earlier this year in a non-conference midweek matchup. The Wolverines are 6-5 against UCLA all-time and 1-1 at neutral sites.
