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."