97.1 The Ticket -- The University of Michigan baseball team could not have asked for a better path to win their first NCAA regional in more than a decade.
After the beating Big East champion Creighton 6-0 in the first game of the regional, the Wolverines (42-18) faced Cincinnati, who took down national seed and regional host Oregon State in the opener.
Michigan took care of the Bearcats 10-4 on Saturday night and now sit one win away from a regional title. To do so, they will not have to face the top-seeded Beavers -- who earned the No. 16 overall seed by way of a 36-18 regular season -- after they fell to Creighton on Saturday. Instead, Michigan will square off with Creighton at 9 p.m. Sunday after the Bluejays beat the Bearcats earlier in the day.
Riley Bertram @Riley_Bertram12 was 4-4 with a HBP Saturday in his 1st collegiate start. Only one thing could slow him down.#GoBlue | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/nnCTLNrqTI
— Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) June 2, 2019Michigan last won a regional in 2007, when they knocked off overall No. 1 seed Vanderbilt and David Price, before falling, coincidentally, to Oregon State. The Wolverines are in search of their first trip to the College World Series since 1984.
If Michigan does not win Sunday night, they will play for the regional championship Monday at 10 p.m.
The other in-state representative at the NCAA Tournament, Central Michigan, endeared many college baseball fans with its first-round upset of Miami on Friday. Specifically, many took a liking to the Chippewas (47-13) because of Southfield native David Cole, who was hit by a pitch and then sprinted to first base while his teammates went wild in the dugout.
please help me i've fallen in love with Central Michigan baseballpic.twitter.com/Vmbc7dywOr
— Eric Single (@Eric_Single) June 1, 2019The Chippewas went on to put up four runs that inning, helping them to the upset. CMU fell short against top-seeded Mississippi State on Saturday, snapping a 19-game winning streak and then lost 18-3 in an elimination game against Miami on Sunday, bringing their season to an end.
