Baseball and Softball Snag Midweek Wins, Homerun Chase Continues

Both the #22 Baseball and #6 Softball picked up midweek non-conference victories this week. Baseball knocked off in-state foe Western Michigan and softball swept a doubleheader against Florida State.


Baseball used a strong offensive performance from Nate Recknagel to move past Western Michigan on Tuesday night. Recknagel went 3-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs to pace the Wolverines. He also doubled and hit his 18th home run of the year, good for 2nd place in the country. That shot also tied Samantha Findlay for the top total among all University of Michigan teams. The win moved the Wolverines to 31-10, and improved their MAC conference record to 5-1, which would be good enough to lead the MAC East division.

Softball used a strong pitching performance by freshman Jordan Taylor in game 1 and a powerful offensive performance by Samantha Findlay in game 2 to sweep Florida State on Wednesday night. Michigan won game 1 by a score of 6-2. Taylor picked up the win to move to 25-2 on the season. Alessandro Giampaolo also chipped in 3 RBIs to pace the Wolverines offensively. In the nightcap Michigan leaned on the bat of senior Samantha Findlay, who went 3-4 with 2 runs and 4 RBIs. Findlay also hit her 19th home run of the season, which ties her for 3rd place nationally. In addition she reclaimed the Michigan lead, breaking a tie with Recknagel. The win moved the Wolverines to 46-5 overall.

Michigan softball will finish out their regular season this weekend with two games at Penn State. Michigan remains tied with Northwestern atop the Big Ten standings, and if both teams finish this weekend with identical records, the Big Ten title (and home-field advantage for the conference tournament) will come down to a coin flip. Softball will also host Team USA in an exhibition game next Tuesday in a final tune-up before the Big Ten Tournament.

Baseball returns to action this weekend with a four game series against rival Ohio State as they look to extend their one game Big Ten lead over Purdue. Friday night's game will be the dedication of the newly renovated Ray Fisher Stadium, with Fred Wilpon on hand to throw out the first pitch.

All four baseball games against Ohio State, as well as the May 7th game against Ball State can be heard on the WCBN Sports Stream. In addition the softball game against Team USA will be broadcast on the Stream.

Here's the softball highlights: Michigan sweeps FSU