The Michigan baseball team, riding a two-game winning streak, aimed to improve their position in the Big Ten standings as they hosted Purdue, one of the conference’s top teams, for their final home series of the 2024 season. The three-game series took place over the weekend.
In Friday’s opener, the game remained scoreless through the first six innings, with both teams’ pitchers dominating. Purdue broke the deadlock in the seventh inning when Keenan Spence hit a two-run homer. Mike Bolton Jr. added an RBI single, giving the Boilermakers a 3-0 lead. Spence extended Purdue’s advantage with a solo homer in the ninth inning, making the final score 4-0.
Michigan’s offense struggled to produce, largely due to an impressive performance by Purdue’s starting pitcher, Jordan Morales. Morales pitched 7.2 innings and allowed only five hits. Despite taking the loss, Michigan’s Kurt Barr also pitched well, surrendering four hits and three earned runs while striking out seven batters in 6.2 innings.
STRUCK OUT THE SIDE!
Barr gets the Boilermakers looking once and swinging twice! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/1AoSwD06Bi
— Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) May 10, 2024
In Saturday’s game, Michigan took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Collin Priest hit an RBI single. Purdue evened the score at 1-1 in the second inning with a run of their own. The Boilermakers then took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning, courtesy of a solo homer from Connor Caskenette and a sacrifice fly.
Michigan responded in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game at 3-3 on a sacrifice fly by Mack Timbrook and an RBI single by Jonathan Kim. Stephen Hrustich then gave the Wolverines a 5-3 lead with a two-run homer. However, Purdue fought back, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth to even the score at 5-5.
HRustich gives us the lead! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/kXwEEs3bxa
— Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) May 11, 2024
In the final game of the series, Purdue took a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning on a fielder’s choice, but Jacob Denner shut down their offense, allowing Michigan to rally. Collin Priest, who had a strong 4-6 performance, tied the game at 6-6 with an RBI single in the seventh. The Wolverines then secured a dramatic 7-6 victory with an unexpected walk-off walk by A.J. Garcia, leveling the series.
In the decisive Sunday game, Michigan took an early lead with a Stephen Hrustich sacrifice fly following Jonathan Kim’s leadoff double in the first inning. Will Rogers extended the lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the second. Purdue responded with two runs in the third to tie the game.
Collin Priest delivered an RBI single in the third inning to put Michigan back in front, and Cole Caruso’s double added another run, making it 4-2. Purdue fought back to tie the game at 4-4 with two runs in the sixth inning.
Michigan regained the lead in the sixth inning with a Kyle Dernedde two-run homer, making it 6-4. Mitch Voit and Stephen Hrustich followed with solo homers, extending the lead to 8-4. Purdue managed to score two late runs, but Michigan held on for an 8-6 victory to win the game and the series.
Michigan rode a trio of 6th-inning home runs to a win over Purdue.
Watch all three of the blasts. 👇#B1GBaseball x @umichbaseball pic.twitter.com/ObRAX0A2kj
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 12, 2024
Michigan’s two wins over the weekend improved their record to 28-24 overall and 13-8 in Big Ten play. The Wolverines will aim to maintain their momentum in the final four games of the season this week. They host Akron in their last home game of the year on Tuesday, followed by a weekend series at Indiana.
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