Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 27, 1990

'M'
by Matt Ren
Daily Baseball

baseball impresses in season opener

inie
Writer

Like new coach Bill Freehan, the
Michigan baseball team began its
season last weekend in Las Vegas.
The Wolverines challenged a
competitive field consisting of Ok-
lahoma, Illinois, and host UNLV,
and came away with a 2-3 record.
Michigan advanced to the champi-
onship game before losing to Illi-
nois, 10-3.
Michigan took advantage of three
all-tournament performances by ju-
nior second baseman Matt Morse,
rookie designated hitter Scott Win-
terly, and senior pitcher Rick
Leonard-
"There were some people I was
really pleased with," Freehan said.
"Then, there are others who we'll
have to work with. I think this is a
talented team, though."
In the semifinal game, Leonard

pitched a gem, allowing only one
UNLV run over eight innings, to
hand the Runnin' Rebels a 12-2 de-
feat, their only loss of the tourna-
ment.
The game marked Leonard's first
start at Michigan and his second
win. Freehan expects big things
from the righthander after witnessing
Leonard's starting debut.
"He turned in just an excellent
performance," he said. "(UNLV) is a
top twenty team, and he just gassed
them."
The win set up a rematch with
eighth-ranked Illinois for the tour-
nament title.
In the first game against Illinois,
the Wolverines rode another strong
pitching performance to a 6-2 win.
Sophomore Jason Pfaff shut out the
Illini for eight innings before surren-
dering two runs in the ninth. In addi-
tion, Pfaff held Illinois catcher Sean

Mulligan, the tournament MVP, to
a 1-for-4 afternoon.
Junior leftfielder Dan Ruff had
two hits and scored twice while
Morse drove in the winning run.
Mulligan got his revenge on the
Wolverines in the championship
game, putting on a hitting clinic. He
pummelled Michigan pitching, bat-
ting for the cycle with two doubles,
in a 5-for-6 performance.
Jason Moler was the winning
pitcher for the Fighting Illini.
Michigan remembers Moler as the
pitcher who beat them in the Big
Ten championship game last season.
"We weren't good defensively,"
Freehan said of the championship
game, "and we didn't get the hits
when we needed to."
Despite a disappointing champi-
onship game, Freehan felt his team
performed well while at a significant
disadvantage.

._

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1

-..

Leonard
"We're a better team than we
showed," he said. "We were the only
team going in who hadn't played any
games before. This is the first time
our guys have seen sunshine and
grass for a while.
"We can't treat these as life or
death games. We look for improve-
ment, and we look for talent. There
were a lot more positives than nega-
tives out there."

A
1

JOSE JUAREZ/Daily
Carol Szczechowski has helped Michigan to a six-game win streak.
Blue sharpshooting
keys winning streak
by Phil Green
Daily Basketball Writer
EAST LANSING - It might be simple and it might be common
knowledge, but my mother says it every time she watches Michigan los-
ing a basketball game: "You're not going to win if you don't put the ball
in the basket."
Friday night, the Wolverine women's basketball team proved what can
happen when you do put the ball in the basket.
You win.
Michigan came out of the lockerroom in East Lansing absolutely on
fire. The Wolverines kept their shooting percentage at or above 70 percent
for most of the first half. It was only after a brief cold spell, just before
intermission, that the the percentage dropped to 60.
"Anytime you get a team that shoots 60 percent in the first half you
know you're getting a good ballgame," Michigan State coach Karen
Langeland said. "And that's exactly what they did. We knew we had our
work cut out for us."
The Wolverines rode their hot shooting, including two-for-two from
three-point range, to a 35-26 halftime lead.
The shooting statistics are impressive for any team, but for Michigan
they are even more unbelievable. The team entered the contest shooting
only 40 percent from the field (8th in the Big Ten).
Michigan coach Bud VanDeWege offered a pretty simple explanation
for the Wolverines' hot hands against the Spartans.
"Any game you come out and try to take the best shots you can, and
fortunately for us, we made them when we got them," he said.
Those aren't exactly profound words of wisdom. But just as there is
not much of an explanation for poor shooting, there isn't always one for
good shooting either.
Then again, as VanDeWege's team stretched its winning streak to six,
he didn't have much explaining to do about anything.
However, the Spartan full-court press, though successful in causing
eight first half turnovers, could have been partially responsible for Mich-
igan's outstanding shooting. Carol Szczechowski's expert ballhandling
frequently broke the press and once the Wolverines got past midcourt,
they maneuvered the ball inside for easy baskets.
"I think the one thing their press did do was create some easy shots for
ourselves and we were able to take advantage of it on occasion," VanDe-
Wege said.
Working the ball inside enabled Michigan's front line to put up some
impressive numbers. During the first 20 minutes, center Trish Andrew
and forward Tanya Powell combined for 16 points on 71 percent shooting
from the field.
The Wolverines' successful shooting from the first half proved to be
enough to power them through a rough second half. After the inter-
mission, the only thing dropping for Michigan was its shooting percent-
age as the team sank a meager 30.8 percent of its shots.
Their defense, however, held Michigan State to only 34.5 percent for
the half. As the Spartans clawed back, the Wolverines' defensive intens-
ity, combined with some clutch foul shooting down the stretch, enabled
Michigan to hold on for its 62-56, victory.
The University of Michigan Department of Recreational Sports
presents
SUMMER
SOFTBALL
M I [E I [! Cassics

