Michigan Baseball put in Louisville Regional, will face Oregon

The Michigan baseball team earned an automatic berth in the NCAA baseball tournament and landed in the regional hosted by the No. 12 seed in Louisville.

After winning the Big Ten tournament championship, Michigan baseball found out on Monday where it would play in the NCAA baseball tournament later this week.

The Wolverines will be part of the Louisville region which will be hosted by the 12th-seeded team in the tournament. There are 16 seeded teams total and each hosts a four-team regional in the first round of the 64-team tournament.

Michigan baseball won’t play Louisville in the first round and will open with Oregon. Michigan is the No. 3 seed in the region, and Oregon is the No. 2.

The action will start on Friday and just like softball, it’s true a double-elimination tournament.

If you win the first two games and advance to the championship round undefeated, the team remaining with a loss will need to beat you twice.

The Ducks went 35-23 this season and despite losing out in consecutive games in the Pac-12 tournament, Oregon notched six wins over ranked teams this season including four straight to end the regular season with a win over Gonzaga and three straight over Arizona.

Michigan baseball is 32-26 and ended the regular season 28-25, as well as 12-12 in the Big Ten regular season before winning four of five games to win the tournament. That run included wins over each of the top four seeds including regular-season champion Maryland.

The Big Ten had just two teams make the tournament. Maryland, which won the regular-season title, and Michigan, the tournament champion. The Terps were seeded 16th overall but Rutgers, a team some thought would get an at-large berth, was essentially eliminated last night by U-M.

Michigan will be the underdog again

Michigan is the third seed (in the region) but wouldn’t have earned an at-large berth without winning the conference tournament. The offense went off in five games and scored a combined 23 in the two games on Sunday to clinch the championship. U-M outscored the competition 48-25.

Michigan also won three of four to end the regular season, with two of three wins over Rutgers, so the Wolverines have won seven of their last nine, and six of those wins came against top-4 teams in the Big Ten conference standings.

The Wolverines still have a lot to prove. Louisville, which is making its first tournament berth since 2019, will open against Southeast Missouri State.