Nebraska vs Michigan: B1G Baseball Tournament Preview

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Michigan Wolverines (34-23, 17-13 B1G) at #19 Nebraska Cornhuskers (41-14, 23-7 B1G)

Location: Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, NE

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Date/Time: Friday May 22nd, at 5PM CDT

Coaches: Tracy Smith (4th season, 932-714-1) & Will Bolt (7th season, 208-140-1)

TV/Stream: BTN & B1G+

Radio: All Nebraska games on Huskers Radio Network, Huskers.com, Huskers App

How’d They Get Here?

It’s been exactly 2 years and 1 day since Nebraska last lost in Charles Schwab Field. The reigning back-to-back Big Ten Tournament Champions finally step on the presumably soggy field at some point on Friday evening. The Huskers are looking to win their 3rd Big Ten Tournament in a row, and under the 3rd different format. It doesn’t matter how hard you try and change things, Lord of the Big Ten Tournament – Will Bolt will find a way! The team is trying to be the first Husker team to 3-peat a conference tourney since 1999-2001, and the first Big Ten team ever to do so.

The Huskers earned the 2 seed by winning 8 of 10 series, losing 2-1 at Oregon and being swept at Ohio State. They solidified the 2 seed with sweeping USC at home. Nebraska is in fact 25-1 inside the state of Nebraska this season. The lone loss being to a fellow Great Plains team in Kansas. The crowd has defiantly been an advantage that has fueled the team in some big games.

Michigan finished 7-3 in Big Ten series, being swept by UCLA and Ohio State, and losing 2-1 to Nebraska. That got them the 7 seed. In the tournament, they won 10-0 against a Rutgers team that seemingly didn’t want to be here. Cade Montgomery, who has been in just about every role this season, pitched all 7 innings. In the 7-1 loss to Washington, they used 2 starters, and 3 bullpen guys, but could not touch the Huskies’ starting pitcher’s sinker. They rebounded with a huge complete game from freshman starter Shane Brinham in a 3-0 win against rival Ohio State.

If you want a more in depth preview, here is the Michigan Series Preview from before the series in March.

Pitching Preview

Probable Starters: Carson Jasa (9-2, 3.58 ERA) vs TBD

Will Bolt wasted little time in determining his starter for the first game of the tournament. With a maximum of 3 games played, why wouldn’t you throw your weekend rotation out in order?

Carson Jasa has been exceptional all season. After being almost exclusively a fastball thrower last season, his development of a cutter in summer ball has completely changed who he is as a pitcher. How many guys in the Big Ten have 97-98 mph fastball as a secondary pitch? Not a one that I’ve watched this week so far.

Michigan has used each of their 3 starters, and closer so far in the tournament. Their do everything closer and 3rd starter each pitched a complete game. The game they lost is actually the game their ace, Kurt Barr started on Wednesday night. He dominated in inning 1, then completely lost the bottom of the zone in inning 2 and was pulled after 40 pitches in inning 3. Their #2 starter David Lally Jr took over for him and pitched a full outing. with a couple bullpen guys getting their feet wet in the later innings.

So being out of starting options, it probably depends on if Michigan thinks they are a lock for the NCAA tournament or not. If they have even a slight hesitation about that, Barr has to be the choice. He’s the most experienced starter in the B1G Ten, and even if he can’t go super long, honestly, the way things are looking, weather delays may break up quite a few games today. If things go nuts, and the game is postponed to Saturday, put Barr’s name down in ink.

Both teams major bullpen pieces should be ready to go, other than one of the closers for Michigan, but they have another guy actually leading them in saves on the year with 9. So they are still ok there.

But enough from me, WATCH THE HYPE VIDEO!!!

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