The Sunday Paper: This week in Michigan Athletics (April 15-21)

It was a busy week in Ann Arbor with multiple teams competing for Big Ten championships. Sherrone Moore and the Michigan football team also hosted its annual Spring Game on Saturday afternoon.

Here is an in-depth breakdown into the happenings of Michigan's athletics teams this week.

Last week, Bonnie Tholl and the Michigan softball team left off with a five-game winning streak. After four Big Ten games this week, the Wolverines are still on their winning streak, which has now been extended to nine games.

The week started off with a bang as Michigan defeated rival Michigan State, 5-1. All five of Michigan's runs came in the first inning, and the vicious pitching combination of Erin Hoehn and Lauren Derkowski made it nearly impossible for the Spartans to make a comeback.

Friday night's game against Nebraska was much more of a nail-biter. In a low-scoring affair, the Wolverines and Cornhuskers traded blows and the two teams went into extra innings. Ava Costales delivered in the home half of the ninth, though, with a walk-off home run.Michigan won the series opener, 4-3.

Saturday's matchup featured another one-run affair, and the Wolverines bested Nebraska yet again. Michigan plated four runs in the second inning and Nebraska scored four of its own in the top half of the third.

However, the difference in the game was Costales' sacrifice fly that scored Jenissa Conway. The Wolverines picked up another win, this time by a score of 6-5.

In the series finale, Michigan scored nine runs over the course of two innings to run-rule the Cornhuskers, 11-3. Ella Stephenson had a magnificent five-RBI day at the plate in the victory.

Michigan now holds a 33-14 record with a 13-3 mark in conference play. The Wolverines still sit a game back of the Northwestern Wildcats, which remain the only Big Ten team to have beaten Michigan this season.

Eight regular-season games remain before Michigan heads to the Big Ten Tournament in Iowa City in early May.

Michigan baseball went 3-1 this week to get back closer to the positive side of .500.

Will Rogers had a two-hit, two-RBI night on Tuesday in a 6-4 win over Toledo to start the week. Jacob Denner picked up the victory to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Then, Michigan hosted Ohio State in a huge rivalry series. The series started with a shutout of the Buckeyes at Ray Fisher Stadium. Kurt Barr got the start and pitched 6.1 innings of shutout baseball before Denner relieved him and closed the door.

Shortstop Kyle Dernedde batted in three of Michigan's four runs.

The second game of the series didn't go as well for the Wolverines. Rogers got the start on the mound, and he pitched 5.0 innings and gave up only three earned runs, but the bullpen fell apart late in the game as Ohio State cruised to a 16-1 win.

Michigan got its revenge in the series finale, though, picking up a 7-5 series-clinching win over the Buckeyes. Cole Caruso and Stephen Hrustich combined to bat in five of Michigan's seven runs in the victory.

The Wolverines are now 20-21 on the season and they boast a 10-5 mark in conference play. With the 10-5 record, Michigan is now in a three-way tie for second place in the Big Ten.

There's still quite a ways to go until the Big Ten Tournament, which will take place from May 21-26 in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Michigan football team celebrated Team 144 with a ring-revealing ceremony on Saturday morning before players played in the annual Spring Game. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale coached the Blue team, and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell coached the Maize team.

Quarterback Davis Warren threw for two touchdowns in the Maize team's victory. He found sophomore wide receiver Kendrick Bell for a 42-yard strike early in the fourth quarter, and he later found another sophomore, Fred Moore, for a 48-yard passing score with just 5:59 to go.

The game broadcasted live on FOX and there was an announced attendance of 31,602 at Michigan Stadium to see the reigning national champions.

Michigan will begin its season on August 31 against Fresno State.

While Sherrone Moore was leading the football team in the spring game, Dusty May was hard at work on the recruiting trail. Michigan picked up four players for its 2024-25 roster over the weekend.

Justin Pippen, the son of former NBA star Scottie Pippen, committed to Michigan on Friday afternoon, and it was closely followed with a Transfer Portal commitment from former North Texas guard Rubin Jones.

On Saturday afternoon, May landed former Yale big man Danny Wolf. The 7-footer averaged 14.1 points per game last season for the Bulldogs.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Auburn guard Tre Donaldson made his pledge to the Wolverines.

Overall, Michigan added considerably to its roster heading into next season.

It was a rather quiet week for the women's basketball team until Sunday night when Kim Barnes Arico landed her first player from the Transfer Portal.

Former Boston College forward Ally VanTimmeren committed to Barnes Arico and the Wolverines on Sunday night. In three seasons at Boston College, VanTimmeren largely played a valuable role coming off the bench.

She scored 5.7 points per game and hauled in 3.4 rebounds per contest in the 2023-24 season with the Eagles.

VanTimmeren will fill a role left behind by the departures of Cameron Williams, Chyra Evans, Elise Stuck, Taylor Woodson and Taylor Williams.

Michigan pulled off a big 13-12 win over Ohio State in Columbus to avoid earning the worst seed in the conference tournament. The Wolverines have officially earned the No. 4 seed in next weekend's Big Ten Tournament and will face Ohio State again on Saturday.

For the Michigan women, their big-time matchup against Northwestern also ended in a final score of 13-12, but they couldn't pull out the victory. They finish the regular season with a 14-2 overall record and a 4-2 mark in conference play.

It's a critical loss for Michigan, which now drops to the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines will take on No. 5 Johns Hopkins in the first round on Saturday.

Should Michigan win, it will face No. 1 Northwestern on Thursday, May 2 for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.

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