Michigan Wolverines baseball was glued to the television, watching the NCAA Tournament Selection show together as a team Monday. The Maize and Blue, who posted a 27-17 record during the Big Ten-only season, were firmly on the bubble, with some projecting them as in the field of 64 and others placing them on the outside looking in.
The Wolverines heard their name called this afternoon, marking the program's 25th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth under head coach Erik Bakich, who led his club to the 2019 College World Series Finals.
Michigan was selected as one of the last four teams in, a No. 3 seed headed to take part in the South Bend Regional. The Wolverines will play No. 2 seed UConn Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. Notre Dame is the top seed in the region and No. 10 team overall, while Central Michigan rounds out the grouping as the No. 4 seed.
The format is double elimination, with the winner of the regional to advance to the super regionals.
The Wolverines are coming off a series in Lincoln, Neb., in which they lost two of three games to to Big Ten champion Nebraska. Those were two of Michigan's 10 losses in its final 18 games.
Michigan touts eight All-Big Ten players, including two on the first-team in sophomore second baseman Ted Burton and redshirt sophomore left-handed starting pitcher Steven Hajjar.
Burton leads his club with a .445 on-base percentage and has hit safely in 17 of his last 20 games, a span in which he is batting .387 (29-for-75), with 10 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 25 RBI and 19 runs scored.
Meanwhile, Hajjar posted a 4-1 record, a 2.85 earned-run average (fifth best in the conference) and 101 strikeouts in 72.5 innings during the regular season.
Second-teamers include fifth-year senior catcher Griffin Mazue, who registered career highs in extra-base hits (13), home runs (six) and RBI (33), fifth-year senior shortstop Benjamin Sems, who posted a .321 batting average and a team-high 52 hits on the year, sophomore outfielder Tito Flores, who owns a .327 batting average and sophomore pitcher Cameron Weston, who notched a conference-best seven wins to go along with his 2.40 ERA.
Sophomore first baseman Jimmy Obertop and junior relief pitcher Willie Weiss were selected to the third team.
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