Page Six

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Thursday, September 9 1971

Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 9, 1971


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hitless,

but.

foes

do

worse .

Yet the Wolverines still had
a good team. The reason, of
course, was the pitching, led
by Jim, (No-hit) Burton, Pete
Helt and Mickey Elwood.
Of Michigan's final 23-13-1
record, eight wins were shut-
outs. Burton, regarded as one of
the top collegiate hurlers any-
where, and the fifth player se-
lected in major league base-
ball's secondary draft last sum-
mer, threw one no-hitter, four
shutouts and finished the sea-
son with an earned run aver-
age of 1.48.
He also struck out 14 in a
seven-inning contest against
Ohio State and wound up with
97 strikeouts in 79 innings,
with a record of 7-2.
And don't tell enemy batters
this, but he was hindered by a
bad back all season.
Sophomore fIelt (6-3) wasn't,
'much worse. His ERA was 1.64,
with two shutouts and 78 whiffs
in 76% innings. His Big Ten
ERA ranked second in the con-
ference, andshis strikeouts
placed him first.
Hiss classmate Elwood could -
have been the ace on most
staffs, with an ERA of 1.97
and a record of 6-4. For some
strange reason his strikeouts
didn't match his innings, with
56 in 68%.
Almost lost in the shuffle was
basketball captain Dan Fife,
whobwas regarded good enough
to be drafted in the second
round by the Detroit Tigers.
The Wolverines entered Big
Ten play hopeful, with an un-
precedented 10-4 mark, and 14
complete games by the pitching
staff, including a one-hitter by
Helt over Bowling Green.
In years past, Michigan's
spring trip to Arizona consisted
solely of games against the
powerful Wildcats, and the
Wolverines were lucky to win
one or two. Last year, however,
they played other vacationers
in the Southwest and escaped
with a 6-4 record..
After sweeps of Bowling
Green and Eastern Michigan
back home-three shutouts in
four games - the Wolverines
split consecutive doubleheaders
with Iowa and Minnesota.
In the Iowa set, the bop-
NDLY BOOK STORE

less batters knocked a total of
three hits. The nightcap, won
by Michigan 2-1, was a one-
hitter for Hawkeye Mike Heck-
roth that could have been a
no-hitter.
A last-inning grounder by,
John Lonchar was mercilessly
ruled a hit when it was bob-
bled by the Iowa third base-
man, and the crowd, though ex-
cited by Michigan's late rally,
booed the scorer wrathfully.
There has rarely been such a
show of feeling at Fisher Sta-
dium.
The split with Minnesota, de-
fending champion, was regard-
ed at the time as not so bad,
even though the Wolverines got
pasted 9-2 in the nightcap.
A three game set with Michi-
gan State followed, with the
Wolverines unable to win the
ones that counted. Michigan
dropped a 7-2 contest in a
game between All Big Ten

hurlers Rob Clancy and sore--
backed Burton, and then wast-
ed a three-hit effort by Helt,
losing 2-0.
Only in the third game, which
didn't matter in the standings
did Michigan wake up with a
6-5, 11, inning victory.
The Wolverines then started
to go to work. A Friday double-
header was rained out with
Purdue, and thhat turned out
to be unfortunate. It came just
as Michigan got hot, and a
sweep would have been useful.
Michigan did get a sweep at
Ohio State the next day, 9-2
and 2-1, with Burton hurling
his 14-strikeout game, regarded
as his strongest of the year.
And that includes his sterling
performance against Wisconsin
the following week. First, how-
ever, came a sweep of North-
western, when the hitting fi-
nally hit bottom. In the 15-
inning affair, the batters, as

mentioned, were helpless, but
Helt didn't need much help.
He allowed just seven hits.
That was seven more than
Burton against Wisconsin, the
first no-hitter by any Wolverine
since records started being kept
and only the eighth ever in the
Big Ten.
Michigan also took the night-
cap, and then won one with
Illinois, before sunset wiped out
the second game, with- the
score tied, '9-9. Benedict let the
umpire know what he thought
of the cancellation, but it was
late and the ump wanted to
eat dinner, probably.
Had the game gone on and
Michigan won, second place
would have been won all alone.
The Wolverines still could
have had the runnerup spot
all' to themselves, but they
split the next day with Purdue
when some tired arms finally
pooped out.

l'W swimmers: For those who
care enough for the almost best

I

By RANDY PHILLIPS
If someone wants to watch the
best swimmers in the Big Ten or
the nation, he had better take a
little jaunt down to Bloomington
to watch the Indiana Hoosiers
put on their show. But if one can
be content with the second great-
est show in the conference, then
he has come to the right place-
Ann Arbor.
It has almost become taken for
granted that Michigan will splash
home each year in the Hoosier's
wake. The past eleven years tell
the story.
Each time the Wolverines could
not muster the necessary forces
to overcome the Big Red Indiana
Machine but still finished second.
Last season's result had Michi-
gan with 325 points in the con-
ference to the Hoosier's 601.
Actually, Indiana had such a
powerhouse squad, that no one
really thought any individual
team could come close to them in
dual meet competition or in
championship competition.
Olympians Mark Spitz and
Gary Hall, and super freshman
John Kinsella kept chipping away
at the pending world and nation-
al marks throughout the season
and through the NCAA's.
As a result the Hoosiers ran
off with the national title. Michi-
gan raked in 69 points-mostly
on diving - compared to Indi-
ana's 351.
But under the glow of the Hoo-
sier onslaught Michigan man-
aged another successful dual
meet season to go along with

