Men's Swimming and Diving Women's Basketball at Big Ten Championships vs. Illinois Thursday, all day Friday, 7:30 pm. Indianapolis, Ind. Crisler Arena TeMichigan TDaily Tedy ac ,93Page8 .I 0 Southern teams run circles around hitters 'M' tries to avoid sweep by Hawkeyes by Paul Barger Daily Sports Writer The Michigan baseball team began its season on the road against some of the nation's toughest compe- tition, and returned to Ann Arbor with a 2-7 record. The journey began Feb. 20 in Gainesville where the club chal- lenged the University of Florida. This game was a sign of things to come as the squad blew a late-inning lead and fell to the Gators, 10-9. Lat- er that day Florida handed Michigan a much more decisive defeat, 17-6. After losing to the Gators, 6-4, Feb. 21, the Wolverines salvaged the first leg of thr trip with an 11-5 tri- umph the next afternoon. From this point the team packed up their bags and headed south to take on the pow- erful Miami Hurricanes. The 'Canes pulled out a one-run victory Wednesday and then smacked Michigan pitching around for an 8-1 triumph Thursday. Howev- er, beginning with the last five innings of the second Miami game, the staff gave up one earned run in the final 32 innings. Unearned runs were the story in the 5-4 loss to Missouri. All of the Tigers' scoring came by way of Wolverine errors. In fact, the club has a total of 19 errors after nine games. "We need to improve defensive- ly," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said. "We need to improve our defense if we want to win the close ones...." The Wolverines finished up the trip with a spot in the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by South Alabama. In the opening round of the two-round tournament, Michigan defeated Auburn, 4-0, behind the strong arm of sophomore lefty Heath Murray. Murray was the winning pticher in both victories, pitching 12.7 innings with a 2.84 ERA. The week ended the same way it started, as the Wolverines lost anoth- er one-run battle. This time it was to Missouri, 1-0, in the championship game of the South Alabama tourna- ment. That one run is significant because it was the first earned run a Wolverine pitcher had given up in 26 consecutive innings. Eric Heintschel had some bad luck on the trip. Despite compiling a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings, Heintschel is 0-1 after three games. He gave up two hits against Missouri in 7.1 innings, but was saddled with the loss as his teammates could not aid him with any run production. "Overall, I'm not unhappy," Free- han said. "But we have a lot of room for improvement." by Adam Miller Daily Basketball Writer Surely you remember, for it was only a month ago. As the clock ticked down to zero at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Feb.1, the jubilant Iowa men's basketball team, 88-80 victors over Michigan in its first home game after the death of Chris Street, streamed across the sidelines to hug the Street family, sit- ting in the front row. While 15,000 Hawkeye fans cheered, the Wolverines silently left the court, their four-game winning streak snapped on national TV. Michigan coach Steve Fisher said his players remember, and that the memory will probably motivate them when No. 4 Michigan (11-3 Big Ten, 22-4 overall) hosts No. 15 Iowa (8-5, 19-8) in an ESPN-televised game tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Crisler Arena. "I think (revenge) will be an issue," Fisher said. "Our kids remem- ber going there and losing. But I don't think it will be a factor so much as our desire to win these last four games, be a solid second in the con- ference, and wrap up a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament." Ah, yes, the tournament. The bracket is settled one week from Sun- day, and both the Wolverines and Hawkeyes look to be a part of it. Iowa has only lost twice -since last month's meeting with the Wolver- ines, and rolls into Crisler with a five- game winning streak. Much of the Hawkeyes' success comes from their rebounding ability. Paced by 6-foot-10 senior center Acie Earl's 9.5 rebounds a game, the Hawkeyes lead the nation in rebounding margin with a plus-13.9 per game ratio. Last time, Michigan limited Earl to six boards and the Wolverines out- rebounded Iowa, 42-40. However, Fisher has often said that the Wolver- ines should control the glass against anybody - "and that includes the Detroit Pistons," he once quipped - and marked rebounding as one of the keys to success in tonight's contest. "We need to do a better job han- dling the press and rebounding than we did last time," Fisher said. "We need to take care of the ball and make sure they don't get easy baskets off the press, and we need to do much better on the boards." Fisher's concern with Iowa's full- court press should be seen as legiti- mate. The press forced Michigan into giving up four easy baskets off the inbounds, and a total of 20 turnovers, in the teams' last meeting. Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale call the game for ESPN. DOUGLAS KANTI Chris Webber dribbles upcourt in Sunday's 66-64 victory at Ohio State. Men's lacrosse returns from South with two wins I owa at Mi ch kia n by J.L. Rostam-Abadi During spring break, the Michigan men's lacrosse team captured two nearly perfect victo- ries, 24-3 and 17-0, against Louisiana State and Red River Lacrosse Club (RRLC) respectively. Top scorers from the two games were junior attackman Steve Simich, with 10 goals and six assists, for a total of 16 attack points, junior co- captain attackman Tony DiGiovanni (6-5-11), sophomore midfielder Ivan Frank (7-2-9), sopho- more attackman Sten Carlson (5-2-7), and senior co-captain midfielder Ranjiv Advani (3-2-5). Starting senior goalie Tony Martinez shined in the net, with a total of 11 saves while allowing no goals in the two games. After a brief break following their win over LSU, the Wolverines had a slow start in Shreve- port, La., where they matched up with RRLC. 