Baseball vs. Eastern Michigan Saturday, 1 p.m. Ray Fisher Stadium SPORTS Men's Rugby vs. Detroit and Windsor teams Saturday, noon Mitchell Field The Michigan Daily Several Michigan icers stay BY MIKE GILL Although eight collegiate teams remain in the NCAA's college hockey tournament, the Michigan hockey team is scattering itself around the world. Last night, when the the Utica Devils faced off against the Adiron- dack Red Wings, former Michigan defenseman and co-captain Myles O'Connor was dressed to play. O'Connor has been given an amateur tryout with Utica, the New Jersey Devils affiliate in the American Hockey League. With the agreement, O'Connor can still retain his amateur status and keep his scholarship. Utica has seven games left in its season. Michigan assistant coach Mel Pear- son doubts that O'Connor would move to the NHL before the end of this season. "I don't think New Jersey would want to bring him up," Pearson said. "They would want to keep him away from a bad situation. When the team is not going to make the playoffs, it is not a good situation to bring a young player in. This will get him accustomed to their organization. He'll get a taste of what it is like." Meanwhile, the other captain of Thursday, March 23, 1989 Page 9 O'Connor the Wolverines, Todd Brost, left last Friday to play three or four games with Team Canada while it is on a tour of Ontario and Quebec. Mich- igan coach Red Berenson said that if the team liked his play it might provide Brost with an opportunity to play on the team next year. Junior defenseman Todd Copeland and first-year sensation Denny Fels- ner have been invited to the Pravda Cup for a series of games in Lenin- grad, leaving the States March 29. "Going to Russia is a great exper- ience for them, but before they can go they must organize their schedule so they do not fall behind in their academic work or miss-any tests," Berenson said. Berenson will be the featured speaker at a coaching clinic in Min- nesota during the NCAA cham- pionships. BENCue s ks snksLkers inopener STEVEN COHEN The Michigan baseball team opened its home season yesterday with 10-1 and 9-2 victories over Grand Valley State University. The wins found the Wolverines back in the cold after a 10-game spring trip to Florida, and left them with an 8-4 record. "This was good for a home opener," first basemen Greg Haeger said. "It's tough to come back from 85 degree weather to play in 35 degree weather, but for a home opener you want to make sure that everybody gets a chance to play and the pitchers stay sharp. The pitchers threw well and we played pretty good defense." Against the Lakers, of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Con- ference, 25 of the 28 Wolverines on the spring trip roster played, including nine of 11 pitchers. SOPHOMORE lefthander Kirt Ojala extended his record to 2-0 with two scoreless innings in the first game. First-year righthander Russell Brock is now 2-1 after pitching 1 2/3 innings in the second game. The nine pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and yielded only six hits in 14 innings of work. Of the three runs, only one was earned. DAVID LUB /y After a home run by Dave Everly First-year player Mike Matheny, a Michigan catcher, tries to get back to first on a pickoff attempt by made the score 1-0, the Wolverines Grand Valley State. Matheny's first appearance before the home crowd was a successful one as Michigan blew the first game wide open with swept a pair from the Lakers. a six-run third inning. Rightfielder Phil Price knocked in two runs and "OUR PITCHERS threw well out. Price began his streak last raise his average to .318. "He's a designated hitter Andy Fairman's and everybody combined for a good Saturday against Portland State with very good hitter. It almost comes sacrifice bunt scored second baseman effort, " Everly said. "It's a big dif- a home run in the ninth inning. In natural to him to hit a baseball. On Matt Morse on Laker catcher's Tim ference (from Florida). It's much the Wolverines' next game against the spring trip he struck out more Smith's throwing error. Leftfielder tougher to stay loose." Ithaca, he went 4-for-4 with a walk. than he normally does and he still Doug Kaiser drove in two runs and "I was pleased with the team, YESTERDAY, Price had two was hitting .405. The numbers catcher Mike Matheny drove in one especially because of the condi- hits and two walks in the first game speak for themselves. I wish I could during the rally. tions," Michigan coach Bud Mid- and reached base with three walks in be as consistent as he is because he The scoring in the second game daugh said. "As cold as it was, I the second game to raise his average just hits. mainly occurred in the second and thought we had a lot of good per- to .432. In the first inning of the fourth innings when the Wolverines formances. "There were a lot of good second game, Price showed his Greg McMurtry was also scored four runs in each. In the things (about the doubleheader)." hustle as he scored from first base on impressive, getting his first three second game, centerfielder Jim (Bull) One good thing was rightfielder a misplayed ball off the bat of hits of the year in four at bats. He Durham and Morse drove in two Phil Price, who reached base seven Haeger. raised his average to .300. McMurtry runs each. Morse, who is hitting consecutive times in the double- "Price is an exceptional player," saw his first action since leaving the .370, walloped his second homer of header to extend his streak to 13 said designated hitter Kourtney Florida trip early to play spring the season. straight at bats without making an Thompson, who went 2-for-4 to football. Five senior wrestlers bid 'M' fond farewell BY DAVID HYMAN The 1988-89 Michigan wrestling season came to an end with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA championships last weekend in Oklahoma City. The weekend also marked the end of five collegiate careers. Seniors John Moore (126 pounds), John Fisher (134), Joe