Page 8-Tuesday March, 29,1983-The Michigan Daily Impressive: Early Real season begins for 'M' nine returns point By RANDY BERGER The fun is over for the Michigan baseball team; no more sunny skies in Florida or games against over- worked pitchers from Southern teams. It's back to the "cold" reality of playing in the midwest and get- ting ready for what should be a tough Big Ten season as the batsmen open up their regular season Friday at Miami (0). The Wolverines will enter Friday's game after com- pleting their most successful start since 1905 as they stormed through Florida with a 11-1 record. But as is typical of all coaches, Bud Middaugh isn't completely satisfied with the way the team is playing. "THE SPRING trip answered some questions but opened up more," said Middaugh, who is now just 12 wins away from getting his 500th career coaching vic- tory. "Having 12 games in eight days kind of distorts. things." Many positive notes however, did develop during the spring trip. " The team got clutch pitching as it didn't lose any one-run games. " Came from behind four times, to win. The best game of the trip was against Yale in which the Wolverines came back after being down 6-2 and scored five runs in the last three innings to win 7-6. * Played well defensively as the team averaged only one error per game. * Scored a ton of runs to be exact 89 times in 12 games for an average of about 7.5 runs a game. " Got great play from a lot of freshmen including pitcher-outfielder Dan Disher, who hit .476 and had four strikeouts in three innings on the mound. Barry Larkin also showed promise as he batted .333 which included a leadoff homer in a 5-4 win over Virginia, as did Mike Watters, who played in all 12 games and is fourth on the team in RBI's with seven. " Solid play from the middle part of the lineup, as veterans Chris Sabo (.347 average with six homers), Ken Hayward (.419 average with 17 RBI's) and Jeff Jacobson (.349 average and 18 RBI's) raked havoc on the opposing pitchers. However among all of these noteworthy develop- ments are some glaring areas that need in- provement, most notably pitching. The team com- piled a shaky earned run average of 3.82. "We need to establish a pitching rotation and we would like to see who we can use in the bullpen," said Middaugh. "On the trip we played a lot of games in a short time so most of the pitchers got starts. As we get back to the regular season we should see who to use in relief. "ALSO, WE NEED to be more settled in the out- field and probably could use more experience behind the plate," he continued. Michigan enters Friday's doubleheader against Miami (0) ranked 11th in the country by the Collegiate coach's poll. Consequently, it will be facing the best pitchers the opposing teams have to offer. Unfortunately, unlike in football or basketball Middaugh doesn't have the luxury to rely on scouting reports. "Not until you see the team can you evaluate, but if you do everything well, it doesn't matter who you play." Rich Stoll, seen here in a game last year against Wayne State, added three more wins over the spring trip to run his career record to 21-3. BIG TEN EAS TERN DIVISION PRE VIE W: Buckeyes may pose, threat to Blue By MIKE BRADLEY The road to an NCAA championship tournament bid/begins for Michigan in its own division, the Big Ten East. The defending divisional champion Wolverines must survive their intradivisional schedule in order to advance to the Big Ten playoffs, the first stop on that road. SOME OF the road- blocks, however, seem to be less than formidable. Purdue and Indiana will be very young, and Michigan State suffers from the loss of its pitching staff to the major leagues. Ohio State will be a different story, however. OHIO STATE co su was 9-1. Each pitcher suffered his only loss in the NCAA tournament. Offensive firepower will be provided for the Bucks by Jeff King (.353, 11HR's) and Robby Cobb (.357) at second base. MANAGER Dick Finn looks forward to seeing improvement from his Buckeye nine. "If we play hard every game like last year's team did, then yes, we can be as good as last year's team, or better," Finn predicted. "I don't think there is any question about that." PURDUE Such rosy prognostications are not the rule in West Lafayette. Purdue mentor Dave Alexander's squad just returned from Florida with a 2-11 record, and the prospects for the season seem bleak. "I'M NOT going to make any excuses for the way the team played, we just played poorly. We're going to have to work very hard on fundamentals," Alexander conceded.1 The Boilermakers are led by sophomore shortstop Elam Rossy (.298, 4 HR's, 46 RBI) and junior right fielder Brian Bittner (.268, 19 RBI). sophomores dominate the upper echelon of the pitching staff. Eric Volk is the Boilermaker ace, and the righthander posted a 3-0 record and led last year's team with a 1.85 ERA. Matt Kinzer, another second-year-man, led Purdue in strikeouts during last year's campaign with 