Michigan Baseball: Jordan Brewer is the difference maker for Wolverines

Michigan baseball has not been included in a college world series since 1984 and this team is two wins away from doing just that. Tonight, the young men in maize and blue look to take down a college baseball goliath in opponent UCLA.

Michigan baseball looks to advance as they take on the toughest team in the tournament and if they hope to win, they will need their star Jordan Brewer to play a big role on an even bigger stage.

Brewer was the highest of five Michigan baseball players selected in the draft this week and he was taken by the Houston Astros in the third round as the 106th overall pick.

One of the many reasons Jordan was selected so high is his ability to effectively hit the ball and then go out there and make very few mistakes on defense. This year, Brewer has accumulated a batting average of .349 while only being attributed six errors.

Jordan is also a thief… of bases that is. This season, Jordan has accounted for 23 stolen bases on 27 attempts, making him one of the more efficient thieves in all of college baseball.

Jordan and Co. look to improve upon the already impressive 44-19 record which includes a 16-7 record in-conference. The all-important home games were where the Wolverines earned a majority of their wins while being extremely fickle with losses. At home, Michigan baseball held a 22-4 record and a less splendid 12-11 record on the road and 10-4 on neutral fields.

In the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan was two games away from playing in the championship against rival Ohio State, however, Nebraska defeated Michigan and advanced, only to lose in the Championship game.

When the NCAA tournament came calling, the Wolverines ended up in Corvallis as a three seed facing Oregon St., Creighton, and Cincinnati. While they never had to play Oregon St., they went 2-1 against Creighton to advance and crushed Cincinnati in their only meeting.

Now Michigan baseball faces the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament as the Wolverines are pitted against UCLA in the Super Regional. The Bruins mounted an unbelievable season culminating in a 47-8 record and ending as the No. 1 ranked team overall.

Their record has only ballooned since the regular season ended, marching their way to 51 total wins while only adding in one loss. With a little luck, few errors, and some great batting, those losses are only going to balloon when the Wolverines and the Bruins battle it out in Los Angeles this weekend.

The game tonight begins at 9 PM EST and will be featured on ESPN2. This is a best out of three series and the second of a possible three-game series begins on Saturday at the same time and on the same channel. The same goes for the if necessary game on Sunday.

Should the Wolverines advance, they won’t play again until next weekend in Omaha, Nebraska – a place where they haven’t seen success since winning it all in 1962.

The other teams remaining in the tournament include Texas Tech, Oklahoma St., Louisville, East Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Duke.

You can check out the 2019 D1 Baseball Championship Official Bracket here.