Sports Monday Trivia
Name the Major League
baseball player at each
position who won the MVP
award in consecutive years.
(For the answer,
turn to the bottom of page 2)
Inside Sports Monday
Sports Calendar
'M' Men's tennis
'M' Women's tennis' Kalei Beamon
'M' Crew
Q&A
Get Rich Quick
'M' Baseball
'M' Basketball 4
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The Michigan Daily -Sports Monday - April 16, 1990
* Blue earns split behind "
Ojala's four-hitter
by Ryan Schreiber
Daily Baseball Writer
Behind co-captain Kirt Ojala's four-hitter, the
Michigan baseball team earned a two-game split with
Minnesota. Gopher ace John Lowery shut down the
Wolverines, 4-1, in the first game, but Michigan used
Ojala's performance to even the series with a 6-0
shutout.
The second game began with a Michigan hit parade,
as the Wolverines shelled two Minnesota pitchers for 13
hits and five runs in only three innings.
Michigan (17-15 overall, 3-7 Big Ten) got all the
scoring they would need in the second inning. The
bottom of the order connected for -four consecutive
singles off Minnesota (12-17-1, 2-6) starter Chris
Lawler, capped by shortstop Dave Everly's infield hit to
extend the Wolverine lead to 2-0.
Two outs later, third baseman Tim Flannelly, who
drove in the first run of the game, connected on a 3-2
pitch for a bases-loaded single to drive in two more
runs.
"The thing that pleases me is to score six runs,
because we didn't score six runs the whole last weekend
(against Iowa)," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said.
"Maybe when the sun came out, it did something to our
bats."
Michigan added a controversial run in the fourth
inning when Matt Morse scored on an Andy Fairman
sacrifice fly to shallow leftfield. Greg Johnson's throw
to Gopher catcher Dan Wilson appeared to beat Morse;
however, Morse was called safe in the confusion
following the slide.
Minnesota coach John Anderson saw the play
differently than the umpires.
"I saw that there was a great play by the catcher,"
Anderson said. "He hung on to a short-hop throw, the
guy ran into him, and he came up with the baseball. I
assumed we had an out and we didn't get one. That's
baseball."
Dan Ruff finalized the scoring with a deep shot over
the centerfield fence, giving him his third hit of the day
and second home run of the season.
"I was just standing back on the ball," Ruff said.
"Usually I'm anxious and I'll pull my front shoulder off
and hit weak ground balls to the right side. But today I
was waiting on the ball and just trying to hit it up the
middle."
Defensively, Ojala (4-2) pitched seven innings,
striking out four while walking only two. Michigan
was never seriously threatened as three of the four hits
he allowed were infield singles.
In the opening game, Minnesota used its star pitcher
to stifle the Wolverine bats. Lowery, whose 4.15 ERA
entering the game was a team high, allowed just one
run in seven innings, improving his record to 3-3.
See GOPHERS, Page 4
DAVID LUBUNER/De
Michigan pitcher Kirt Ojala is set to deliver in yesterday's home contest against Minnesota. The Wolverines
split the doubleheader winning the second game 6-0 after losing 4-1 in the first game. Michigan will face
Minnesota tomorrow at Ray Fisher Stadium to make up for Saturday's washout.
'M' track and field
sloshes MSU, 89-57
MEN'S LACROSSE:
Defense keys club's
weekend sweep
by Jared Entin
Daily Sports Writer
It was cold and wet in East
Lansing, but the Michigan men's
track team fought off the elements as
well as Michigan State for their first
dual meet win of the season.
Saturday, the Wolverines (1-0)
defeated a depleted Spartan (0-1)
squad, 89-57.
One of the meet's stars was
senior thrower Warde Manuel.
Manuel led the Michigan sweep of
the javelin throw with a toss of 169
feet, 4 inches. Mike Hennessey and
Alex Sarafin rounded out the event
with respective throws of 147-8 and
142 feet even.
In the shot put, Manuel again
captured a first-place finish with a
heave of 45-3. Hennessey finished
second again with a toss of 44-9.
* Because of State's personnel
inadequacies, they did not enter any
shotputters.
The Spartans also did not enter
anyone in the pole vault, so all Brad
Darr, Mike Carson and John Cook
had to do was clear opening height
to earn points for Michigan. All
successfully leapt 11 feet. After they
cleared the opening height, coach
Jack Harvey told them to stop
0 because of the poor weather,so Darr
will have to wait until next week's
Kansas relays to attempt an 18-foot
jump.
Senior Jeff Barnett ran a 9:18.59
and newcomer Matt Smith ran a
9:27.02 to finish one-two in the
steeplechase.
In the 4x100 meter relay, State
edged out Michigan by less than a
fifth of a second to capture first.
But in the 1,500 meter run,
Michigan stunned the Spartans, who
usually have great strength in the
distance events. Dan Oden's first
place finish, in 3:54.99, and junior
Joe Mc-Kown's third place finish, in
a time of 3:56.20, secured the Blue
win.
"Oden was a real unexpected
surprise," Harvey said. "He is only a
freshman by eligibility, he's defi-
nitely a going to be a factor in the
future."
In the half mile, Michigan again
surprised State, as junior Neal New-
man left the poor weather conditions
behind and ran a 1:52.74. Senior
Kraig Watkins missed second place
by two hundredths of a second and
garnered third with a 1:53.28 run.
Switching back to the field
events, Brad Holwerda also rose
above the poor weather with a leap
of 6-10 1/4 to capture first place in
the high jump. The battle for second
was decided on misses at 6-4.
