After rough start, Michigan looks to expand winning formula in Big Ten opener

Someone wrote this song before.

A quality start from junior left-handed ace Connor O’Halloran on Friday, followed by a serviceable outing on Saturday by junior right-hander Chase Allen with uncertain bullpen arms in relief preceding a chaotic Sunday burning all of the remaining arms. For the past month, it’s been that rhythm for the Michigan baseball team. With that, it has given the Wolverines narrow margin for error on the mound to win games.

“The formula for winning has been starter, (senior right-hander Noah) Rennard, (freshman third baseman/right-hander Mitch) Voit,” Michigan coach Tracy Smith said after going 2-1 in the weekend series against Bradley. “As a team, we need to find other guys that are capable in Big Ten play, but we can’t continue to ride those guys.”

Tuesday’s game against Akron did nothing to help in finding those “other guys.” If anything, it further etched in stone the weekend routine Michigan has fallen into so far.

The Wolverines’ first two pitchers against the Zips allowed nine runs through three innings. Freshman right-hander Kurt Barr — who Smith had noted was one of those potential arms to solve their pitching depth woes — gave up a grand slam to put his team in a 9-1 deficit. This double whammy by the pitching staff on the precipice of Big Ten play left a sour taste in Smith’s mouth.

“I’m just disgusted with our performance on the mound because we didn’t do anything from ‘make them earn it’ standpoint,” Smith said after the loss to Akron. “Free bases, way too many free bases. I struggle with my words on this one.”

At this juncture of the season, with 20 games under its belt, Michigan would hope to be past these unexplainable midweek losses, after already losing to Oakland 4-1 on March 8. Still searching to find new methods for winning lineups, the Wolverines find themselves with the same questions they began the season with. And ahead of their Big Ten opener Friday against Penn State, those questions are glaring.

The Nittany Lions, sitting at 12-5 on the season, are well positioned to narrow the Wolverines’ ways to win despite having built a strong record against weak competition. Their ace, right-hander Travis Luensmann, has a 2.59 ERA and a 4-0 record on the year. Against No. 17 Miami, in Penn State’s lone ranked win of the season, Luensmann allowed just one run over five innings pitched.

Following Luensmann, right-hander Daniel Ouderkirk is positioned to face off against Allen on the mound on Saturday. He holds a 3.04 ERA with 41 strikeouts in just 23.2 innings pitched. The Nittany Lions’ best bullpen arm, right-hander Jaden Henline, has a 3.63 ERA.

In the batter’s box, Penn State has three healthy hitters batting over .300 in catcher Thomas Bramley shortstop Jay Harry and second baseman Kyle Hannon, comprising the first three spots of their batting order.

For Michigan, its home conference opener against an overachieving Nittany Lions team is an opportunity to reset their season, with both teams yet to start conference play to this point. And in recognizing the reboot, they will likely need to maximize O’Halloran and Allen’s solid outings with good days at the plate. All while scraping the barrel of their remaining pitchers on Sundays to put all of the pieces together throughout a weekend.

“(I) feel like we’ve shown glimpses of good offense, good defense, good pitching,” senior right-fielder Jake Marti said. “We just have yet to put it together all at the same time. And once we do that, we’re gonna be a scary team.”

And if the Wolverines can extract a novel winning formula and become a scary team, they can begin to rewrite the lyrics of their first 20 games into a song much more promising.