57. INDIANA Indiana's Hoosiers will experience the same lack of depth in their pitching department as Purdue. Al- though sophomore Mike Humphries has posted a 2-0 record this season and has not allowed an earned run in 22 innings so far, the rest of the Hoosiers hurlers are inexperienced. There should be some runs scored in Bloomington, however, since the Hoosiers return some capable hitters. Right fielder Bill Mueller hit.392 last season, fielder Chris Sigler checked in at .323, and catcher Dan Win- ters hit .310. All three are sophomores. Joining that trio wil be two-time Academic All- America first baseman Tony Nelson, who hit .298 last season. Shortstop Alex Smith, who hit .358 last year, suf- fered a knee injury before. this seasontbegan and will be lost for the entire year. Filling in for him will be Joe Franczek, a capable fielder, but a rather light hitter. MICHIGAN STATE 14 lettermen return to a Michigan State squad that was 25-29 in 1982. New coach Tom Smith is no stranger to the surroun- dings of East Lansing - he served as an assistant for the Spartans since the mid- sixties. Smith has some problems to contend with, including the loss of two of his finer pitchers to the professional ranks. Tim Birtsas and Terry Johnson each left town in favor of the major leagues. Their loss definitely hurts the Spartans' chances for a division crown. "I'm not going tosay we'll win our division, because pitching is so vital, and that's what we lack.. We lost some strength wiitt the two (Birtsas and Johni son) leaving for the pros, and others have had sore injuries,'lamented Smitly The Spartans' strong uqi will be their infield. Ca cher Steve Bonds hit ..31 last season, and Bqb; Goodheart (B), Brun@- Patrella (2B), and Dave, Corey (3B) have all earned two letters. Ohio State provides the GNJ stiffest challenge for M gh c Michigan. The Buckeyes have two of the division's strongest pitchers in Bill Cunningham and Doug Swearingen. Cunningham was 8-1 last season with a 2.47 ERA, and Swearingen Spring trip statistics -I Sabo s start overcomes '82 slide Nam Pos. Dan Sygar, OF..................... Dan Disher, P-OF-DH............. Ken Hayward, 1B ...................... Jeff Jacobson, 2B-S.................. Chris Sabo,3B......................... Rich Bair, C .......................... Dave Kopf, P-DH ................... Barry Larkin, SS...................... Casey Close, P-LF-DH............. Fred ErdmannLF.RF............... Eric SandersF....................... Mike WattersDH-OF.H............. Late Skar, CF ........... .......... Jeff Minick, OF................... Chuck Froning, OF-DH ............. Chris Gust, OF..................... C. J. Beshke, 2B.................... Kurt Zimmerman, IF-DH............ Mark Dadabbo, C.................. MICHIGAN .......................... OPPONENTS ......................... G 7 9 12 12 12 11 5 10 9 7 5 12 8 5 10 8 8 4 1 12 12 AB 4 21 43 43 49 35 9 30 23 17 7 31 18 5 22 6 15 1 0 379 350 R 4 8 13 7 14 6 1' 9 1 2 1 9 ' 4 0 4 1 3 2 0 89 47 H 2 10 18 15 17 12 3 10 7 2 8 4 1 4 .2 0 0 121 88 2B3B-HR 0-0-0 1-1-1 5-0-1 4-0-2 5-0-6 4-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-1 1-0-0 3-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-00 0-0-0 RBI 0 2 15 18 17 2 1 6 6 4 0 7 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 AVG .500 .476 .419 .349 .347 .343 .333 .333 .304 .294 .286 .258 .222 .200 .182 .167 .133 .000 .000 By MIKE BRADLEY Last season was somewhat of a disappointment for Michigan third baseman Chris Sabo. The Wolverines ripped through their schedule and entered the Big Ten playoffs as the favorites with a 43-8 record, only to lose two games in one day and find themselves with no NCAA tournament bid. SABO ENTERED his second season with brilliant freshman credentials - 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and a .341 average. However, injuries kept him from playing up to his full capabilities, and his power production declined to 4 homers and 30 runs batted in, while his average dropped to .257. "I'll make no excuses for last year," Sabo remarked, "but I played well in Cape Cod and on the national team this summer."~ Sabo joined a group of other U.S. amateurs that toured Europe and Asia with the team last summer, playing against some pretty tough competition and in front of some large crowds. "WHEN I was a freshman and played in the College World Series in front of 17,000 people, I was scared and useless, but in Korea, we played before 60 or 70,000 people, so nothing like the World Series could affect me now," he said. Apparently, the summer baseball helped Sabo immensely. In 12 games so far this season, he has sizzled, tearing up Michigan's opponents in Florida with six round-trippers, 17 RBIs and a .347 batting mark. Wolverine coach Bud Middaugh is ex- tremely pleased with Sabo's perfor- mance thus far, and the Michigan manager looks for his third baseman to contribute steadily all season. "HE'S GONNA be a key facet on the team because