r. -. Page 12-The Michigan Daily- Friday, March 5,1993 Hitters hope. to do OK inOK by Paul Barger Daily Baseball Writer After the first nine games of the season, Michigan baseball coach Bill Freehan notices only a few minor ar- eas where his team needs improve- ment. "We need to improve our pitch- ing, hitting and defense," Freehan observed. He probably should have ranked those problems in the opposite order. The 2-7 Wolverines head to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sooners and the Iowa State Cyclones with 19 errors under their belts. When you score four times and your pitching staff gives up no earned runs, you expect a victory. However, against Missouri last weekend, the Wolverines were able to create more runs in the field (five unearned) than they were at the plate, and they fell to the Tigers, 5-4. Michigan had trouble hitting last weekend with men on base. The team stranded 76 runners, an average of 8.4 per game. The strength of the batters lies in the younger players, with sophomore Rodney Goble (.400 BA) and freshman Brian Simmons (12 hits) leading the way. The squad begins the three-day series with Oklahoma today and has a lone encounter with Iowa State tomorrow morning. "Oklahoma is a good baseball club," Freehan said. "They were a College World Series team last year." The pitching staff lacks depth, but it excelled in giving up a sole earned run in the final three games of last week's trip. This weekend, Freehan plans to send Eric Heintschel (0-1; 1.69 ERA), Ron Hollis (0-1; 3.46) and Heath Murray (2-0; 2.84) against Oklahoma, and Ray Ricken (0-2, 14.09) against Iowa State. Freehan does not express com- plete unhappiness with the team's performance, but he insists on steady improvement throughout the year. "We're just trying to improve and win some baseball games," Freehan said. "That's what it's all about." Wrestlers take on conferenc by Michael Rosenberg Daily Sports Writer This weekend's Big Ten wrestling championships will feature heavyweights at every weight class. Six of the conference's teams reside in the top 10 nationally, led by top- ranked Penn State and No. 3 Iowa. The Hawkeyes will shoot for their twentieth straight Big Ten title. No other school has won that many con- secutive Big Ten titles in any sport. Michigan, at No. 8, figures to be in the thick of things. Five Wol- verines rank in the top 20 nationally. One of those ranked wrestlers is Sean Bormet, No. 3 at 158 pounds. Over the past year, the injury bug has chewed Bormet up and spit him out. Bormet missed all of the 1992 postseason because of a knee injury, and he has been bothered by an aching back this season. Bormet fi- nally appears to be at 100 percent. "I haven't had any problems with (the back) lately," Bormet said. "I don't think I will (have) any more (problems.)" "Bormet's going to be real tough," Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson said. "He's the guy I e powers would worry about most (at 158.)" Another strong contender for a Big Ten title is Michigan's Lanny Green. Green, ranked fourth in the country, will probably wrestle de- fending national champion Kevin Randleman of Ohio State if he makes it to the finals. Green handed Randleman his first loss in nearly two years earlier this season at the Cliff Keen Team Duals. Randleman won the rematch two weeks later. "I can't let him get out in front of me early," Green said. "I have to stay with him and try to pull it out at the end." Bahr agreed. "(Randleman's) a phenomenal athlete - maybe the best athlete in our sport," Bahr said. "He has the ability to go out and really beat any- one." Bahr said he feels that despite Penn State's No. 1 status, Iowa will again prevail. Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson agreed. "I think (Iowa coach Dan) Gable has the best team," Hellickson said. "I think we'll finish second, with Penn State third, Michigan fourth, and Minnesota fifth." 01 James Rawls (142 pounds) wrestles a Minnesota foe earlier this season. Michigan will look to make up for losses against Minnesota and Ohio State at the Big Ten championships today and tomorrow in Columbus. The meet promises to be a good one, with perennial national powers Iowa and Penn State ranking as favorites. Reality knocks on women cagers' door by Rachel Bachman Daily Basketball Writer If the Michigan women's basket- ball team's season thus far has been a fairy tale, Hans Christian Anderson is rolling over in his grave. That reality doesn't mean that the Wolverines (0-14 Big Ten, 1-22 overall) don't have fantasies about how the season will end. "I'd like it to end like 'Cinderella' because everything bad was happening to her, then all of a sudden everything turns out good," said senior guard Stacie McCall. "Well, I hope it has a happy end- ing," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. The Wolverines' latest attempts to escape reality come tonight against Illinois (6-8, 11-12) and to- morrow against Northwestern (10-4, 16-7). Both games are at 7:30 at Crisler Arena. One month ago, the Wolverines lost by 20 points on the road to the Illini, who are now sixth in the Big Ten. "I don't think it was a 20-point game," Roberts said. She expressed the sentiment found throughout the Wolverine camp that neither the win-loss record nor the scores of their games have accurately reflected Michigan's efforts. With freshman guard Robin Preacely (14.5 points per game) as their leading scorer, the Illini bolster their offensive attack with long range field goal shooter Mandy Cunningham. Last year, the junior guard became Illinois' career leader in three-point shots, and this year has a 34 percent success rate. Along with Penn State, 'As a coach, you try to rack your brain and find good things about the season. There's not very many good things about the season.' -Trish Roberts Northwestern is a conference foe the Wolverines face just once this sea- son. While Michigan has no prior meeting upon which to judge the Wildcats, Roberts looked to polls and past Northwestern squads to as- sess Michigan's chances. "They're number four in the Big Ten (right now) and have always been a very strong, competitive team. They have a lot of good bas- ketball players, not necessarily a lot of good athletes," said Roberts. Although they have not cracked the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the Wildcats have received votes and currently boast a four-game win- ning streak. McCall and senior guard Jen Nuanes will return from brief ab- sences tonight for the seniors' last two home games. They - along with the rest of the Wolverines - are hoping for a joyous conclusion to their Michigan careers. Forward Shimmy Gray would like their farewell to Crisler to end like "Jack and the Beanstalk": with the struggling Wolverines scam- pering down the losing vine to elude the Giants of the Big Ten. No matter how the season fin- ishes, though, not even someone with a Peter Pan complex can ignore the team's experiences thus far. As Roberts said, "As a coach, you try to rack your brain and find good things about the season. There's not very many good things about the season." Spikers intend on giving up losses for weekend road trip by Jeremy Strachan When asked what she wished the Daily Sports Writer team could give up for Lent, It's that time of year when some Michigan coach Pam Griffin said, "I people battle with their will power. wish we could give up traveling to Forty days in the spring known as Friday games in the snow." Lent force Christians to sacrifice So what do some of the players foods and activities. The Michigan wish they could sacrifice? men's volleyball team is trying to Freshman Justin Biebel said, "I give up losing altogether. would give up our poor serving in The Wolverines sludge through the matches. You need momentum the slushy stuff to Angola, