Michigan baseball, carrying newfound momentum, joins Central Michigan in NCAA Tournament

Michigan baseball players said they knew heading into the Big Ten Tournament that no one was giving the Wolverines much of a chance. 

They knew their season would be over if they didn't win the tournament title, so that's what they did, beating the top four seeds to earn an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Wolverines (32-26), winners of seven of their last nine, including the four Big Ten tournament wins in a five-game stretch, are now headed to the Louisville regional in the NCAA Tournament. There they will face Oregon (35-23) Friday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Central Michigan, the Mid-American Conference champion, will open Friday against regional host Florida (39-22) at 6:30 p.m.

The 64-team field and host sites were announced Monday. All games in the double-elimination regionals will begin Friday. Also in the Louisville regional with Michigan are host Louisville and Southeast Missouri State. In Central Michigan's regional in Gainesville are Oklahoma and Liberty.

Michigan earned a berth by winning the Big Ten tournament as a No. 5 seed and is playing in its third straight NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines were national runner-up in 2019. Central Michigan earned its berth by winning the Mid-American Conference tournament.

Erik Bakich, completing his 10th season as Michigan head coach, spoke to the Wolverines in a meeting room at Ray Fisher Stadium where they all watched the selection show and stressed the one-game-at-a-time approach.

"It's not the Louisville regional, it's the Oregon regional," Bakich told the players. "All our focus is on Oregon, and not looking ahead and who's matched up with who."

Michigan had to win two games on Sunday to win the Big Ten title. The Wolverines first beat Iowa 13-1 in seven innings but endured controversy when reliever Willie Weiss was ejected for having a foreign substance on his glove and has been suspended four games by the Big Ten. Bakich apologized for the "mistake". They then defeated Rutgers 10-4 for the title.

"I don’t think many people outside of this room believed we could do what we did," Michigan pitcher Jacob Denner, a junior left-hander, said Monday.  "It’s just a surreal feeling to see it come to fruition. Everything we worked on from Day 1 and accomplishing one of our goals."

Denner had a strong performance against Rutgers and in 4.1 innings gave up three hits and one run and had seven strikeouts. He made three appearances in the tournament. He said no one believed Michigan could clinch the automatic berth because of its up-and-down season.

"There have been some question marks, but inside the locker room everybody knew we could do it," Denner said. "There’s a sense of belief. Like Coach Bakich said multiple times, every time we got knocked down, every time we got punched, we got right back up. Just such an unbelievable team to be around."

A three-day skid at Maryland that included a 20-6 loss just more than two weeks ago, left the Michigan team at a crossroads. The Wolverines found new life during the Big Ten Tournament.

"Anytime you can win a championship going into a tournament, you’ve got that spark, you’ve got that energy, you’ve got the belief that the team can do anything," senior shortstop Riley Bertram, who made the all-tournament team, said.

"To win four out of five games in four days, it’s special and it’s fun to see all these guys, our teammates, our pitchers executing plans and hitters coming up clutch. That’s what you’ve gotta have to win tournament baseball is pitching, defense and timely hitting, and we got those and hopefully we’ll keep that momentum going."

Bakich said this is not the time to focus on altering techniques or changing routine for the players. The coaches and staff will watch video and film of Oregon and develop the game plan. Bakich is familiar with Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski, who took over in 2019 after being head coach at Purdue.

“The players will just focus on their strengths and keep their skills sharp," Bakich said "We’re all college baseball enthusiasts and we follow (the game), so we know Oregon’s good and we know Coach Wasikowski from his time at Purdue just recently. We know he plays a very aggressive and fast type of game and they can pitch, they can run and they’re a good team. It’s an Oregon regional because that’s who’s next, and that’s the extent of where our focus will be.

Michigan has been on a hot streak its last nine games, and Bakich wants to build on that by reminding them what can happen if they play loose and for each other like the 2019 team. He will lean on players like Bertram, a freshman that season, to share with his teammates what it takes to make a postseason run. 

"It’s just about what you’ve got between your ears and in your heart," Bakich said of this time of the season. "I really like what our guys are showing right now. We’ve got guys in this group who have seen the path before where there’s been struggle and that ignition, that lightening in a bottle, so they have some familiarity with it as Riley and Willie and guys on the 2019 team have, so they can draw some comparisons to that.

"I don’t think anyone will necessarily will fear us, but it does make us a dangerous club because we feel like we’re playing with house money."

achengelis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @chengelis