Unfortunately, rookie Dan Reddan
missed, and could get only a third
place.
In the discus, Hennessey and
Manuel finished their days with
See SPARTANS, page 2
by Phil Green
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan lacrosse club fin-
ished its Big Ten regular season with
what was definitely its easiest vic-
tory of the season, a 1-0 forfeit
victory over Indiana Saturday night.
However, the Wolverines faced a
much tougher opponent against Lake
Forest Friday.
Michigan jumped out to a 13-5
halftime lead, but Lake Forest would
not die. The varsity team from Illi-
nois came back in the second half,
outscoring the Wolverines, 8-2. But
that wasn't enough as Michigan (10-
3 overall, 5-1 Big Ten) held on for a
15-13 win.
Although it was a high scoring
game, the key for the Wolverine
victory proved to be tough defense
down the stretch.
"It was a real gut check to hold
on like that. They were determined
and skilled, and in better shape than
us since they're varsity," coach Bob
Digiovanni said. "We held on main-
ly because of our defense."
Junior midfielder Rich Balenger
and senior defenseman Rich Schimel
helped lead the effort. But the real
defensive stars were goalie Rob Di-
giovanni and midfielder Adam
Bovone.
Digiovanni turned away 23 shots,
many of which came from point
blank range and on fast breaks, but
needed a replacement when he picked
up a one minute penalty late in the
contest.
With the Wolverines' second
string goalie out of the lineup, coach
Digiovanni looked to Bovone to
hold off Lake Forest. The move
proved successful, as Bovone made
one save during his scoreless minute
in between the pipes.
Michigan's next opponent will
be Western Michigan in Ann Arbor
Wednesday. "I expect that it will be
one of the easiest team's on our
schedule," Digiovanni said.
The Broncos provide the Wolver-
ines with their last competition be-
fore the Big Ten Club League
Lacrosse Tournament next weekend
at Northwestern.
Michigan attacker Matt Oliver attempts to elude a defender in Friday
night's 15-13 win over Lake Forest. The Wolverines also defeated Indiana
1-0 when the Hoosiers forfeited.
Golf team disappoints
in West Virginia invite
by Andrew Brown
Daily Sports Writer
After last week's impressive per-
formance, the Michigan men's golf
team expressed a lot of optimism.
After this week, the team does not
know what to say.
In a very disappointing effort, the
Wolverines placed 17th out of the 21
teams at the Marshall Invitational in
* Huntington, West Virginia, with a
score of 921 (308-309-304).
"I am very disappointed. We flat
out stunk," coach Jim Carras said.
Kent State won the 54 hole
tournament with a combined score of
875.
David Morland of Kent State
took the individual honors with a
score of 213, including a course rec-
ord 66 on the last round. For the
0 Wolverines, senior captain Tom
Paton was the only player to shoot
One of the biggest disappoint-
ments was fifth-year senior Chris
Pond, who began the season as
Michigan's most consistent player.
He has hit difficulties recently.
"Chris has the capabilities of
shooting par at any time," Carras
said. "He should be the number one
player and he is playing like a 3, 4,
or 5 man."
The team has been up and down
all season but this past weekend was
probably the team's lowest point.
"Right now I am questioning our
capabilities," Carras added. "We have
question marks throughout the line-
up and I really do not know whether
we are competitive.
"The problem is that we are not
getting the play from the bottom of
the lineup. Right now, I have noth-
by Mike Gill
Daily Basketball Writer
Michigan basketball coach Steve
Fisher sat in his office last Monday
morning looking relaxed in his
navy blue polo shirt and white v-
neck sweater. Yet he knew what
soon would be coming. His
expected prime time player for next
year, Sean Higgins, would later in
the week announce the expected -
that he would turn pro.
The past two months differ so
much from the joy ride March and
April took Fisher on last year.
First, he did not win the expected
Big Ten championship. Then, an
early exit from the NCAA
tournament doomed him. Eric
Montross, the prize high school
star whom Fisher hoped would keep
Michigan in the upper-echelons of
the nation, announced Dean Smith
and North Carolina would be his
coach and school of choice. And he
was waiting for Higgins to desert
him too, as four prime graduating
seniors were forced to.
"This is the nature of the
business and I'm doing it now from
the head coaches' chair," Fisher
said. "Our season ended all too soon
for all of us. We were beaten on
that day by a team no one in
America could have beaten. You're
JURY STILL
OUT ON
FISHER
Coach prepares for life without
1988-89 championship starters
admitted. "It takes you a while to
get over. But that's the nature of
what we have to do. We have to
march forward and we're doing
that."
The future is not too bright,
especially considering what Fisher
inherited last year. When the little-
known assistant catapulted to the
head coaching position, he grabbed
the reigns and led Michigan to the
national championship. Then,
almost a year from this date, Fisher
was named permanent head coach.
A year later, the Cinderella story
seems to be slipping.
Does he feel emptiness?
"I don't know if emptiness is
the right word," Fisher said. "There
was a period of maybe wishing we
were still there (in the tournament),
that we were still practicing. I think
disappointment might be a better
word than emptiness. And also
disappointment that we were losing
the seniors that have done so much
for the program over their careers."
When the 1989-90 season
dawned on the Wolverines,
expectations were high. They
returned four starters from a squad
that "shocked the world," to use a
term they invented. In addition,
their three-point threat, Higgins,
would move into the starting
a
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