tracy smith

I wrote a softball update a few weeks back, when Michigan was starting to show some promise offensively, with a few important weekends upcoming. Three weekend series have passed since then, with Michigan continuing to bank wins and stay near the top of the conference as we learn what this young team is made of. It's about time for another softball update and in turn, it's time to give Michigan's baseball team some love as well, after yet another series win in conference play, most recently over the rival Ohio State Buckeyes. Today we'll be accomplishing both, talking about developments in the softball season and the road ahead, before digging into where Michigan Baseball sits with a month to go in the regular season: 

Softball hitters: REAL 

When I wrote about softball last time, I was reporting on the genuinely encouraging developments on offense for the Wolverines that had suddenly materialized, following a moribund first month of the season. At the time I noted that we would gain more information on just what these young hitters were made of over the following couple weeks, with two solid pitching teams upcoming in Northwestern and Iowa. There were reasons to believe the offensive surge was real, but until they faced more deecent pitching staffs, it was difficult to buy in fully. 

So what happened? Michigan has continued to hit pretty well. They didn't bludgeon Northwestern, which no one was expecting against a team with a star ace like Ashley Miller, but after scoring just one in the first game in an abbreviated run rule game, they put up 4 and then 5 on the 'Cats. It was disappointingly not enough to win any of the games due to a pitching meltdown, but from an offensive standpoint, I came away encouraged. Northwestern has only allowed 4+ runs nine times this season in 38 games and two of those were against the Wolverines. That's something. 

Then came Iowa, who had allowed 6+ runs four times all season. Michigan put up 6+ in all three games, seeming to send their pitching into a tailspin that then carried over into a disastrous series against Indiana this past weekend. Michigan put up 11 and 5 in mid-week games against MSU over the past two weeks and then put up 4, 6, and 11 this past weekend against Nebraska. The pitching held up enough to sweep all of those games against Iowa, MSU, and Nebraska. To cap it all off, Michigan went on the road yesterday to Oakland and defeated the Golden Grizzlies for the second time this season, winning by a 9-4 final score.  

I don't believe that Michigan is one of the very best offenses in college softball, but we have enough evidence now that this is a good college offense. More importantly, it is an offense that is miles better than what they put out there in any of the last few seasons. The numbers over the past 29 games speak for themselves: in that span Michigan is hitting a quadruple slash of .324/.419/.558/.977 as a team. Their batting average, OBP, and SLG would all be top 25 in the country if sustained over a full season. Of course, they haven't been facing the most *elite* pitchers in the country during this stretch (mostly conference games against a weak B1G) and thus we wouldn't expect it to be fully sustained over a full season. but I've followed this team a while now. I've watched versions of Michigan over the years, particularly 2022 and 2023, that couldn't hit the ball against anybody. To now have a team that is bludgeoning the merely okay teams on the schedule is a significant development. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: digging deeper into softball + baseball talk]

As promised, three weeks have passed since I last chronicled the happenings of the Michigan Softball and Baseball teams, so it's time to check back in. Softball was playing in the BTT when I started writing this, so I'm going to leave that one until early next week once we know the final result of Selection Sunday (likely not gonna be good!), but it feels like a good time to check back in on baseball. Nine more games have gone by and the regular season is nearing its conclusion. Once again we'll do a quick recap, check in on the B1G chase, recap the goings on with the team, and then preview the upcoming slate: 

Baseball: Jostling for B1G Positioning

The last time I wrote about Michigan Baseball we were getting ready for a massive home series against Michigan State that represented the last truly difficult B1G series on the schedule. At that time, the team was sifting through choppy results in conference play and were firmly in the "must win the B1G Tournament to make the NCAAs" territory, so our focus was on seeding (and qualifying) for the BTT in Omaha. That remains true in this edition. 

Season Results Since We Last Talked: That pivotal home series against MSU went pretty well! Michigan got out to a quick 5-2 lead in the Friday game and let strong pitching from Noah Rennard carry them, Mitch Voit working a clean and efficient ninth inning to nail it down. With the ace Connor O'Halloran going on Saturday, Michigan was situated in good position to get a series win at that point and that's what they got on Saturday. O'Halloran threw a complete game, striking out five and allowing three runs on 115 pitches. The Michigan offense gave him a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on RBI knocks from Joey Velazquez and Jack Van Remortel and those were all the runs he'd need en route to a 7-3 victory. Michigan's pitching depth again proved problematic in another Sunday defeat, but taking 2/3 from MSU was satisfactory. 

That led Michigan into their bye week in the B1G, meaning it was time for a non-con tussle with Oklahoma State. That series meant nothing with the Wolverines far outside NCAA consideration as an at-large team, instead mostly serving to give this Michigan team some experience. They only ended up playing two games due to weather, with the Cowboys sweeping the Wolverines (not terribly surprising). O'Halloran pitched a decent game in the opener of the series, but two runs allowed in the 7th handed the Pokes a 5-3 victory. The second game was much messier, OKST using a 5 run fifth to take a commanding lead and eventually hanging on to win 8-5. Tough sledding for Tracy Smith's crew, but again not terribly meaningful in the long run. 

