Page 10 -The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, March 30, 1988 Stealing the show: Shortstop Finken sparks 'M' I with speed, sizzling offense By RICHARD EISEN Growing up as a child in Fort Wayne, Ind., Steve Finken loved the game of baseball. Even though he was the most valuable player for his high school football team, he always concentrated on baseball.' "Really throughout my life I've had my heart centered on baseball," said Finken. "I played other sports just to be active in athletics." Finken's heart-felt dedication to the sport of baseball has paid off. As Michigan's senior shortstop he has' become one of the stars on this year's baseball team. In his two years with the team, Finken has racked up such honors as 1987 All-Big Ten second baseman and The 1987 Ted Sizemore Award Fin for the best Michigan fielder. In ... on ho 1986, he batted an excellent .358 average witti one homer and 30 RBIs. THIS YEAR, he is even more torrid. After this weekend's games against Ball State, Finken is hitting an even .500, with a ten-game hitting streak. Not only is Finken great with the bat, he is doing more stealing than a PTL director. Finken has stolen four bases this year, and last weekend stole the 44th base of his career, tying Michi- gan greats like Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and Mike Watters for the all-time Michigan mark. Believe it or not, Finken's speed is not what it used to be. Because he broke his leg in his first year at Michigan, his speed has suffered. "He had real exceptional speed in high school, but then he broke his ankle," said Michigan head coach Bud Middaugh. "He still can run, but he doesn't have near the speed that he had before." In his faster high school days, Finken stole more than 60 bases in his career at Elmhurst H.S. at Fort Wayne. COMING OUT of Fort Wayne, Finken was heavily recruited by several colleges, with Indiana State, Indiana, Louisiana Tech, and Michigan heading the list. Obviously, Finken chose Michigan. d D1 "I liked the program that coach Middaugh had set up here," said Finken of his choice. "I thought I could get a good education out of it, which I'm getting." Finken's baseball excellence continued as he went from prep- school to the 1984 USA junior Baseball team. On that team, Finken hit a home run and a triple against Taipei, as the team went on to win the silver medal in the worldwide '~competition. But the days of wine and roses ended when Finken arrived at Michigan. Before the season began, he experienced what he later labeled as his worst moment with the Wolverines. While running in the ken football stadium, Finken came to a stop and turned his ankle completely t streak over, breaking it. He didn't play one game that year. "I FELT really bad because while playing base- ball, I never sat through a season," said Finken. But every cloud has a silver lining. Because of his injury, he was redshirted, and now he has an extra year of eligibility. "I'm kind of glad (I sat), because I probably wouldn't have played anyway," joked Finken. "Now, I can play four years." After sitting out, however, Finken did not seem rusty, as he hit .358 with 13 stolen bases during his sophomore year. But the lay-off took its toll defen- sively, as Finken committed 18 errors in 54 games for a poor fielding percentage of .921. But this is only a testament to Finken's hard work and dedication for he came back the next year and cap- tured the Ted Sizemore award. He committed only nine errors, for a much better percentage of .962. Finken is a team player, unconcerned with the records and the hitting streak. He is concerned, instead, with the welfare of the team. "I'm really just playing for the team," said Finken of his role on the squad. "I'm hoping that everybody does really well this year, because we really do have a strong team." Daily Photo by ELLEN LEVY First basement should get used to this view of Steve Finken. The shortstop tied the all-time Michigan stolen base record when he stole his 44th Saturday against Ball State. Line Drives Mother nature snows on M' championship aspirations By PETER ZELLEN In mid-February, Michigan had been ranked third in the nation in both the Baseball America and ESPN polls. And Michigan hadn't even played a game yet. About two weeks later, Michigan climbed the polls to place second. But still they hadn't played a game. In the meantime, top 10 teams like Oklahoma State, Florida State, and Texas had already played about 25 games. The Texas Longhorns were just rip-snortin' ready when they played Michigan March 13 on national tele- vision. Plain and simple, the Wolverines got pummelled, 11-2. Michigan hitters looked confused and their timing was way off. Coach Bud Middaugh's bunch managed four hits. THE FIELDING seemed like that of a high school game. It was strange coming from a team coached by Middaugh, a man known as a stickler for excellent defense. Michi- gan committed six errors. Three were in the first inning when Texas scored five runs, four of which were un- earned- Pitcher Jim Abbott has been the constant in the rotation, but against Texas he was less than spectacular. Sure there were errors that worked against him but he lasted just two innings and had every ball rocketed off the Longhorn bats with a re- sounding clang. I am not knocking Michigan baseball; I support the team fully. My focus is the unfair system of collegiate baseball. WHAT'S UNFAIR is that warm weather schools, like Texas, get to play so many more games than a team like Michigan because of their home climate. The Wolverines got beaten so badly partly because they were just getting