Page 12-The Michigan Daily- Thursday, February 18,1993 Hitters swing into Florida Consistent pitching key for Wolverines as season begins by Brett Johnson Daily Sports Writer Freshly cut grass. Pine tar. Resin. These are the smells that return to the air tomorrow as spring train- ing begins for major league baseball. Saturday, these aromas will cap- ture the attention of the Michigan baseball team for the first time this season. The Wolverines play a day/night doubleheader against Florida (4-1) in Gainesville to open what promises to be a challenging nine-game spring trip. "Our anticipation is high right now in terms of finding out what kind of team we're going to have," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said. The Wolverines are counting on a deep pitching staff for success this year. Eric Heintschel (5-8, 4.66 ERA) returns in his senior season to lead Michigan's starters. Heintschel led the team in wins last year and was named Michigan's most valu- able pitcher. Sophomores Ron Hollis and Ray Ricken will be the second and third starters with Heath Murray and Chris Newton looking for the fourth spot in the rotation. The bullpen is also solid as it re- Heintschel turns Michigan's all-time save leader Todd Marion (24) to the closer's role. Freehan expects that Matt Humbles, Chris Newton, Matt Ferullo, and freshman Mark Temple will make an impact in the bullpen. "The key to our team is our pitching staff," Freehan said. "The depth of our staff that has been shown in some of our workouts ... may be an asset to this baseball club." Offensively, the Wolverines will be counting on top returning hitters Scott Winterlee (.351 batting aver- age in 1992), Scott Timmerman (.301) and Kevin Crociata (.288). Winterlee will be making the move from shortstop to starting catcher, Timmerman was named first-team All-Big Ten second baseman, and Crociata will be counted on to play third. Filling out the infield will be either Toby Brzoznowski or Chad Chapman at first base and Ryan VanOeveren at shortstop. The starting outfield and desig- nated hitter slots are still up in the air. Starting in center will be fresh- man Brian Simmons, who hit .542 as a senior at Peters Township High School in Pennsylvania. Left field will also be manned by a new face, either Southern Cal- transfer Sean Coston or freshman Scott Weaver. Senior Pat Maloney or sophomore Rodney Goble will start in right field. The loss of injured clean-up hitter Nate Holdren leaves the team with- out a true power hitter until his re- turn in May. His absence is some- thing which worries Freehan. "He's (Holdren) come along well," Freehan said. "The knee re- construction he had just takes a long time - at least six months. Nate's a true power, true fourth hitter and not to have him really hurts. I think the whole team will have to step up. I don't know if we have anybody that's capable of doing what he was capable of." The Wolverines challenge Florida in the, first four contests of the spring trip. The Gators were ranked No. 21 in the USA Today preseason coaches' poll and return some key players from last season's 44-20 squad. The ace of the pitching staff is righthander Marc Valdes (10-3, 3.14). Valdes was ranked as the seventh- best college pitcher by Baseball America (BBA) and was a preseason second-team All-American. The of- fense is led by junior outfielders Brian Duva (.253, 4 home runs, 25 RBI) and Rick Britton (.306, 7, 39). After the stop in Gainesville, Fla., Michigan heads further south to Coral Gables, Fla., where it faces No. 2 Miami. The Hurricanes are coming off an impressive 1992 sea- son (55-10) but are having some problems so far this year. The 'Canes are 2-4 with three of the losses coming to No. 4 Texas and one to No. 27 Illinois. Miami is in a transition year as head coach Ron Fraser, pitching ace Jeff Alkire and PENN STATE Continued from page 10 This stunt, which could have led to a turnover, occurred with only a 10-point lead. So what of the killer instinct? Where was the ferocious Wol- verine attack? Despite opening up a number of large leads against the lesser beasts of the Big Ten, they have had much trouble finishing star catcher Charles Johnson are all gone. Fraser's long time pitching coach - Brad Kelley - has taken over the Miami program and has a good three-man pitching rotation to work with in sophomore Kenny Hender- son and juniors Silvio Censale and Jose Prado. Both Henderson and Censale are rated in BBA's list of top pitching prospects. Hitting-wise, the 'Canes lost five key bats from their lineup. The loss of first-round draft pick Johnson is a hole that may be hard to fill. The Wolverines close out their spring trip by playing against Missouri (0-0) and then compete in the