THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1961 THE MTCUTGAN BATTV PAflE Nine Awaits Crucial Series Cindermen Counting on Depth In Bid for Conference Title Irish, Illini, Boilermakers I By JAN W[NKLEMAN Final Wolverine Opponents By BRIAN MacCLOWRY OUSpecial To The Diyn ye cocked at the sky, and the Big Ten baseball crown within reach, Mich- igan swings into this fabled Indi- ana city early this afternoon to meet Notre Dame on the first leg of a four-game weekend series. The five-day weather forecast for the Midwest is rain and more rain. If the weather man is cor- rect the Wolverines could back into their first conference flag in years by sitting on an 8-1 record that carries a .889 percentage. Even if second place Indiana should sweep their three games this wekend with Northwestr finish with only a 12-2 mark, and an .857 percenage.ay Ifth ais o'tcoe Michi- ga h w inav tondo it the hard way, in a single game against Pur- due tomorrow, and a doubleheader Saturday against red-hot Illinois-. A sweep of the three games will also assure the Wolverines the title, and a trip to the Mid-Eastern NCAA baseball playoffs. Nobody wants to think what could happen if the Wolverines drop two, or even all three of their conference games. Neubrecht To Start Today ithe non-conference en- brecht to- the hill in quest of his first victory. The big fastballing righthander has hurled only seven and two-thirds innings this spring and has no record. , The first game between the two teams, scheduled for last month -'in Ann Arbor, was rained out. Over the weekend Lund said he will use Mike Joyce (8-1) against Purdue, and Fritz Fisher (5-1) in the first game Saturday against Illinois. He hasn't decided on his pitcher for the second game yet. Lund said he toyed with the idea of saving Joyce for the Illini on Saturday, but scrapped it when he surmised that the games still have to be played one at a time. Instead, he'll have Joyce ready for relief duty on Saturday if need be. Illini Storm Back Lund has reason to be concerned about fourth-place Illinois. After dropping two of their first three confr enc gaames, the Ilini have last seven-including a three-game against Iow eanod Minnesota.d Minnesotaot onley droppedu te Gophers from the top spot to third in the Big Ten standings, but also ended Minnesota's phe-' nomenal 49-game home winning -streak. Illini coach Lee Eilbracht will pitch both of his Gopher killers', Ernie Kumerow and Ron Johnson, againsti the Wolverines on Satur- day. Three Homers In the first game last Saturday Kumerow no only pthd a ie three home runs as well, to win his own ball game 5-4. Johnson whipped Minnesota 4-3 in the sec- ond game. Purdue is resting in a tie for eighth in the conference with a 3-8 record. But Lund has no illusions about LOOKING AHEAD-Wolverine center fielder Ed Hood, shown here awaiting a pitch, figures to see a lot of action this weekend as he and the rest of the team prepare for the final four games of the reg- ular season. The Wolverines currently lead the Big Ten, and hope to keep leading it* looking past the Boilermakers. He was cured of that affliction last year. On opening day in 1960 Lund sent assistant coach Moby Bene- dict to Michigan State to scout Purdue. The Wolverines were scheduled to play the Boilermakers a doubleheader next day. Benedict came back with a re- port on Purdue that could be sum- med up in one word, "pathetic." So what happens? Purdue's Jack Helmkamp stifles the Wolverines on five hits to win 4-2, and hand Michigan their initial Big Ten de- feat. Never Again tom orrow Lund hopes to aver a similar catastrophe. On the brighter side, Michigan catcher Bill Freehan has taken over the conference lead in hitting. With seven hits in 10 trips last weekend, Freehan raised his aver- age to .533, some 33 points better than Indiana's Max Bailey. Netmen Favored To Take Thid Sraiht Big Ten Title By FRED STEINHARDT RICH GET RICHER: Tigers, Giant Wide Led Special To The Daily , EAST LANSING-Michigan is favored to capture team honors in the 52nd annual Big Ten tennis tournament which opens here to- day. Northwestern, host Michigan State, and Indiana are all solid contenders.W Of th thee th up Wolverines the most trouble. Solid Depth Michigan will rely on Ray Sen- kowski and solid top-to-bottom