An Oak Park Star
Returns Home
NEAL ZIPSER
Special to The Jewish News
A
Brian Feldman worked his way into the rotation.
Dream Come True
Brian Feldman gambled and won, becoming
U-M's top freshman pitcher.
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
p
lay it safe or go for
broke? Many athletes
face this type of deci-
sion when choosing a college.
For Brian Feldman, the
decision seemed made. • He
was not highly recruited un-
til his senior season at
Detroit Country Day, when
the left-handed pitcher went
8-0 and earned All-State
honors. He received a good
scholarship offer from a good
baseball school, Miami of
Ohio, and was set to sign.
58
FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1991
But the day before he
planned to commit to Miami,
Feldman recalled the days
when he attended University
of Michigan baseball games.
He remembered seeing future
major leaguers like Jim Ab-
bott and Barry Larkin. And
Feldman had always dreamed
of playing for the Maize and
Blue.
So "on a whim," he says, he
called Ann Arbor, then went
there to speak to U-M
baseball officials, who were
aware of his senior-season
heroics at Country Day. "I sat
down and talked with them
for about two, three hours or
so . . . and I decided I was just
going to go for it.
"Because they were on pro-
bation, there was no scholar-
ship money available. I turn-
ed down practically a three-
quarter scholarship at Miami
to do this."
He also entered the season
with an uncertain position on
the U-M pitching roster. But,
despite missing most of the
fall workouts due to a stress
fracture in his ankle,
Feldman established himself
as the team's number five
Continued on Page 60
s a senior at Oak Park
High School in 1988,
Jason Novetsky had
several college baseball
coaches knocking on his door.
Novetsky, a left-handed pit-
cher who finished with a 1.90
earned run average and two
no-hitters his senior year,
decided to try Southern
Mississippi University. But
things didn't pan out.
During a practice just prior
to the start of the season,
Novetsky suffered a back in-
jury. "It wasn't a serious -in-
jury, but I was red-shirted for
the season," Novetsky said.
"It's true what they say about
Southern hospitality, but I
didn't know a soul down
there, and that was the main
reason I decided to leave. Peo-
ple were pretty nice to me, but
they had hints I was a
Yankee!"
The 6-foot-2 hurler was
given a full-ride scholarship
at -the University of Detroit-
Mercy and the opportunity to
join teammates already
familiar to him from his days
of playing for Oak Park, Fern-
dale Legion and his Adray
Appliance summer team,
which finished third national-
ly in 1989.
Still having freshman
eligibility, Novetsky had his
ups and downs in his first
"real" college season. He
finished 2-8 with a 6.96 ERA
on a team that finished 24-25.
But he did pitch two complete
games, including a 5-4 win
over Xavier in which he gave
up three earned runs in seven
innings and a 9-5 victory over
Dayton, in which he gave up
one earned run in seven
innings.
"It wasn't a good year," he
said. "My best game was pro-
bably when I pitched nine in-
nings in a 4-3 loss against
nationally-ranked Notre
Dame!'
Novetsky, now living at
home, has found time to com-
pile a 3.4 grade point average.
With school now recessed for
Jason Novetsky:
Pitching At U-D.
the summer, the psychology
major said time to study
hasn't been a problem.
"It was strange at first," he
said. "A lot of our away games
were during school and now
that school is over, we have a
lot of home games!'
Being a sophomore means
Novetsky is eligible for
baseball's major league draft
after this season.
"I have talked with a couple
major league scouts, but
nothing means anything un-
til something actually hap-
pens," he said. "It doesn't
matter where I play, because
just playing is part of my
dream!'
❑
Hoosier Hotshot
Marty Wolf turned up
the power this season at
the University of Indiana.
The West Bloomfield High
School graduate entered
this campaign with just
one home run in 91 college
games. But Wolf entered
the final week of the
season with 12 homers this
year, tied for second best
on the team. In 61 games,
Wolf was hitting .352 with
69 hits, including 11
doubles and four triples.
Wolf had also driven in 49
runs and scored 57.
Wolf had six game-
winning RBI this year. His
best game came against
Big 10 rival Iowa, when
Wolf had four hits, in-
cluding two home runs. He
also enjoyed three, three-
hit contests.
Wolf's high school coach,
Jeff Snarey, recalled how
Wolfs talents bloomed dur-
ing his years with the
Lakers. "He started out as
an infielder in his first var-
sity experience. His junior
year he was a combination
infielder-catcher-pitcher,
kind of a utility person!'
As a senior, Snarey made
Wolf a catcher. In that
year, Snarey said, Wolf,
"did a tremendous job for
us:'
Wolf now plays outfield.
This was Wolf's senior year
at Indiana, but since he
was redshirted as a
freshman he has another
season of eligibility left. ❑
— M.R.