Pantaleo (158), Mike Amine (167) and James Dye (177) finished their four years of wrestling here at Michigan, helping the Wolverines set a school record with their first ever 20-win season (20-2). The first of the seniors who qualified for the NCAA's was Moore. Moore finished the season 24-18-2 (12-6-1 in Big Ten) with a 1-2 showing last weekend in Oklahoma. "We're really pleased with his performance this season," Michigan assistant coach Joe Wells said. "He has demonstrated steady improvement and it's all you can ask of a guy - to qualify for the NCAA's and earn some points for the team." Another senior and NCAA qualifier was fifth-ranked Amine, seeded ninth at the NCAA's. In Oklahoma, Amine lost to eventual champion Dave Lee of Wisconsin in the third round, 9-6, and then lost his next match to eighth- ranked Marty Morgan of Minnesota, eliminating him from competition. He finished in ninth place, one notch shy of being a two-time All-American. AMINE WAS disappointed he did not do as well as last season. "I think last year I accomplished something that many people don't do," Amine said, referring to his second place finish in 1988 when he was unseeded. "It hurt for a while (not repeating upon last year's success), but I don't feel that bad. I'm looking forward to 1992 ( the Olympics) and now that my college career is over, it doesn't mean my wrestling career is over." Pantaleo ended his college career as an NCAA runner-up for the second straight year with somewhat of a disappointment. He lost to Rick St. John of Arizona State in overtime, 1-1, 3-1, in the finals, capping off a 43-3 season. Pantaleo, along with Fisher, broke the school record of 18 dual-meet wins in a season with 21. He also led the Wolverines to their biggest win of the season, ending Iowa's 98-dual-meet win streak with a pin at :33 against Mark Reiland. "(Pantaleo) came in here with some high goals," Bahr said. "He wanted to be a national champion, but he also wanted to be on a national championship team." Despite the tough defeat in the NCAA's, Pantaleo tried to remain upbeat and is looking to compete in the 1992 Olympics. The final senior, Fisher, entered the NCAA's ranked No. 1 nationally, with a perfect 41-0 record. Fisher, however, fell short of his pursuit of a national championship, losing to Oklahoma's T.J. Sewell in overtime, 6-6, 8-1, in the semifinals. FISHER FINISHED fourth when he was pinned by Iowa's Joe Melchiore at 1:19 in the consolation round. He is a four-time All-American and has posted a career record of 176-20, with three Big Ten Championships and one third-place and three fourth-place finishes in the NCAA's. "I wish I wouldn't keep thinking about it (not winning the NCAA's) but it'keeps coming into my mind," Fisher said. "But I've really enjoyed being here at Michigan and if I had to do it all over again, I would." "We feel bad for both Joe (Pantaleo) and John (Fisher)," Bahr said. "They both really wanted to be national champions and deserved it too. They fell a little short, but that doesn't take anything away from the outstanding careers they had at Michigan." Though James Dye was one of two Michigan wrestlers who did not qualify for the NCAA's, he finished the season 25-18, including a sixth place finish in the Big Tens. The five who finished ahead of him qualified for the NCAA's and Dye was upset about that. Dye had beaten Matt Mynster and Larry Kaifesh, from Ohio State and Indiana, respectively, two times each earlier this season, but they both finished ahead of Dye in the Big Tens to qualify for the nationals. "I'M AS GOOD as these guys if not better," Dye said, referring to the five who finished ahead of him in the Big Tens. But Dye knows he had a m n sn F n nn Ae s« ..A, 71 ... n « :.....« 7 .i........ . .. Gymnasts' season ends with letdown at Big Tens BY MARK KATZ A Michigan women's gymnastics season characterized by a plethora of new individual and team records, came to a sour end this past weekend when the Wolverines placed seventh at the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City. The performance elimin- ated the team from post-season com- petition at the NCAA Regionals. Falls on the balance beam held Michigan to an overall team score of 183.2, placing the squad a half-point behind sixth-placed Wisconsin and over four points behind top-finisher Minnesota. The Golden Gophers tallied a 187.45. Before the meet, Kempthorn was hoping to get a fourth or fifth-place finish. "We started out great, but the beam was our downfall," Michigan coach Dana Kempthorn said. "Our scores were close, but the meet just came down to beam in the end." Five Michigan gymnasts in- dividually offset the team's mediocre performance by qualifying for the individual finals on the last day (Monday) of the Big Tens. Four Wolverines entered the finals in the vault, the sole event in which Michigan took first place in the team competition. In the all-around competition, the team had one impressive perfor- mance and one disappointment. Sophomore Christine Furlong took 12th place and was selected as a member of the All-Big Ten team. Janne Klepek, however, failed to place. Nevertheless, Klepek still has a "95 percent chance" of qualifying for the individual NCAA Regionals. She will find out her fate Sunday. Looking back at the team's performance this season, Kempthorn has mixed but positive feelings. "We broke a lot of individual records, and we broke every team record, in- cluding team score. In that respect, it was a really good season," she said. "We didn't get as many wins as we wanted, and the Big Ten didn't fall our way, but I know that the kids went out and did their best." IummER EmALOYmEnT METRO A RK HAVE OVER 500 JOB/ AVAILABLE THL/ IUmmER i OEUGHTFUL PARK EAViROAMEAT! UFEGUARo. RIURAULT. PUBUC IERVICE RTTEAoRAT. mATEAfCE Afo MORE APPLY AT THE mETROPARK AEARE/T YOU OR CALL OUR TOLL FREE RUmBER 1-800-24-PARKI AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Huron-Clinton! 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