Five Michigan baseball players enter transfer portal following departure of Erik Bakich to Clemson
TheWolverine.com has learned that five Michigan Wolverines baseball players have entered the NCAA transfer portal. This comes less than one week after head coach Erik Bakich departed U-M following 10 seasons at the helm and was introduced as Clemson‘s next head man. Associate head coach Nick Schnabel also left the Wolverines and is reportedly joining the Tigers’ staff.
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The five players who entered their information into the portal are: Senior infielder Riley Bertram, freshman left-handed pitcher Jaylen Jones, sophomore infielder Brandon Lawrence, junior catcher Jimmy Obertop and senior right-handed pitcher Willie Weiss.
Bertram has already committed to Clemson, per his Twitter page.
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Bertram and Obertop were every-day players and key pieces on Michigan’s 2022 squad, which won the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the regional final before falling to host Louisville.
Bertram batted .298, scored 47 runs, posted 70 hits, including a team-high 19 doubles and two home runs, and produced 40 RBI. He was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team at shortstop. Obertop was second on the Michigan team with 15 home runs, while batting .278, scoring 46 runs and notching 65 hits. He was tabbed to the Big Ten All-Tournament team at catcher.
Weiss was one of Michigan’s top relievers, appearing in 22 games last season. He earned a 5.29 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP, while pitching 34 innings with 27 hits and 20 earned runs allowed. He was thrown out of Michigan’s Big Ten Tournament game against Iowa for having a foreign substance on his glove, and that wound up being his last game of the season after serving a four-game suspension.
The other two departures don’t sting as much based on what they’ve produced to this point, but both Lawrence and Jones are young players with upside. Lawrence appeared in 17 games with four starts, notching two hits and driving in four runs in 12 at-bats. Jones pitched in just five games in 2022, allowing 11 earned runs in 2.2 innings of work.
Last Thursday, June 16, Bakich was officially introduced as Clemson’s head man. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is tasked with finding his replacement, with Central Michigan head coach Jordan Bischel being a top name that has been floated out as a candidate.
Bakich led Michigan to five NCAA Tournaments and one appearance in the College World Series Finals during his 10 seasons.
