SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan-Dearborn baseball team opens its season with a four-game slate against the Spring Arbor Cougars. The four-game series begins the first of 11 fall games that the Wolverines will play. Unfortunately, the Wolverines dropped both games on Friday (Sept. 27), losing game one 6-5 and game two 15-6.

In game one, the Wolverines got a solid effort out of Johnny Hesterman, who threw 5.1 innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out three. The game got away from the Wolverines in the bottom of the second, as three costly throwing errors allowed the Cougars to post a five-run frame. The Wolverines would cut it to one in the next half-inning as they scored four runs with two outs. Dylan Ruhstorfer beat out an infield single to third, but a costly throwing error by the Cougars allowed two to score on the play. The next batter, Gavin Hampton, picked up where he left off last season with a long ball to right field for a two-run shot. After the Wolverines tied it sixth, the Cougars would reclaim the lead in the bottom half of the inning and win the game 6-5. 

Things did not go the Wolverines' way in game two, as the Cougars scored 14 unanswered runs in the first three innings. With the game out of reach, the Wolverines would remove the goose egg from the scoreboard as they would score six runs over the final three innings to make it a 15-6 final. James Forner went 2-4 with two runs in the loss.