depth to counter Northwestern's sophomore strength. The Wildcats first three men, Skip Gage, Ken -Paulson, and Jim Kohl. are soph- omores, and they all played ma- jor roles in leading their team to a 5-4 dual meet victory over the Wolverines three weeks ago. That day Michigan played with- out Wayne Peacock and Bill Vogt but Northwestern's lone veteran, Charlie Lockhart was also absent. Lockhart is the defending confer- ence champion at number four singles and also paired with Den- ny Konicki to win the number two doubles title. Senkowski Favored Senkowski is favored to win the number one singles title. However, he is still feeling the ill effects of an attack of bronchitis which kept him out of action for several weeks. He was -released from Health Service last week. Michigan's next five men are rated fairly close in ability by Coach Bill Murphy and all five have considerable tournament ex- perience,. Only Scott Maentz, the number six man, has no Big Ten tourna- ment experience. Jim Tenney was runnerup at number four last year. Peacock won the number six title two years running, in 1958-9. Bruce MacDonald won the num- brufour title and Vogt was run- Senkowski and Maentz will combine ,for Michigan's number one doubles team, followed by Pea- cock and Tenney at number two and MacDonald and Vogt at number three. Other Contenders Both Indiana and Michigan State have beaten the erratic Wildcats and both could easily emerge as title contenders. Mich- igan State has 1960 singles run- nerup Brian Eisner and the ad- vantage of its home courts and crowd. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa are expected to round out the middle of the standings with Ohio State and Purdue bring- ing up the rear. LOOK SH AR P FOR SPRING!! Try our colleciate styles-they are: * SUAVE 1 0 Haircutters The DasclaSC Barbers near the Michkjan Theatre Michigan will be counting on terminate Illinois' three-year hold on the Big Ten outdoor track championship. in te field evens wil enh a th Wolverine's chances for victory, they will still have to rely on the sprint, relay, and distance events to gain a sweep of the indoor and outdoor titles this year. Tom Robinson, who has an im- posing total of seven Big Ten titles will be hoping to repeat as 100-. and 220-yd. sprint champion. He will be challenged by Minnesota's Gene Pelletier, Indiana's Eddie Miles, Illinois' Deryck Taylor, and Michigan State's Zack Ford, who have all run the event in :09.8 this year. Dave Mil of Purdue, one of the finest sprinters in the country, has and mnotompte a aCity. He had been a pre-meet favorite in the 220-yd. dash and the quar- ter mile. Dick Cephas has hit :47.5 in the quarter mile and will compete against Ed West of Northwestern, Jerry Golem, also of Northwestern, and Roger Kerr of Iowa. 'lthough it is doubtful whether Mills will run, he has a career peak of :46.6 in the quarter mile and ran :47.2 May 10. Miler Ergas Leps will be greatly handicapped in the half-mile be- cause the shorter race follows just 4whic Lps is defendingchampon. Leps' teammate, Dave Martin, will Look, so you're short on bread, you got a big date on Friday. Take her to hear JACK ELLIOTT in a concert of FOLK MUSiC. It's only 90c for very fine live enter- to inment. TOMORROW 8:30 U NION BALLROOM Tickets Union Disc Shop Hi-Fi and TV Center be a contender in the half mile along with Ralph Trimble, Gary GeeGr am oIniaadAr Patterson of Minnesota will also vie for the half mile title along with Jim Davis of Ohio State and Tom Creagan of Wisconsin. New Event A new event in the conference outdoor program will be the 660- yd. run. It is possible that Leps may elect to run that distance. The competition in the new event will come from 440-yd. and half milers who will either be advanced from the 440-yd. race or will move down from the 880-yd. run. Leps and Martin gave the Wol- verines a one-two sweep in the indoor mile this spring, and will be favorites in the 660-yd. Iowa { FOLL ETT'S WILL BUY BACK YOUR TEXTBOOKS FOR 5 CASH ANYTIME! Follett's Will Buy ALL OF T HEM and PAY YOU MORE! Bring them in when you have finished using them .. we'd like to buy them. TODAY'S SPE CIA L TWO EGGS with toast and jelly. ..... 35c 1201 South University will be a team to watch in the mile, with Jim Tucker, Don Green- Gealad Yong o