"I

Sans Manns, MSU
to host Wolverines


Wrestlers get docked
for punching out early
by Matt Rennie
Daily Sports Writer

1

by Mike Gill
Daily Basketball Writer
The biggest break the Mich-
igan basketball team received in
its quest for the Big Ten title
might not be the return of Sean
Higgins in time for Thursday's
contest against Michigan State.
Instead, it could be the break in
Kirk Manns' foot that will keep
him out of the Michigan State
lineup most probably for the re-
mainder of the Big Ten season.
"I don't know if sympathy is
the right word," Michigan coach
Steve Fisher said, of Jud Heath-
cote's now ailing bunch. "That's
just the nature of the beast in the
business. You hope and pray you
can go through a season unscathed
and uninjured. Rarely does it hap-
pen. You hope when it comes
down to the end of the season and
the nitty-gritty that you've got all
your guys. Sometimes it doesn't
happen - a la right now with
Kirk Manns."
Manns played in the Spartans
72-66 win over Indiana Sunday
but was diagnosed as having a
stress fracture in his right foot
afterwards. The foot had been
bothering him since the Illinois
game, February 17.
But senior co-captain Terry
Mills proved to be the "Doubting
Thomas" of the team. "I didn't
believe it at first," Mills said. "He
may play, you never know. It will
make them easier to defend but
you never know. Without Sean,
we came out and won four in a
row. This could be a spark for
them."
The 6'2" guard is the leading
scorer for the Spartans, averaging
19.1 points per game. In the Wol-
verines first meeting with the
Spartans, a 65-63 Michigan vic-
tory, Manns tallied 13 points. The
senior guard is the Spartans three-
point threat, hitting 48.4 percent
of his shots from behind the
stripe.

"It takes away the best three-
point shooter in the league, maybe
the country," Fisher said. "It will
allow us the privilege of not hav-
ing to shadow a guy quite as much
as we did in Manns, although
Mark Montgomery is playing the
best basketball of his career. They
will give you a little different
look. It does not matter who they
put in, we will not have to
shadow them as much as we did
Manns. So we may be able to
help out more elsewhere."
Rumeal Robinson said he did
not think Mann's loss will bother
the Spartans too much against the
Wolverines. "He really didn't
cause us that many problems,"
Robinson said of the teams' pre-
vious meetings. "He shot the three
pretty good, we knew we had to
guard him. I think their offense in
the half-court relied on him a lot.
He was a main focus for us to
stop.
But while Manns is out of the
Spartan rotation, Higgins will re-
turn - but not as a starter. The
starting lineup will remain intact
with Demetrius Calip at guard and
Mike Griffin at forward. But Fish-
er said he will not hesitate to sub-
stitute Higgins and spoke of the
possibility of having him post up
inside if Mills again becomes sad-
dled with early foul trouble like he
recently did against Ohio State.
"We went six games without
Sean Higgins and won five out of
six. They won games early with-
out (Steve) Smith and (Mike) Pep-
lowski and won so it's a thing
where you challenge someone else
and give someone else an oppor-
tunity. Maybe it will be Tom
Wolfe for them who started lots of
games for them last season."
Robinson probably summed up
Heathcote's sentiments perfectly.
"You really don't want to go into
a big game and have it a factor
that you lose somebody and that's
the reason you lost."