'I think the trip was overall suc- cessful. We had some good practices and worked real hard-' - Bob DiGiovanni Michigan men's lacrosse coach After a scoreless first quarter and a motivational sideline talk, the Wolverines came out on the field with a determined attitude. Simich led the team with six goals on the way to its second shutout of the season, and moved the team record to an unblemished 3-0. "I think the trip was overall successful. We had some good practices and worked real hard," Michigan coach Bob DiGiovanni said. In addition to a well-executed offense and sol- id goalie play, the Wolverines' defense was a major reason why Michigan was able to hold the opposition off so well. Defensemen graduate stu- dent Steve Bishop, sophomores Brian Doud and Ben Hohmuth, and freshman Scott Van Aman stood out for the Wolverines. "Our defense played aggressively and kept the pressure on the opponent," Van Aman said. The Wolverines accomplished much last week. "We came together as a team both on and off the field," Tony DiGiovanni said. Michigan will play Ohio State for the first time ever this Saturday at 7 p.m., and then face Toledo on Monday, March 8 at 9:30 p.m. Both games will be held in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, located behind Schembechler Hall on State Street. Mihiave 50%r g *.: -Johnson & Johnson *Bnusch & LombI "A H Major Brands -Save 50% Lenses 100% Guaranteed 1-800-543-LENS Lens Direct Corporation 612 N.E. 12th St. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304 Softball finds sun, training in Arizona by Charlie Breitrose Daily Sports Writer Eight major league teams weren't the only ones having spring training in Arizona this past week. The Michigan softball team was also tun- ing up their hitting and pitching in the Grand Canyon State. The Wolverines played a pair of double headers the first weekend of spring break and competed in the Arizona State Devil Diamond Soft- ball Club the following weekend. Going into the trip, coach Carol Hutchins said she was hoping to clear up some questions about her team. "The goal was to see what we look like, to see what we have to improve on before the Big Ten sea- son," Hutchins said. "(We need to) see who our gamers are and see what our line-ups are going to be," she added, "That's what these pre-season trips are about." The Wolverines had plenty of competition to help work on these questions. Following the split of the double-header with Cal Poly- Pomona (0-2, 5-0), Michigan took on the No. 2 ranked Arizona Wild- cats. Although Michigan lost both games with the Wildcats, the pitching staff kept the first game close, 4-1. "(Michigan pitcher Kelly Forbis) did a good job against Arizona, one of the best teams in the country," Hutchins said, "(She) held them down most of the game." The hitters were not as successful as the pitchers, picking up only three hits in the first game and two in the second (which Michigan lost, 12-0). The hitting and pitching came together for the tournament in Tempe the following weekend. The Wolver- ines finished 6-1 in the tournament, defeating host Arizona State, San Diego State, and Sam Houston State three times, while splitting a pair with Washington. The Wolverine bats came alive, and leading the way were Patti Bene- dict and Lesa Arvia. Benedict had a couple of 2-for-3 games and a perfect 4-for-4 against Sam Houston State. "Patti Benedict is always going to hit the ball well," Hutchins said. "She's one of the best hitters in the country." Both Kelly Kovach and Forbis threw shutouts. Forbis held Washing- ton scoreless, allowing only one hit (7-0) in the first game of the tourney. While Kovach tossed a two hit shutout against Sam Houston State in the finale. Hutchins said she was pleased with her teams performance, but she said some areas are in need of work. "Once we clean up our hitting and pitching, we should continue to improve," Hutchins said. "We're a good, solid team." Royce Sharp performs in the backstroke in an event earlier this season at Michigan State. Men tankers giVe strong showing at Invitational U I a a WE DELIVER!!! 665-7777 by Brett Johnson Daily Sports Writer Although the majority of the men's swimming and diving team is resting for the Big Ten champi- onships, the Wolverines did have a few participants in the Michigan Invitational held at Canham Nata- torium this weekend. The invitational was a United States Swimming-sanctioned meet and included club teams from throughout the country in addition to college swimmers from around the Big Ten. The Michigan swimmers who will not be competing at the Big Tens used the meet as their own championship race to see how much they have improved over the behind Wenzel. Later Sunday night, freshman Courtney Faller won the 50 freestyle in a time of 20.82 sec- onds. Junior Matt Jaffe also com- peted in the finals, finishing sixth with a time of 22.05. In the 200- yard breaststroke, senior Greg Gooch swam a 1:52.15 to win the event. Freshman Joe Janik (1:55.93) also provided some excitement as he touched out Cincinnati Marlin's swimmer Johnathan Waldenmayer for fourth place. The Wolverines finished second and third in the 200-yard butterfly with senior Jim Hume and junior Tim Bower. In the final senior event of the night, Michigan trans- fer. C rnt Fii ..hn t..mnc cmnnrrn -TIT GAM- U of M vs. IOWA Watch the game on BIG screen T.V. Join us TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. GO BLUE!!! "' Ij S..