he's been batting number three so far, and since he is a seasoned veteran, we're going to come to count on him," Middaugh predicted. "His role will be an RBI man." That sits fine with Sabo. "I'd like to ,be an RBI man," the Detroit junior commented. Sabo also sees this year's team as a different animal than last season's squad. "WE HAVE a lot of talent. I'm con- vinced that we can beat anybody on a given day. I feel better now about the team than I ever did, because there is less individualism and more of a team feeling." Sabo graduated from Detroit Catholic Central and chose Michigan because it is "thebest baseball school in the Mid- west." Middaugh also had a part in his selection. '"Coach Middaugh had a good reputation as a coach. He's a great teacher and really stressed fundamen- tals. If you have those, you'll win," he said. The Wolverine field general, in turn, is complimentary of Sabo. "He s im- proved every year, and I'm pleased with him." Professional baseball is something that Sabo keeps in the back of his mind for now, although he is very interested in the idea of playing for pay. "I definitely want to play pro ball, it's just a matter of who takes me and when." Judging by his fast start this season, it doesn't look like the junior corner- man will be disappointed by his '83 campaign or his professional offers. J} 29-1-11 81 .319 13-1-4 44 .251 Name Jamie Piper........... Dave Kopf ............. Tim Karazim........... Gary Wayne ............ Bill Shuta................. Ken Hayward ............. Casey Close............. Rich Stolli............... Dan Disher............ MICHIGAN............. OPPONENTS........... G GS SAV W-L IP H BB SO ERA 2 3 5 2 4 1 2 3 1 12 12 0 2 1 2 2 0 2 3 0 I 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-0 2-0 0-0 1-1 2-0 1-0 1-0 3-0 3.7 15.7 11.7 11.0 11.7 4.0 9.3 22.0 3.0 2 13 9 12 8 3 11 26 4 2 7 5 15 9 2 16 3 1 60 49 0 12 7 9 11 0 6 6 4 55 36 0.00 2.87 3.09 3.27 3.86 4.50 4.82 4.91 6.00 3.82 6.67 12 5 12 1 11-1 92.0 88 1-11 90.0 121 'CHANGE THE RULES,' SA YS MIDDAUGH: alkers are common in baseball By PAUL HELGREN When Herschel Walker, college foot- ball star, signed a contract to play professional ball before his senior year the sports world literally made a federal case of it. If Buddy Batsman, college baseball star, does the same, no one bats an eye. But if Michigan coach Bud Middaugh had -his way, Batsman (not his real name) and others like him would not be able to do this. MIDDAUGH would like to see a rule change which would prevent under- classmen from signing professional baseball contracts, like the proposal currently being debated in the U.S. Congress. Middaugh also suggested that the baseball owners themselves restrain from signing underclassmen. In fact, the baseball owners are con- sidering passing a rule which would stop the drafting of underclassmen from the collegiate ranks. If theowners pass the resolution, college coachep would then have the chance to approve or reject it. Middaugh indicated he would vote for such a measure. "I personally want to see (the current And Middaugh has had to go through having some of his best players leave early for greener pastures. For exam- ple, three outstanding players would have been seniors on this year's already fine 11-1 squad if they hadn't signed professional contracts before their senior years. They are; " Scott Elam: After an 11-win sophomore season, the hard-throwing Elam signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1981. " Steve Ontiveros: The six-foot righthander signed with the Oakland A's after a great season last year. * Tony Evans: The slick-fielding shortstop also signed at the end of last year, his junior year, with the Cincin- natti Reds. There have been others over the years that have left Michigan for greener pastures. In some cases, Mid- daugh said, it might have been a mistake. "It's an unfair situation for a kid." said Middaugh. "If someone offered you $50,000 to leave school, would you turn it down?" PROBABLY NOT. But a few players. do, including Wolverine second baseman Jeff Jacobson. Jacobson was drafted by the Detroit Tigers last year, but decided to stay at Michigan and complete his education. Middaugh called it a "wise decision," but added that he only gives advice about such things "when players ask for it." Of course baseball differs from foot- ball and basketball in that the majority of players still sign with the pros right out of high school. Middaugh realizes this, but dismisses it as an argument against any rule changes. "We like to think a player comes to school for an education," the Wolverine mentor said. "If they do, they will pursue their degree." Upcoming Games April1 at Miami (O.) (DH) April 2 at Miami (O.) (DH) April 5 ACQUINAS (DH(, 1 p.m. April6 WESTERN MICHIGAN (DH), 1p.m. April 9 EASTERN MICHIGAN (DH), 1 p.m. . .. . . :::i:}:?:i..".". . :.::i" "::.*. O. ':ii.:n:iii:.:i:.r":. yM' playPers in prosr Player Pos. Team Year Left ,"w : ..;.. ..