For those who do not know, a collegiate wrestling match lasts seven
minutes. Please notice, this does not mean six minutes and 58 seconds.
Michigan learned this lesson last weekend in dual meets against Ohio
State and Wisconsin. The Wolverines came away with a loss to the
Buckeyes and a win over the Badgers, but both decisions might have been
different had it not been for several matches in which the outcome was
decided unusually late in the match.
The Buckeyes mounted a 17-0 lead as a result of three victories in
which the winning points were scored in the final ten seconds. At 126
pounds, Salem Yaffai owned a 9-8 lead and an apparent victory when
Buckeye Adam DiSabato took him down at the buzzer. The win catapulted
Ohio State out of the blocks with a 6-0 team lead.
Ohio State's Mark Marinelli then followed suit by defeating Joey
Gilbert, 10-7, in a match where the lead changed hands in the final
minute.
"I'm not wrestling three periods," Gilbert said. "I don't have my head
in the ballgame anymore."
Michigan rookie James Rawls seemed ready to break the string of
Buckeye victories, but he also lost a lead in the closing seconds. He
allowed a takedown with two seconds remaining by none other than Mike
DiSabato, Adam's brother.
The Wolverines eventually lost the meet, 20-18.
On Sunday, Michigan was again involved in a close meet, this time
with Wisconsin. Before the 167-pound match, the Badgers led, 14-11. The
victor of this match would have the inside track at winning the meet.
Michigan senior co-captain Justin Spewock squared off with
Wisconsin's Matt Abad. Abad took a 4-2 lead with a takedown in the last
twenty seconds. The clock stopped as the two went out of bounds with 12
seconds remaining, and it appeared that the Badgers were going to take a
substantial 17-11 lead in the meet.
At this point, graduate assistant John Fisher yelled to Spewock,
"Come on, you're still in this one."
Spewock, heeding this advice, exploded at the whistle and scored a
two-point reversal to knot the match. In the process, he erased Abad's
riding time advantage to hang on for a 4-4 draw.
The draw kept the Wolverines within striking distance, and they went
on to win, 22-16.
"The one good thing I can say about that match is that I didn't lose my
poise," Spewock said. "I kept after him."
What the Wolverines' sloppy performances may be a result of is
fatigue. "We don't peak for these teams," Spewock explained. "We're
looking toward the Big Tens and nationals."
The practice schedule now calls for morning running and tough
sparring but allows for more rest before post-season competition. This is
so the wrestlers will be well-rested and conditioned to go hard for seven
minutes.
And that does not mean six minutes and 58 seconds.

.1


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Friday, March 2

Icers awarded league
honors in first season
From Staff Reports
First-year Michigan defenseman Patrick Neaton and left winger David
Roberts were selected to the 1989-90 CCHA All-Rookie team by league
Sports Information Directors and members of the media.
Neaton has totalled three goals and 20 assists playing in all 38 regular
season games.
"It's a great honor," Neaton said. "It feels good and it's something I'm
glad I accomplished, but I think it reflects on all of us freshman. I owe a lot
of it to David (Harlock, his defensive partner) All the freshman worked hard
and any one of us deserved it."
Roberts led the Wolverines in scoring, tallying 19 goals and 29 assists
in 38 games and also tied fellow rookie center Mark Ouimet for the longest
point-scoring streak this season at 16 games.
"It was a nice honor," Roberts said. "I wanted to have a good season and
I'm happy with it, but it isn't over yet with the playoffs coming up."
Neaton, Roberts and the rest of the All-Rookie team will be honored
during the CCHA Awards Banquet on Friday, March 9, 1990, at the Westin
Hotel in the Renaissance Center when the coaches will announce the
Rookie-of-the-Year
Come to the Henderson House
Open House!
Monday, March 12th from 7-9pm
Meet Old and New Residents

/.-

Distinguished
Lecture
Series
DR. DARLENE HINE

CHOICE playing fields
CHOICE location/lights/parking
CHOICE umpires

rn ocn n 6A--'- o !l M