Page Twelve
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, May 28, 1976
Michigan, Eastern play today
By BILL STIEG
That old cliche about playoffs being a
brand new season means a lot more
than usual today as the NCAA Mideast
regional gets underway at Eastern Mich-
igan.
Baseball is as unpredictable as any
sport. For instance, how many times
have you heard the results of a baseball
game described as an upset?
THIS AFTERNOON'S GAME between
Michigan (19-18-1) and Eastern Michi-
gan (40-13) at 4 p.m. is a good example
of a game that could easily go either
way, no matter what the records and
statistics say.
Eastern beat Michigan four times in
four games this past season. But anyone
connected with either team will say that
statistic is misleading.
"We played them on off dates," said
Michigan coach Moby Benedict earlier
this week. "They didn't pitch their good
people and we didn't pitch our good peo-
ple either. It should be an interesting
contest."
EMU's head man Ron Oestrike feels
the same.
"THIS BUNCH his been around long
enough to know you don't take things
for granted," he says. "We're worried
Mideast regional starts,
about U of M and about being overcon-
fident since we've beat 'em four times.
But we've got to remember that this is
an improved ball club.
"We didn't see their one and two
(pitchers) in any ball game . . . Ah,
hell, it's gonna be a dogfight."
Two of the four regular season Michi-
gan-Eastern Michigan games were
"dogfights," too, going into extra inn-
ings before the Hurons won by one each
time. Since each team was in the midst
of its conference season, neither used
its best pitchers.
In Michigan's case, that is quite sig-
nificant. The Wolverines have two ex-
cellent pitchers, Lary Sorensen and
Mark Weber, but beyond that is incon-
sistency.
TODAY, MICHIGAN goes with its best
- Sorensen. The junior righthander
cruised through most of the season with
an unblemished record until losing his
last two outings.
Even so, he has the team's best re-
cord, 8-2, and an ERA of 2.64, behind
only Weber's 2.37. He will work against
Eastern's senior lefty, Bob Owchinko.
Owchinko leads his team with a 10-3
record and is second in ERA at 1.29.
Owchinko also has struck out 92 bat-
ters in 98 innings, and was the winning
pitcher in relief when the Hurons beat
Michigan 7-6 in eight innings on May 19.
BUT EASTERN'S best may be right-
hander Bob Welch, who dropped his
ERA to 1.29 with a perfect game last
Sunday against University of Detroit.
Among his impressive credentials are 87
strikeouts and only 40 hits in 69 innings.
Offensively, the Hurons are led by one
of the best college shortstops in the na-
tion, senior Glenn Gulliver. The Allen
Park native finished 50 regular season
games with a .454 average and 52 RBI's.
Another lefty, first baseman Glenn
Ambrose, is second on the team with a
.386 average and 28 RBI in 34 games.
Catcher Jerry Keller is the other big
hitter for Eastern at .376 and 58 RBI's.
AS A TEAM, the Mid - American
champs, hit .294 with a 3.67 ERA. Michi-
gan, champion of the Big Ten, has a .282
average and 4.45 ERA.
Oestrike's biggest worry at this point
is a lack of playing time, so he ran hisr
team through an intrasquad scrimmage
this week.
I told our players that our emphasis
this week should be on pitching and de-
fense," said Oestrike. "That's the only
consistent thing that comes up in tour-
nament play.
"If we maintain consistent pitching
and defense, then we'll play ball. In the
tournament, you can't bank on the
bats."
THE LOSER of the Michigan-EMU
game will play the loser of today's 1
p.m. opener between Southern Illinois
and Illinois State. The loser's game
starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Today's win-
ners will meet at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the
double-elimination tourney.
The Salukis, a consistent NCAA en-
trant over the last decade, are the na-
tion's second best hitting team with a
phenomenal .360 team average. Only
three players are hitting below .300. SIU
finished its regular season at 39-12-1.
Independent Illinois State compiled a
40-19 mark mostly on the strength of its
pitching staff, which allowed only 2.58
earned runs per game this year.
Eastern, Southern Illinois and Illinois
St. all hove won more games than
Michigan played in its entire season.
But then, it's a brand new season.
LEFLORE 30 IN A ROW!
Baltimore slips by Bengals
BN Th,- Associated Press
DETROIT - K e n Singleton
broke a tie with a run-scoring
double in the seventh inning last
night, sending the Baltimore
Orioles to a 4-3 victory over the
Detroit Tigers.
Ron LeFlore of Detroit
opened the Tiger first with a
triple to extend his hitting
streak to 30 games. LeFlore,
who also had a bnt single in
the third, entered the game
as the major league's leading
hitter with a .392 average.
Doug DeCinces opened the
Baltimore seventh with an in-
field single and was forced by
Dave Duncan before Singleton's
double, the run scoring with the
aid of a bobbled relay by sec-
ond baseman Jerry Manuel.
Baltimore scored twice off
Joe Coleman in the first in-
ning with Lee May and Tony
Muser singling in runs. Cole-
man hit Bobby Grich with a
throw to the plate in the sixth
inning for an error, allowing
Grich to score a run that tied
the game 3-3 after Detroit had
rallied.
Detroit's first run came in
the second inning on a single by
Aurelio Rodriguez and triple by
Check Scrivener. Alex Johnson
and John Wockenfuss hit solo
homers in the Tiger fourth off
Orioles' starter Ken Holtzman,
who raised his record to 4-2.
Coleman dropped his fourth
straight after two victories.
Mets Flip Phi/s
PHILADELPHIA-Wayne Gar-
rett's bases - loaded pinch - hit
triple in the ninth inning rallied
the New York Mets to a 5-2
victory over the Philadelphia
Phillies last night, snapping the
Phils four-game winning streak.