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their second place in the confer-
ence and tenth place show in the
nationals.
Michigan compiled a 10-1 reg-
ular season record and added a
second place finish in the Big
Ten Relays-behind Indiana of
course.
The season started off with a
bang as the Wolverines knocked
off Purdue and captured the
Michigan Relays with half a
team.
The hapless Boilermakers had
only one good swimmer, Brian
Knox, to challenge the deep
Wolverines, and as a result Mich-
igan was able to split its squad
and emerge with victories at Pur-
due and in the relays. The Pur-
due score was 8041, while Michi-
gan compiled 122 points in the
relays to runner-up Michigan
State's 92.
After victory over another weak
Big Ten squad, Wisconsin, the
Wolverines clashed with a tough
Southern Illinois squad. The meet
went down to the wire as the
diving events clinched the vic-
tory. The Salukis raced out to a
27-18 advantage before Michigan
fought back to take the next four
events on some good races by
freestyler Ray McCullough and a
slam by divers Dick Rydze and
Joe Crawford in the high board
event. The final margin was a
slim 58-53 spread.
Michigan didn't have time to
catch their breath after the Salu-
ki assault since they had to bat-
tle Indiana in the Big Ten Re-
lays - two days later. Despite
leaving a large portion of their
team at home Indiana managed
to drown Michigan 147.5-120.5.
A Michigan trio of butterfly-
ers, Larry Dey, Byron McDon-
ald, and Ray McCullough man-
aged to nose out a Hoosier three-
some in the 300 yard butterfly
relay to keep Indiana from
sweeping all ten events. The Wol-
verines came in second in sever
other events.
The Wolverines then dunked a
weak Minnesota team 77-46 in a
less than spectacular perform-
ance. The Wolverines posted a
very fast 3:42.41 in the 400 med-
ley relay while Sophomore Joe
Crawford nipped the Gopher's
diving ace, Craig Lincoln on the
one meterboard. Lincoln placed
in the top two in the Big Ten on
both boards later in the season.
Michigan and Michigan State
took unbeaten records into their'
cross-state showdown, but the
Wolverines figured to have too
much depth for the Spartan tank-
ers.
Michigan State has traditionally
been a good dual meet squad,
and they exhibited some fine
swimming in giving the Wolver-
ines a little bit of a scare, 71-52.
Both Michigan and Indiana
were swimming through their
dual meets when the big one
came. The churning Hoosiers in-
vaded Matt Mann Pool and quick-
ly trounced the Wolverines 78-
45. The win was the 55th straight
dual win for Indiana.
The only important meet left
for the Wolverines was the dual

meet finale against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes were considered
to be the top challenger to
Michigan for second place in
the conference.
The meet was even more im-
portant because the champion-
ships were to be held at Ohio
State, and if Michigan could
whip the Bucks at home, then
they might be demoralized for
the championships.
Michigan coach Gus Stager
was also looking for a good per-
formance since he had felt that
his team had let down some-
what during the Indiana meet.
But Michigan's mentor had lit-
tle to worry about as the Wol-
verines firmly trounced Ohio
State 74-49.
Stager felt that after the rout
Ohio State would be "going
home discouraged.," but the
Buckeye sstill managed to pull
within 16 points of the Wol-
verines in the conference cham-
pionships.
And whatever discouragement
ment Ohio Statemay have felt,
they quickly lost it since the
Buckeyes managed to nose out
Michigan by one point in the
NCAA's to plate ninth. The
main reason for the' closeness
of the Big Ten score was the
diving.
After the dual meet season
the Wolverines began to taper
for the two upcoming cham-
pionships. The sore spot for the
Wolverines in the two cham-
pionships was freestyle swim-
mers. Michigan only took one
freestyler to the nationals and
he did not place. Michigan's
freestyle relay team also did
not place in the NCAA's.
In the Big Ten, Indiana
racked up firsts in all but two
swimming events, but the Wol-
verines were able to garner
enough points on seconds and
thirds to nose ot Ohio State.
Michigan's diving duo of Rydze
and Crawford were shut out of
the finals of the low board.
while they could manage no
more than seventh and ninth
place respectively on the high
board. The bulk of the Wolver-
ines' points came on the but-
terfly events as Larry Day, By-
ron McDonald, and Bob Gavin
all placed.
There were very few Wol
verines who will be lost due to
graduation. Only Rydze, Bo
and Greg Zann, Carl Hiller, Bill
Mahony, will be gone for next
season. The worst loss will most
lykely be that of Rydze, who
was a former NCAA and AAU
finalist, and + is the national
platform diving, champion.
But Joe Crawford should con-
tinue his fine improvement and
take over the starting job. Sta-
ger felt that, "Crawford will
come into his own. He has the
potential and ability, and is
slowly getting the attitude."
Freshman Steve Schenthal
and junior Jim Creede showed
promise, so the Wolverine div-
ing picture looks bright.
Larry Day will be back to
lead a fine group of flyers,
See BRIDESMAIDS, Page 7

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