Ppge tign,
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, May 13, 1976
Yankees topple igers
in comedy of errors
By The Ass ciated Press
NEW YORK - Graig Nettles
and Lou Piniella homered for
New York and the two decisive
runs scored as Detroit commit-
ted three errors on one play,
enabling the Yankees to hold
on for a 7-6 triumph over the
Tigers lust night.
tetroit center fielder Ron Le-
Flore, who doubled to open the
game but was thrown out trying
for a triple, committed an error
that made one of the Yankees'
four first-inning runs unearned
and dropped a fly ball to start
a triple-error play in the fourth.
BULLETIN
NBA Semifinals
Best-of-7 Series
Golden State 111, Phoenix 95,
Golden State leads series 3-2.
Piniella opened the fourth
against reliever Bill Laxton with
his second home run of the sea-
son and the Tigers then donated
two more runs that cost them
the game.
FOLLOWING one-out singles
by Jim Mason and Mickey Riv-
ers, Roy White lifted a fly ball
to center field. LeFlore dropped
it, but recovered in time to
throw Mason out at the plate.
However, catcher John Wocken-
fuss, rolled the ball toward the
mound and the speedy Rivers
kept running and scored.
Laxton retrieved the ball but
threw wildly past third base and
White romped home with what
proved to be the winning run.
THE YANKEES took a 4-1
lead in the bottom of the first
inning against Ray Bare, 2-2,
who pitched a one-hitter in his
last outing. Rivers singled, stole
second and scored on a single
by White. LeFlore failed to hold
Chris Chambliss' one-out drive
for a two-base error, Oscar
Gamble delivered an RBI single
and Nettles slammed his third
home run and second in the
game.
King Kong
ATLANTA - Dave Kingman
smashed his 13th and 14th home
runs of the year among four
hits as the New York Mets beat
the Atlanta Braves 6-3 last night.
Both of Kingman's towering
solo homers came off Atlanta
starter Andy Messersmith, win-
less in four decisions. Kingman
also homered off Messersmith
last month in New York.
THE HOMERS in the second
and fifth innings allowed King-
man to move one ahead of Phil-
adelphia 's Mike Schmidt in the
major league home run race.
Kingman also hit a run-scoring
double in the seventh after Ed
Kranepool had reached first on
an error. He collected his
fourth hit, a single, in the ninth.
New York left-hander Jerry
Koosman, 4-i, limited t h e
Braves to seven singles until
Jimmy Wynn hit a three-run
homer with two out in the ninth.
Major League Standings
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
W L Pet. GB
New York 16 7 .696 -
Milwaukee 10 9 .526 4
Detroit 11 10 .524 4
Batintre 11Ut.45 58.,
Clevetland 11 13 .458 5'.
noston 7 15 .318 8
West
Texas 16 7 .696 -
Kansas City 13 9 .591 2',
Oakland 14 13 .519 4
Minnesota 11 12 .478 5,
Chicago 8 12 .400 6'
California 10 18 .357 8
Late game not included
Yesterday's Gatoes
New York 7, Detroit 6
Boston 6, Cleveland 4, 12 inn.
Baltimore 8, Milwaukee 6
Kansas City 17, Minnesota 5
'Texas at California, late
Only games scheduled
Today's Games
Baltimore (Palmer 4-4) at Mil-
waukee (Travers 2-1).
Boston (Tiant 3-2) at Cleveland
(Eckersley 2-2), a.
Detroit (Rule 2-0) at New York
(Ellis 3-0), n.
Chtiaao(.Johnson 1-3) at Kansas
City (Leonard 1-1), n.
Texas (Umbarger 3-1) at Calffor-
nia (Tanana 2-3), a.
Onlytanes sehedtled
NATIONAL LEAGUE
w L Prt. GB
Philadelphia 16 8 .667 -
New York 19 11 .633 -
Pittsburgh 16 10 .615 1
Chicago 13 16 .448 5!'.
St. Louis 12 17 .414 6'
Montreal 10 16 .385 7
West
Los Angeles 18 11 .621 -
Cincinnati 16 it .593 1
Houston 15 15 .500 3'.
San Diego 14 14 .500 3'
Atlanta 9 19 .321 8'i
San Francisco 9 19 .321 8
Yesterday's Games
Los Angeles 6, St. Louis 3
Chicago 1, San Francisco 0, 11 inn.
San Diego 4, Philadelphia 0
New York 6, Atlanta 3
Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 3
Montreal 3, Houston 2
-Today's Games
San Francisco (D'Acquisto 0-2) at
Chicago (Burris 1-4).
Only tame schedulled
DolV Photo Ly 0AULINE LUBENS
Michigan netter Jeff Etterbeek volleys against Eastern Mich-
igan in a non-conference match. The Wolverines will travel
to Minneapolis this weekend to compete in the Big Ten cham-
pionships. Michigan is a slight favorite.
