Chris Ballas from the Wolverine.com.

They cover everything University of Michigan Athletics.

He is standing by in the Meyer guest sign.

How are you doing, my friend?

Hey, Billy. I'm doing great, brother.

Yeah, you know, this season was not lost in the shuffle, but, you know, naturally, Michigan

football, Michigan basketball.

A lot of people weren't talking about Michigan baseball.

Matter of fact, I was surprised when I saw your tweet and the Wolverine.com update that Michigan

had won the Big Ten baseball tournament.

That's the thing.

This team wasn't really, I wouldn't say worthy of our attention all year, but they were up and down and they're pitching.

I think their team ERA bill was like 7.01 or something like that. And that speaks to two things. Number one, how bad your pitching sucks, right? But number two, that if you're still above 500, and I think they were 30 and 24 heading into the Big Ten tournament or something like that, then your hitters are doing the job, and they still have the hitters. Clark Elliott is an outstanding hitter, Jimmy Overtop, guys like that. But they needed better pitching, and they got it in the Big Ten tournament. They needed to beat Rutgers two out of three just to make the Big Ten tournament, and it kind of is reminiscent of the 2019 squad. And listening to Eric Backage, the coach, talk about what they did in 2019. They had to

beat Illinois. They had to come back on their last at bat, their last strike, beat Illinois

in the Big Ten tournament just to make the NCAA tournament and then make the run they did.

He said this is similar. Winning the Big Ten tournament, now you're in the NCAA tournament,

and you've got a shot, and they're playing extremely well, getting better pitching. So I think there's a chance. This is not the team that you want to be playing, in my opinion, if you're Oregon, who Michigan plays on Friday or Louisville, I think Michigan's got a shot in that regional. So it's fun, Bill. It's hard to watch during the season because you've got rainouts and you've got snow outs and everything else and hard to keep track of it. But when you get to this time of year, I'm telling you, having covered it, it's as exciting as anything I've covered getting to the College World Series. Yeah, it really is. And the College World Series, I tell everybody, if you're a baseball fan or just a sports fan, I've been there, I think, to three of them in

Omaha long before they redid the stadium and the upgrades they have there now for the true

baseball experience. It really is because you get people from all across the country, all

converging, partying, hanging out. And I know you've been there, Chris, and it's an awesome week-long experience. Bill, I didn't know what I was missing. I'll be honest. I went down there and I thought, oh, am I going to drive 11 hours? It was a drive for us. And I took my son and his buddy, and this was in 2019. And I thought, man, and then you get there, and it's like covering a final four in basketball. to these people. It is, it's everything, and there are people who do it every year, no matter who's in the tournament, you've got Vanderbilt fans who are just about there every year, it seems. But it was an unbelievable event, and I was blown away, and I thought, man, this is what I've been missing. I can't wait to do this again. And Vanderbilt's coaches, after they beat Michigan in the last game of the season to win the big college World Series said Michigan will be back here. Eric Backich will be back here someday with another Michigan team. And you doubt it sometimes the northern teams don't do so well, but this guy can coach.

This guy is a postseason coach.

It reminds me to John Beeline in that respect where you have mixed results during the season.

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