After rolling through Oregon State and UCLA in the Regionals and Super Regionals, the Michigan Wolverines have more than earned their place in Omaha.
- Date & Time
- June 15th, 2019 2:00pm
- Location
- TD Ameritrade Park, Omaha, NE
- Media Coverage
- ESPN
- Score Prediction
- Texas Tech 7, Michigan 4
After rolling through Oregon State and UCLA in the Regionals and Super Regionals, the Michigan Wolverines have more than earned their place in Omaha. They’ll face off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday afternoon to kick off the College World Series.
Michigan’s road to Omaha has been impressive, but Texas Tech took care of business against Oklahoma State to get here, a much higher ranked team than the Wolverines. Can Michigan continue its hot streak, or will they cool off at the wrong time? Saturday marks their first test since their surprising upset over UCLA.
Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Michigan Wolverines
College World Series Odds: Check Back Later
It’s not win-or-go-home quite yet. We’ve already seen both teams pull through in that scenario in the Super Regionals, but Saturday represents another big game for both the Red Raiders and the Wolverines.
Michigan has already vastly exceeded expectations in this NCAA Tournament, even getting to the College World Series while knocking off Oregon State and UCLA in the process. Not expected to get by either, the Wolverines are hard to ignore at this point. As for Texas Tech, they topped Oklahoma State to get here and have one of college baseball’s best offensive tandems in the heart of the order along with a deep bullpen.
Overall, Texas Tech has a .301 team average, 20-points higher than Michigan’s average. The Red Raiders also have Cameron Warren and Josh Jung, this year’s eighth overall pick in the MLB draft, anchoring the lineup. Those two have hit 17 and 14 home runs respectively while nobody for Michigan has more than a dozen. That said, there are four different batters with a dozen dingers for the Wolverines.
Back to the Texas Tech offense, along with the due of Warren and Jung, Gabe Holt and Dylan Neuse are a couple of speedsters with strong averages and OBP that can help generate runs with their legs, combining for 45 steals this season.
Up the middle, the Red Raiders have Dru Baker, Brian Klein and Neuse all with an OBP over .400. Meanwhile, behind the plate there’s Braxton Fulford with a .292/.389/.416 slash line which is solid but ranks ninth on the team amongst players with at least 100 at bats.
On the hill, Micah Dallas is the team ace. He has a 3.38 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 72 frames. He’s a strong option, though he—or whoever else takes the hill to start the game—is only needed to go a couple times through the order as a deep bullpen Clayton Beeter, Taylor Floyd, Dane Haveman and Jon McMillon is a strength of this team.
Michigan doesn’t have the pen to compete. Willie Weiss is the closer with nine saves and has a 3.08 ERA but has allowed 32 walks in 38 innings. Meanwhile, Isaiah Paige has had some success, but relies on weak contact and is not a big strikeout option.
For Michigan to win, they’ll need to ride their starting pitching more heavily. Whether Tommy Henry of Karl Kauffmann, both were picked on the first day of the MLB Draft and possess excellent stuff. Henry has the higher upside as he showed early in the year and in his last outing though Kauffman has the superior numbers on the year.
At the plate, Michigan has Jordan Brewer and Jordan Nwogu as the team’s top bats. Brewer leads the team with a .338 average while Nwogu’s 1.022 OPS tops Brewer’s .982 mark. Both have hit 12 homers. Jimmy Kerr and Jesse Franklin have both shown solid power as well, but neither have shown as strong of a hit tool.
There are some dangerous bats in this Michigan lineup as UCLA can attest, but it’s a bit more forgiving at the bottom than the one Texas Tech will trout out there on Saturday.
Red Raiders vs. Wolverines College World Series Picks
Michigan has had an impressive run through the NCAA Tournament thus far after barely earning a spot, but how long can it last? The Wolverines are playing excellent baseball right now, however, look for the Texas Tech offense take the Wolverines deep a few times and manufacture enough runs to capture the win in this College World Series showdown.
Jung and Warren figure to offer too much of a challenge and should be able to, along with some of the table setters atop the lineup, score enough early to allow the Red Raiders’ strong bullpen to close the door on a victory.
Take the Red Raiders to top the Wolverines in this College World Series opener.
Red Raiders vs. Wolverines College World Series Odds Pick: Texas Tech
