OMAHA, Neb. — The University of Michigan baseball team (34-23) advanced to the single-elimination phase of the Big Ten Tournament and will face off against No. 2-seeded and No. 20-ranked Nebraska at 6 p.m. CT on Friday (May 22) at Charles Schwab Stadium. The matchup will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
Notes
• With a win over Nebraska, Michigan would face the winner of No. 3-seed Oregon and No. 11-seed Washington on Saturday (May 23) before a potential championship game on Sunday (May 24).
• After the double-elimination portion, which featured the Nos. 5-12 seeds, the new-look Big Ten Tournament enters a single-elimination format with the top-four seeds beginning play. There will be four quarterfinal games before two semifinal games on Saturday (May 23) and a championship game on Sunday (May 24).
• The Wolverines have played three games already in Omaha, opening up with a 10-0 run-rule victory over Rutgers. U-M then dropped a contest to Washington 7-1, but rebounded with a 3-0 win over Ohio State.
• U-M has tossed two complete-game shutouts already in the tournament, with Cade Montgomery pitching all seven innings against Rutgers before Shane Brinham went the distance against Ohio State. Montgomery allowed just four baserunners and struck out six on 92 pitches. Brinham threw Michigan’s first nine-inning, complete-game shutout since Tommy Henry in 2019. Brinham fanned a career-high 11 batters while allowing eight baserunners and tossing 124 pitches.
• Noah Miller has been the Wolverines’ best hitter in Omaha, batting .417 with a .667 slugging percentage. His two hits Thursday represented the Wolverines’ total against Ohio State, and he plated all three of their runs, while adding a home run against Rutgers. Two of Miller’s five career home runs have come at Charles Schwab Field, and he is 9-for-20 across his five games in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Brayden Jefferis leads Michigan in on-base percentage (.538) in the Big Ten Tournament. He has just two hits, but has drawn four walks and a hit by pitch. The sophomore has now reached base safely in 31 straight contests, ranking second among Michigan players since 2000. Jefferis is batting .351 this season with 74 hits, five of them home runs, and has scored 31 runs.
• David Lally Jr. threw five innings against Washington on Wednesday (May 20), tallying a career-high seven strikeouts. He allowed two runs on four hits and could return later in the tournament. The senior holds a 4.15 earned-run average with a 1.30 WHIP while striking out 65 batters over 69.1 innings pitched.
• Dane Morrow has started all three games in the outfield during the tournament and 11 of the last 12 games. He has three runs on three hits over the past three games while walking once. The redshirt freshman tallied his fourth RBI of the season against Rutgers as part of a 3-for-4 day. This season, Morrow is hitting .246 with 16 hits and 14 runs.
• Colby Turner leads the Wolverines in most offensive categories, even after a slow start to the Big Ten Tournament. The junior is 3-for-13, but scored twice against Ohio State, reaching on two errors and a walk. Turner is slashing .368/.435/.632 with a team-leading 144 total bases, including 56 from his 14 home runs.
• This is Michigan’s 12th straight Big Ten Tournament appearance, the longest active streak in the conference, and is the seventh seed for the second year in a row. Last season, the Wolverines went 0-2 with losses to Illinois and UCLA to bring their overall record as the No. 7 seed to 2-3. U-M is 10-11 all-time in Big Ten Tournament against No. 2 seeds.
• Nebraska enters the contest with a 41-14 overall record and finished with a 23-7 conference record. The Cornhuskers are the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and are ranked 20th in the nation by D1Baseball. Nebraska won all but two conference series this season — Oregon and Ohio State — but took two out of three from Michigan in Ann Arbor earlier this season.