Michigan baseball survives for another day in Big Ten tournament

Michigan baseball was facing elimination on Wednesday night and knocked off Illinois to keep the season alive. 

Things didn’t look good for Michigan baseball on Tuesday. The Wolverines were run-ruled by Iowa and had just dropped their fifth consecutive game.

It felt like the 2023 season was destined to end on Wednesday in Omaha. Yet, the Wolverines got off to a tremendous start with an early three-run home run by Jack Van Remortel that gave Michigan baseball a lead it wouldn’t relinquish in a 6-3 win over Illinois.

Noah Rennard took the mound for Michigan to start the game and opened with five scoreless innings and a season-high six strikeouts before being relieved. Cody Jefferis also delivered a big hit in the bottom of the third, bringing home Mitch Voit who got in scoring position with a triple.

Still, the key for Michigan baseball seemed to be the long ball hit by Van Remortel, a graduate in the third inning. Ted Burton belted a triple of his own to make it 1-0 Wolverines and by the end of the inning, it was 5-0. Jefferis also hammered a home run to add an insurance run late.

Illinois did score three runs in the sixth inning. However, Jacob Denner held Illinois scoreless after that and didn’t really allow them to seriously threaten in the last few innings as the Wolverines improved to 27-27 on the season and stayed alive for one more game at least.

Michigan will get a day off on Thursday and the Wolverines will play on Friday against the loser of Iowa/Indiana. That would be a tough matchup for Michigan but the Wolverines have been pretty good in elimination games at the Big Ten tournament and they were again on Wednesday.