The mid-week game against Kent State wrapped up a seven game home-stand, Michigan able to use more of their A-List arms for that one due to the shortened series against OKST. Michigan won it 7-5 on the back of homers from both Mitch Voit and Tito Flores, as well as an RBI double from Jonathan Kim. After that the Wolverines were off to Minneapolis, a three-game set that ended up being quite low-scoring. Michigan's pitching showed up, nine runs allowed in the three games. Unfortunately, they only scored six runs in three games, including being shut out in the Friday game. The Maize & Blue held a 2-0 lead headed into the bottom of the 8th on Saturday when starter Noah Rennard began to unravel and Voit was unable to salvage it. Thankfully, the brilliance of Jacob Denner on Sunday (complete game, one run allowed!) and a first inning three-run HR from Velazquez powered Michigan to a win in Game #3 that denied the Gophers the sweep. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: B1G standings, notable performances, previews]

Yesterday we did an update to the latest happening in Michigan Softball's 2023 season. Today we will be doing the same for Michigan Baseball.

Baseball: Navigating the choppy seas

Last time we talked, Michigan Baseball was coming off their first B1G series of the season, having swept PSU at home to get some momentum behind them after a bumpy close to the non-conference schedule. We noted that they had a couple big arms but pitching depth and the offense overall needed to improve moving forward for the team to do lots of damage in the B1G. Half of that sentence did come true, while half is still a struggle. 

The season results since last time: Michigan has played three standard B1G weekend series since the last installment, two of which on the road and one at home. The first was also very promising, a series victory down in Champaign, ILL, with a win over the Illini. Michigan claimed the Friday game with a big time performance at the plate from Jonathan Kim, who went 5/5(!) with 4 RBI and a run scored. The Wolverines scored early and often to build up to 12-2 lead behind a strong start from ace Connor O'Halloran. The bullpen did its best to try and let Illinois back into it, but ultimately sealed a 12-9 win. The Saturday game saw Michigan get a strong start from Chase Allen and more heroics at the plate from Kim, the go-ahead single in the 8th before a grand slam by Mitch Voit in the ninth put the game away. Having used all their quality arms to get the first two wins, Michigan started Walker Cleveland on Sunday which more or less amounts to waving the white flag, and the squad got crushed in the final game.

Still, it was a strong weekend and they followed it up with a 12-5 win over WMU in the midweek MACtion game. Nebraska came to town over Easter Weekend, the Friday game being a pitching duel for the ages between O'Halloran and Nebraska's Emmett Olson. Michigan tied the game in the 8th on a HR by Jonathan Kim to make it 1-1, but Michigan couldn't get it done in regulation despite nine innings of one-run ball from O'Halloran. Noah Rennard allowed two in the tenth and that would be enough for the Huskers to win it. The Wolverines responded by scoring six runs in the first two innings on Saturday to secure an 8-6 win, but the rubber match on Sunday went to the visitors as Jacob Denner was bludgeoned for six earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched and the Wolverine bats were held pretty quiet. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Butler came to town for the mid-week game after that, an easy 13-2 Michigan win, and then Tracy Smith's squad headed back out on the road to Piscataway and a matchup with Rutgers. The weekend would deal with major weather issues and big time pitching woes. O'Halloran allowed four runs before he'd recorded an out on Friday, the first time all year he'd been lit up, so Smith opted to yank O'Halloran after just one inning, so the lefty could be saved for a later game in the series. In the process, he punted the game and Michigan lost 13-0, but now they had some ammo later on. The unusual strategy worked, as O'Halloran came in to game two of the series after Chase Allen had been beaten up early on. After being entered into the game, O'Halloran slammed the door on Rutgers, allowing one run over six innings, giving Michigan's offense time to claw out of a 6-0 hole, something they did on their way to a 13-8 victory. Ted Burton hit a three run homer and Joe Longo hit a two run blast before late offense from Jack Van Remortel got the game to the finish line. 

The final game of the series was Michigan's second straight loss in a rubber match, played Sunday evening as game two was suspended and resumed on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines had favorable arms available, but little offense early and a bad fourth inning for Noah Rennard did them in. Tracy Smith was tossed along the way for arguing a close play and that was all she wrote for Michigan's weekend. They returned home on Wednesday for a mid-week game against Toledo and lost an ugly one 10-7 to a sub-.500 MAC opponent. To make matters worse, they held a 6-1 lead early in the game, before pitching issues and poor defense unraveled the game. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: what it means, individual performances, and MSU]