After dropping three straight games, Michigan Baseball will look to right the ship on the road in a three-game series against Long Beach State. Here’s what to look forward to on the diamond this weekend:
It’s been a bit of a roller coaster for the Michigan Wolverines early in 2025. After going 4-0 in Puerto Rico — including a huge upset win over Virginia — the Wolverines came crashing back to earth with three losses in their most weekend series in Arlington, Texas. This weekend, Michigan will have the chance to get the sour taste out of its mouth in its first true road series of the year with three games at Long Beach State.
Much like Michigan, Long Beach State has been pretty inconsistent so far. The Dirtbags will enter the weekend with a 4-4 record. They were on the wrong side of a lopsided affair in their last game on Tuesday night, a 9-1 loss to Utah.
Long Beach State is perennially one of the nation’s best mid-major teams and has a history of producing big league players (Jarren Duran, Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi to name a few), but have had some bad losses so far this season, including two against Northwestern.
Despite the early losses, Long Beach State still has a few hot hitters to start the campaign. Two players, Armando Brienso and Alex Champagne, are tied for the team lead with 10 hits through eight games. Brienso enters the weekend sporting a .952 OPS with two homers, and also leads the team in runs batted in with 11. Champagne, meanwhile, hasn’t been much of a power threat but leads the team in stolen bases with two.
Kyle Ashworth and Dylan Lina will be names to watch as well for Long Beach State. They enter the weekend as team leaders in OPS with marks of 1.077 and 1.081, respectively. Both have clubbed two home runs this year as well.
Pitching hasn’t been strong so far for the Dirtbags, as they have a team ERA of 5.14. The WHIP isn’t much better at 1.44. The ace on the team is Kellan Montgomery (2.79 ERA through 9.2 innings), and he’ll likely get the start on Friday.
The best pitcher for Long Beach State so far has been sophomore Josh Donegan. This is his first season as a starter, but through two starts, he has allowed just two earned runs in 10 innings pitched. He’s also done a great job limiting baserunners, as his WHIP is currently a minuscule 0.80. Look for him to go in Saturday’s game.
As for Michigan, it’ll look to get right on the mound following a rough weekend where it surrendered 23 runs combined across three games. Look for Dylan Vigue to get the Friday start, followed by Kurt Barr on Saturday. Gavin DeVooght will likely start on Sunday after doing so last weekend against Arkansas.
Fortunately, the Wolverines do have some hot bats of their own as well, but Mitch Voit has unsurprisingly been the best of the bunch so far. Through seven games, Voit has a 1.290 OPS, .370 batting average and three home runs. He’ll look to lead the way as Michigan aims to get back on track.
All games this weekend will be played at Blair Field in Long Beach, California. Here’s how the schedule for the looks:
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 28, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN+
Game 2 – Saturday, March 1, 9 p.m. ET
Game 3 – Sunday, March 2, 4 p.m. ET