Erik Bakich planted the seeds a year ago.

At the end of Michigan’s 30-29-1 baseball season in 2014, U-M’s coach had the Wolverines wrap up their season by watching the NCAA Tournament Selection Show even though they wouldn’t be in the field

“It was part of our exit meetings with the guys, something we did — the last thing we did — with returning players for this year,” Bakich recalled Monday. “So they get the feeling knowing this is our routine, this is what we do, this is where we want this program to be. This is something that’s part of our season.”

Little did he know then that a year later, the Wolverines would watch the selection show also with no concern, but this time because they knew they were in the field, having won the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday over Maryland.

So when Monday’s show got to the last bracket, in Louisville, with 60 other teams already having appeared on the screen, there was no concern.

Michigan (37-23) popped up as the No.3 seed in the Louisville regional, opening Friday at 2 p.m. against No.2 seed Bradley (35-19), and there was a major cheer in the U-M locker room.

The locker room is filled with reminders of U-M’s storied history, noting the program has the fourth most wins in baseball history, with eight regional appearances, seven College World Series appearances and two national titles.

But the Wolverines also haven’t been to the tournament since 2008, so this breakthrough is seen as a sign of progress in Bakich’s third season as U-M coach.

“It’s still settling in for some of the guys,” Big Ten tournament MVP Jacob Cronenworth said after the announcement. “It’s a whirlwind of emotions these past 24 hours. It’s been awesome. I don’t think a lot of people expected us to win it, and when we got that final out, it was awesome.”

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at@mark__snyder.