South Alabama Tournament. Michigan, Missouri, South Alabama (NA), and Auburn (4-3) will part- icipate in the tournament. Missouri is coming off a third-place Big Eight finish last season and is led by shortstop Chris Wyrick and first baseman Rodney Weary. Michigan opens the tournament against Auburn and then faces either Missouri or South Alabama. Au- burn's top player is shortstop Bran- don Moore while South Alabama, the favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference, is led by pitcher Mark Thompson and the outstanding double-play combination of second baseman Pat Murphy and shortstop Scott Southard. Both Murphy and Southard were rated as players to watch by Baseball America. The Wolverines, however, are not concerning themselves with the other teams they will face. They are looking for -strong pitching perfor- mances and solid execution offen- sively and defensively. "We've got some arm strength just like they do (the opponents)," Freehan said. "We've just got to play well and see what we can do. We've got to pitch well and we've got to execute well because we're not going to have a lot of power to fall back on." them off. Just last Sunday, they let No. 1 Indiana off the hook from a nine-point, second-half deficit. Knowing this, something needs to be done. Everyone acknowledges the Big Ten race is all but over, and the title is of little use for mo- tivation. However, the NCAA tour- nament lurks right around the cor- ner. If the Wolverines give an emo- tional team the chance to come back in the tournament, it may be the last mistake they make. " DOUGLAS KANTEWDaily Senior Scott Timmerman gets caught in a rundown last season against Minnesota. The Wolverines open the 1993 season this weekend in Florida. Softb-alleam wll r to raze Arizona,AS London $459* Frankfurt $539* Paris $539* Rome $569* Fares are roundtrip from Detroit. Taxes not included and restrictions apply. Very flexible. Some tickets good for a year from date of issue. Call for other worldwide destinations. CoumcilTraMe 1220 S. University Avenue STE 208 Ann Arbor, MI 48104 313-998-0200 Call for a FRE cop of the Student Travels Magazine Wolverine Fitness Center Powerhouse Gym Absolutely The Lowest Rates In Town by Rachel Bachman Daly Sports Writer While many students cram into jam-packed Escorts tomorrow or board elbow-to-elbow charters bound for warm-weather destina- tions, the Michigan softball team will be doing ... the same thing. Well, not exactly. Trading waves for cacti and dusty playing fields, the team will head to Arizona, the site of two games and a tournament during spring break, as well as a preview battleground for some of the nation's top teams. Softball season will kick off Sunday in Tempe, against California-Poly-Pomona. The Arizona State Diamond Devil Softball Classic begins Feb. 24, and lasts four days. But the highlight of the weekend will be the game Tuesday against No. 2 Arizona. "Arizona is a dynasty in the making," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. The No. Idfinisher in the Pac-10 conference, Arizona leads the all- time series with Michigan, 5-1. Arizona's two most recent triumphs came at the end of last year, ending the Wolverines' run in the NCAA tournament. "There's no question that Arizona is the toughest team we'll play all year," Hutchins said. The coaching staff sees the tour- nament and the two other games as a chance to evaluate the six new freshmen on the team and to figure out who the starters will be. "We need to see who's the 'gamer' versus the 'practice play- er'," Hutchins said. After winning the Big Ten cham- pionship last year, the Wolverines are ranked 11th nationally and first in the Big Ten, the team's highest preseason rankings in its history. "Last year is over; this is 1993. Nobody cares that we won the Big Ten last year," Hutchins said. The coaching staff stressed that good pitching and good defense will be the keys to success this year. "I want this year to be consis- tent," Hutchins said. "That's how we won the (conference title) last year. Even though we lost three out of four to Iowa, the league favorite, we swept the teams that they didn't." Returning standouts from the 1992 title team include sophomore pitcher Kelly Kovach, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. "We need both her and (senior pitcher) Kelly Forbis to have consis- tently good performances every time they have an outing," Hutchins said. Leading a strong senior class is outfielder Patti Benedict, who has been in the top two in Big Ten hit- ting for the past three years. The Kunnen twins, catcher Karla and outfielder Kari, stayed among the top four in conference hitting last year. 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