The Mets trailed 2-1 starting
the ninth and had only four hits
off left-hander Jim Kaat, in,
cluding Dave Kingman's 17th
home run of the season.
But John Milner, batting for
winning pitcher Jerry Koos-
man, 6-1, opened the ninth
with a single. Bud Harrelson
hunted and both runners were
safe when Kaat threw high
to first for an error,
Leon Brown bunted into a
force play at third, and Kaat
was relieved by Gene Garber.
Ed Kranepool pinch-hit a single
to center but Harrelson was out
at the plate on Garry Maddox'
throw to catcher Bob Boone.
Kranepool wound up at second
and Brown at third.
Garber intentionally walked
Kingman and Tug McGraw
came in to face Garrett, who
ripped a 2-2 pitch to right-
center, clearing the bases and
sending the Mets ahead 4-2.
Roy Staiger doubled in the
fourth unearned run of the
inning.
Major League Standings
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
w , Pet. GnG
New York 23 14 622 --
Baltimore 20 48 .526 314
Btoston 10 195,456 5
Cleveland 18 20 .474 51f
Mlilwaukee 15 18 .455 6
Detroit 15 21 .417 7
West
Kansas City 23 14 .622 -
Texas 23 15 .605 3
Chicago 19 16 .543 3
Minnesota 19 19 .500 4 :
Oakland 18 24 .429 1 7/
Calitornia 5 28 .349 11
Yesterday's Results
aoston 2, Milwaukee 1
Oakland5, aMinnesota 3
Cleveland 5, New York 3
Baltimore 4, Detroit 3
Texas 5. Kansas City 4, 10 inn-
into, lot tame
Texas 6, Kansas City 4, 2nd game
Chicago at California, n
Today's Games
Blaltimore (Garland 3-0) at Boston
(Cleveland 3-0), n.
New York (Figueroa 4-3) at De-
trnit(Rtulte 3-0), n.
Cleveland (Brown 4-1) at Milwan-
loe (Cotborn 2-5), a,
Teas (Umbarger 4-3) at Minne-
sota (Redfern 1-1), n,
Kansas City (Bird 1-1) at Califor-
nia (Ryan 3-5), a,
Chirago (Jefferson 1-1) at Oak-
land (Bahnsen 1-3) or (Mitchell
1-3), a,
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
w L Pet. GR
Philadelphia 26 10 .722 -
Pittsbhttl 23 17 .575 5
New York 23 20 .35 0
Chicago 18 22 .450 10
Montreal 16 20 .444 10
St. Louis 17225,.40512
West
Los Angeles 27 15 .643 -
Cincinnati 24 16 .600 2
San Diego 20 26 .500 6
Hoston 10 20 .409 10
Atlanta 16 26 3815
San Francisco 16 27 .372 11 t
Yesterday's Results
Chicago 2, St. Louis1s
New York 5, Philadelphia 2
San Francisco at San Diego, a
Today's Games
Pittsburgh (Kison 3-3) at Chicago
(Bonham 2-2).
Houston (J. Niekro 2-5) at At-
lanta (P. Niekro 3-3), n.
Los Anteles (Sutton 4-4) at Cin-
cinnati (Zachry 3-0), n.
Montreal (Stanhouse 2-0) at Phil-
adelphia (Underwood 1-1), n.
St. Louis (Curtis 2-4) at New York
(swan 2-3), n.
San Francisco (Montefuso 5-3) at.
San Diego (Foster 0-1), n.
Third period scoring surge puts
Boston on top of NBA series
By The Associated Press Dave Cowens also had 16 for The Suns stayed ahead until
BOSTON-Boston's indestruc- the Celtics, while ex-Celtic Paul early in the second quarter,
tible Celtics, spurred by John Westphal broke loose for 28. when the Celtics strung together
Havlicek, destroyed frustrated Adams wound up with 18 six straight points and forged
Phoenix with a 20-2 burst at the points for Phoenix and Curtis ahead for good, 30-27.
outset of the second half and Perry scored 15, 13 in the final Westphal, Phoenix' leading
went on to beat the Suns 105-90 period. scorer during the regular sea-
last night for their second PHOENIX GOT off quickly, son scored nine points in the
straight victory in the National racing to a 17-8 lead midway first quarter. By halftime, when
Basketball Association cham- through the opening period with Boston led 46-41, Westphal had
pionship series. the help of 10 consecutive 17 points, including the Suns'
They outscored the tense, points, six by Garfield Heard. last eight in the second period.
tight, poor-shooting Suns in the
opening three mnutes of the
second half. Then, after Phoe-
nix rookie Alvan Adams tipped
in a missed shot, the Celtics
resumed their decisive charge
with another run of eight points
for a 66-43 bulge.
DURING THE spree, Bavli-
cek, playing despite pain from
torn muscles in his left foot,
scored seven points and Charlie
Scott had six. Havlicek finished
with 23 points and Scott scored
16, including 12 in the third
period before fouling out in the
last minute r of Boston's big
quarter.
Jets rout Houston, 9-1 to
sweep WHA fina series
By The Associated Press
WINNIPEG-Veli Pekka Ketola, Anders Hedberg and Peter
Sullivan scored two goals each last night, powering the Winnipeg
Jets to a 9-1 triumph over Houston and ending the Aeros' two-
year rein as World Hockey Association champions.
It was Winnipeg's imported stars who did most of the damage.
Along with the pair of goals by Ketola and Hedberg, fellow Swede
Ulf Nillson had three asseists, and Finland's Heikki Riihiranta set
up the last two tallies.