NET TOURNEY THIS WEEKEND:
OS, Goph ers threaten Blue
By BOB MILLER
The 6th annual Big Ten Conference Tennis Tourna-
ment will open tomorrow at Minneapolis with only one
thing being certain-nothing is certain.
The conference as a whole is stronger from top to
bottom than last year, when Michigan won its eighth
consecutive league crown. Even though the Wolverines
rate as slight favorites to repeat, there will be a few
other names and faces sharing the spotlight besides
the familiar Maize and Blues.
When the season began, there was speculation
-.whether or not the Wolverines could compensate for
the loss of their number one and two players. Coach
Brian Eisner took the challenge, and through his
efforts built another powerful team.
It was evident that the loss of Victor Amaya and
Freddy DeJesus left the team slightly less domineering,
but Eisner skillfully guided his squad to an impressive
14-4 overall record, 7-2 in the Big Ten. Ironically it
was their poorest showing since t953.
Eric Friedler inherited number one singles, and
responded with a 15-2 record. Friedler lost to Ohio
State's Francisco Gonzales, the defending league cham-
pion.
Bob Amis of Minnesota will complete the favored
trio at number one singles.
Amis' only loss this year was to Friedler in a 7-2
Michigan victory on April 9. But that meeting was
in Ann Arbor, and now the site is reversed. Coach
Eisner believes that the Gophers should have a
slight advantage with the benefit of home court.
sNumtber two singles may go to a freshman this year.
Michigan's Jeff Etterbeek lost to Ohio State, but won
his other conference matches. Minnesota's Mark Bran-
denburg and the Spartan's Larry Stark will provide
stiff competition, but Etterbeek has defeated both in
head-to-head confrontations.
Michigan's Jim Holman is attempting to win his
third singles title during his successful college career.
Holman has been steady all year and his 12-4 record
proves it. Jumping from his number six position to
third singles, Holman is the favorite at that spot.
"I'll be seeded first or second in the tournament (at
third singles) and will probably win it," Holman said.
The Hoosiers' Pete Osler (18-4), and the Buckeyes'
Pedro Gonzales, Francisco's brother, have been
strong performers, and although Holman defeated
both, the redhead will find his rivals tougher to beat
in the tournament.
The Conference tourney is always held indoors, and
Coach Eisner took note that this will aid a couple of
the teams. Wisconsin almost always plays better under
a roof, supported by the fact that the Badgers schedule
all home meets at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The Illini
also prefer indoors to nature.
Michigan State's Kevin McNulty, loser to Holman at
sixth singles in last year's meet, i's one of many
Spartans who have improved midway through the sea-
son, and will be tough in Minneapolis at the number
four spot.
McNulty (11-3), and OSU's Jim Flower are two power-
laden netters that could end Michigan's reign. The
Wolverines' Brad Holland (10-4) has had some tough
matches lately, but if he can survive the pressure, he
will have just-as good a shot at the title as Flower and
McNulty, but it will be difficult.
Last year, Buddy Gallagher captured the fifth
singles medal, and is in the best shape to repeat.
Gallagher played over a sore ankle earlier this
season, and was allowed to pass up his match
against Western Michigan. His rest should come in
handy, and make it improbable for the 11-2 junior
to relinquish his title.
Dick Callow of MSU will be the main obstacle in
Gallaghar's path. Callow (11-3), like teammates Stark
and McNulty has gotten stronger as the season pro-
gressed.
The final singles position is up for grabs. Many of the
names of the players competing for sixth singles are
unfamiliar. Purdue's Don Kitchell (10-3), Ohio State's
Steve Ryuse (9-2), and Northwestern's Jack Kaspars
appear to have the inside track, but the Green and
White's Lee Woyhan (9-5) will be heard from before
things are settled.
Doubles will provide some excellent tennis, and
the class of the league wears Maize and Blue.
Friedler and Etterbeek were undefeated in con-
ference play, their only setback coming at the hands
of Alabama.
Michigan's chief antagonists will be their familiar
arch rivals from Ohio State, the Gonzales brothers.
The Gophers' Amis and Brandenburg will try to throw
some life into the tourney and break up the M-OSU
domination that has prevailed the last few years.
Second doubles may not come as easily for Holland
and Holman, but should they falter, the Buckeyes' John
Botica and John Beck will take over. Indiana's Osler
and Rick Fink have played well out of conference, but
not in the Big Ten. Regardless, in the tournament no
one is ignored.
In the Conference Tournament last year at Madison,
the Wolverines swept five of the six singles titles and
all but third doubles.
Eisner also warned that if the rest of the con-
ference is not alert, Michigan State could sneak in
and upset everything.
The points are scored in the meet by individual
matches. The top four players at each spot are seeded
in double elimination play. Each round is worth one
point, and it takes three to win a match. This means
teams like Wisconsin and Ohio State will have better
chances to pick up points, because they have among
the most players seeded.
"We've been there before, and nobody else has,'
Eisner said. "Also, even though we've lost twice it
the conference, our scores have been more decisive
than Ohio State's. I am confident that we will win."