Michigan Baseball Recap: Wolverines start season 4-0 with dominant trip to Puerto Rico

The Michigan baseball team is off to a hot start with a 4-0 record in the inaugural Puerto Rico Challenge, including a huge win over then-No. 2 ranked Virginia. Here’s the full recap:

The Michigan baseball team started the season strong, going 4-0 in the inaugural Puerto Rico Challenge. The Wolverines took down then-No. 2 Virginia, Rice, Villanova and Stetson, finding a way to earn impressive victories against all four.

Michigan came into the weekend with high expectations, but not many people were expecting it to leave Puerto Rico with four wins. Now, head coach Tracy Smith and the Wolverines have a ton of momentum in the early goings of the 2025 season.

Let’s take a quick look at how all four of these games went down for the Wolverines.

Game 1: Michigan defeats Virginia in extra innings

The Wolverines started the season with a bang on Friday, as they knocked off the No. 2 team in the country in the Virginia Cavaliers . The Wolverines needed extra innings to take care of Virginia, but they walked off one of the best teams in the nation.

Michigan jumped on Virginia early in this one, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Wolverines were able to hang onto it for a while thanks to a nice start on the rubber from Dylan Vigue, who ended up giving up a run in both the fourth and fifth inning. He left the game in the sixth with things tied 2-2.

The Wolverines got back in front in the bottom of the sixth, as Matt Spear came up with a massive two-run shot to make it 4-2. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the Cavaliers responded with a homer of their own in the seventh to tie the game.

Spear was the hero in the 11th inning, as Michigan executed a hit-and-run perfectly. Mitch Voit was on first base and took off at the pitch, and Spear hit an absolute rocket right to first. The ball bounced off the first baseman and got into the outfield, allowing Voit to score all the way from first to give Michigan a massive opening day win.

Game 2: Michigan delivers thrilling comeback win over Rice

It took a long time for the offense to get going on Saturday, but an eighth-inning explosion anchored the Wolverines to a huge win over Rice.

The Owls got out to a fast start, plating a run in the first inning. For a while, it looked like one run might be enough to win the game. Kurt Barr got the start on the hill for Michigan, and he gave up just the one run in five innings of work. Unfortunately, he didn’t get any help from the offense, and left the game trailing 1-0.

Rice was able to tack on a big insurance run in the top of the eighth to make it 2-0, and Michigan was showing no signs of life offensively at this point. But that all changed in the bottom of the eighth. Brayden Jefferis got things started with a walk, and AJ Rausch and Jonathan Kim both came up with clutch RBI singles in the inning. All of a sudden, the game was tied.

The Wolverines weren’t done, however. Benny Casillas gave Michigan the lead as he laid down a safety squeeze bunt, scoring Rausch from third base. Jeter Ybarra and Mitch Voit came up with some big RBIs in the inning as well to tack on important insurance runs. When all was said and done, Michigan had a 5-2 lead.

Josh Kasner closed things out on the mound in the ninth inning, helping the Wolverines improve to 2-0.

Game 3: Michigan cruises past Villanova to stay perfect

After two nail-biters to start the weekend, Michigan dominated Villanova to improve to 3-0 in Puerto Rico. The Wolverines were firing on all cylinders from start to finish.

This was one of those games where it was over after the first inning. The Wolverines took all the momentum with three early runs and they never let the Wildcats sniff any thoughts of a comeback.

Michigan added two more runs in the second inning to make it 5-0, and a five-run fourth inning put things out of reach. Just for good measure, the Wolverines added 10 more runs before the game was over to earn an impressive 19-0 win against a Villanova team that beat Rice and only lost by two runs to Virginia.

The Wolverines finished with 24 hits in this game, and seven players recorded extra base hits. David Lally Jr. earned the win on the mound after getting the start, and four Michigan pitchers combined for the shutout.

Game 4: Michigan defeats Stetson in dominant fashion

Michigan concluded its trip to Puerto Rico on Monday morning in impressive fashion, picking up a convincing win over Stetson. Both teams came into the game 3-0 on the weekend, but the Wolverines ended up earning the 6-1 victory.

Both starting pitchers got off to strong starts, as no one was able to plate a run until the fourth inning. The Wolverines got on the board first and never looked back.

Cole Caruso put Michigan up for good in the fourth inning with a three-run shot into left field. Cade Ladehoff went deep as well with a solo shot in the fifth, and the Wolverines all of a sudden held a comfortable 4-0 advantage.

Jonathan Kim put Michigan up 5-0 in the eighth inning with an RBI single, and then Mitch Voit hit the Wolverines’ third home run of the day in the ninth inning. Stetson finally got on the board in the ninth, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Michigan got the 6-1 win.

Gavin DeVooght got the start on the rubber for Michigan and pitched five shutout innings to earn the win.

The Baseball America weekly top-25 was released prior to the start of this game, and the Wolverines came in at No. 25 following the 3-0 start. They are already 1-0 with an impressive win since the rankings were released.

The college baseball season is a long one, but Michigan looked legit in these four games. The Wolverines were firing on all cylinders — the bats were alive, and the pitching looked strong as well.

Michigan will be back in action next weekend at the College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas. The Wolverines will have another tough slate of games, facing No. 24 TCU , Kansas State and No. 4 Arkansas.