'M' baseball suffers first losing season in 21 years The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition-Sports -Thursday, September 10, 1992- Page 9 Softball wins Big Ten title, personal awards -V by Tim Spolar Daily Baseball Writer In a year of streaks, the Michigan baseball team ended on a down- swing, resulting in the team's first losing season in 21 years. The Wolverines played their first 19 games away from home. Michigan emerged from its first 14 games at 2-12. In the 13 games following a loss to Purdue in the Big Ten opener, Michigan lost only one contest and *boasted a 7-2 conference record. "Even though we dropped a lot of games (early in the season), we learned a lot," second baseman Scott Timmerman said at the time. "We just learned what it takes to win ballgames." Unfortunately for the Wolverines, lessons learned are not always lessons remembered. After their outstanding late-March to mid-April stretch, the Wolverines plummeted. Michigan faltered in the heart of the conference schedule, dropping three out of four games in each series against Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan State, Penn State, and eventual champion Ohio State en route to a paltry 11-17 Big Ten mark and a ninth-place finish. Although the Wolverines racked up a school-record 32 losses against 23 wins, a few bright spots did stand out in Michigan's season. Centerfielder Steve Buerkel, short- stop Scott Winterlee and second baseman Scott Timmerman each topped the elusive .300 mark while providing consistency up the middle of the field. Two-sport athlete Nate Holdren led the team with seven home runs and also chipped in with 23 RBI's when not at spring football practice. Highlights from the mound were few and far between, with the final team ERA standing at 5.57. Bullpen ace Todd Marion became the all- time Michigan career saves leader, finishing with 24, but was hit hard towards the end of the season and finished with a 6.68 ERA and an 0-2 record. Ron Hollis was a standout in his four starts, compiling a 3-1 record with a 3.68 ERA. Bryan Santo also pitched well out of the bullpen, picking up a win and a save with a team-best 2.03 ERA in eigh- teen appearances as the primary setup man for Marion. by Meg Belson Daily Sports Writer History was made at Michigan this past spring as the softball team captured its first ever Big Ten Championship. The title gave the Wolverines an automatic bid to the NCAA tourna- ment. Michigan faced Arizona (53- 5) in the postseason regional in Tucson, Ariz. Michigan came close to an upset in the first game of the three-game series, but couldn't hold on as it fell to the Wildcats, 1-0. Arizona, the defending national champion and No. 2 seed, was more convincing in the second game, eliminating Michigan with an 8-0 victory. Michigan began the season com- peting in several preseason tourna- ments. The Wolverines finished the preseason with a 12-12 record, but received valuable experience as they battled some of the top softball pow- erhouses in the nation. The Big Ten season began in early April against Northwestern at Michigan's newly renovated Varsity Diamond. Michigan split the four- game series, but came back to win ten straight conference games on the road, including sweeps against Penn State and Indiana. The road was where Michigan captured the Big Ten title. The Wolverines were 14-0 on the road # and ended the season with their, fourth sweep of the year in Minnesota against the Gophers. Michigan won the Big Ten with a league-record 22 victories against six defeats. It was a close race all the way to the finish as the Wolverines finished just one game ahead of" Iowa (21-7). The Wolverines dominated the Big Ten postseason awards. Patti Benedict and Kelly Kovach were named All-Big Ten first team, while the second team featured Mary Campana, Kari Kunnen, and Karla Kunnen. Rookie pitcher Kovach (19- 9) was named Pitcher of the year and Freshman-of-the-Year, while Benedict, who batted .366, was named Player-of-the-Year. Benedict. was also named to the third team All-American. Shelley Bawol,, Heather Lyke and Kelly Forbis were named to the Academic All-Big Ten team. Hutchins completed the sweep by winning Coach-of-the-Year. The Michigan baseball team (23-32) had its first losing season in 21 years. 'Blue crew qualifies all boats in tourney final by Greg Richardson Daily Sports Writer I The Michigan crew team used its size and depth to its advantage dur- ing the 1992 season. The large number of both male and female rowers benefited the team this year, and ensured a pro- iuctive squad for some years to come. At the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) tour- nament in Oak Ridge, Tenn., both crew teams put all of their boats into the finals. Only three other crews besides Michigan were able to match the feat. The Wolverines came very close to overtaking the third-place Virginia Cavaliers at several points during the tournament. Michigan's squad made many fourth- or fifth- place showings. Michigan's varsity men clocked in at 6:12 in their final, finishing six seconds behind Virginia. The Wolverine varsity women posted a time of 7:20, eight seconds short of the Cavaliers. Women's varsity coach Charley Sullivan said he was pleased about his squad's improvement and progress during the 1992 season. He and men's varsity coach Will Brewster agreed that the Wolverines have surpassed almost every other crew in the Midwest. Sullivan added that Michigan is right where Virginia was three years ago. 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