out of the bat- ter's box. Michigan was still in 'spring training' so to speak. Coach Middaugh thinks otherwise though, "This season we've been beaten five times soundly. Against Texas we didn't play well defen- sively. With our injuries we've had to change people around and when you do that it's conducive to mis- takes. Weather isn't that much of a factor. We just didn't play well." Middaugh is right in that respect but whatever the reason for the loss, the unbalanced schedules make the .poll rankings almost useless. Michi- gan had yet to set foot on the field and it was proclaimed the second best team in the country. After the Texas loss, the Wolver- ines dropped to sixteenth and after the road trip Michigan fell to 21st in the polls. It's ridiculous to think that a team goes from being the second best to being 21st best in two weeks. WHAT CAN BE done about this? It's a tough call. You can't just ask the Michigan Athletic Depart- ment to sink 50 million dollars into a domed stadium. It's a nice idea, but pretty far-fetched. What might be a good suggestion is to have all teams start their sched- ules at the same time so that a 1-1 Michigan team doesn't face a Texas squad with 20 or so wins. Also, teams that haven't played shouldn't be ranked against those who have so many games under their belt. Because of the Michigan weather the baseball Wolverines will con- tinue to play in February in the football practice building instead of on a real field like their Texan oppo- nents. They might never get enough polish needed in order to shine as na- tional champions. It seems as if the Michigan base- ball team will have to suffer from the cold along with their fans. Daily Photo by SCOTT IUTUCHY Head coach Bud Middaugh enters his ninth season as baseball coach at the University of Michigan. Despite the fact that Middaugh has a .718 career winning percentage, he has never won a national title. Some think this could be due to the scheduling in college baseball. I PITCHERS AND CATCHERS: Battery strong for NEWCOMERS: M' BY MICHAEL SALINSKY According to Michigan head coach Bud Middaugh, "You're only as good as your pitching." If that is true, then it looks like Michigan is going to be aw- fully good. How good? Well, consider that Jim Abbott, winner of last year's Golden Spikes Award for college player of the year, 11-3 last season, with a 2.08 ERA, and 17-5 in his career, has never been named first team All- Big Ten. But two other Wolverines have. Senior Mike Ignasiak is one of those two. The hard throwing righthander fanned 99 batters in just 91 innings of work last season. Ig- nasiak returns to the Wolverines despite being drafted by the Cardi- nals in the fourth round of last year's draft. THE OTHER All-Big Ten hurler is junior, Chris Lutz. The righty saw somewhat limited action in '87 due to an early-season bout with mono. Still, Lutz extended his career record to 13-0 with six wins gan's starting four at the moment, but according to Middaugh, that is subject to change. The two leading candidates to make a bid for starting assignments are lefty Ross Powell and righty Jeff Tanderys. POWELL started six games last season and won five of them compiling a 6-0 mark on the year along with two saves. Tanderys has emerged early as the top rookie pitcher with a win in his first start against Texas South- ern. Also making bids for innings will be junior Dave Peralta who has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and sopho- more Tim Lata. Lata led the Wolverines with a 1.71 ERA last year but has been having trouble getting work on such a deep squad. The righthander may find a role in short relief but will have to compete with Ignasiak and Powell, the probable righty- lefty combination. Ignasiak's five saves in addition 'M' youth By PETER ZELLEN Here they come! Those fresh young faces that invigorate a team and give them hopes for the future. Yes, folks, it's the newcomers. This year has produced quite a crop of youngsters. Leading the brigade has been first baseman Greg Haeger. He's looked shaky defensively at times but his hitting has been outstanding. In his first 43 at bats he's collected 15 hits for a .349 average. He's also drawn 10 walks and stolen two bases. An interesting tidbit about Haeger is that he is an excellent pitcher, too. He had a2.00 ERA for his high school team leadingf Redford Catholic Central to the Class A title. Interestingly enough, Haeger could be called upon to pitch in a tight situation.1 ANOTHER excellent new- comer is Dan Ruff. Playing fre- quently at DH, he has batted .478. Three of his 11 hits have been doubles and he has also showed some speed, stealing two bases. A Bremen. Ohio native. Ruff N~ school to the Junior USA squad. He'si and is still getting used to the plate. fielding well ON THE MOUND, Jeff Tanderys has been fireballing his way into the rotation, with a 1-0 record and a 3.46 ERA. In high school this right-hander was something of a phenom with a 9-2 record and 100 strikeouts in 55 innings in his senior year. Before long, he might find his way into the starting rotation. Middaugh is impressed with the kids but takes nothing for granted. "They've contributed positively but they have to keep playing well. None of them are 4W assured of a job," said the skipper. Right now Middaugh has a whole lot of new talent and not a lot of spots to put them in. It will be a miracle for all of them to get adequate playing time. COACH MIDDAUGH says that infielder Dave Everly is readying himself for some action at second base. A Columbia, Md. native, Everly has a potent bat, 0 Onrleading his American Lesin is powerful .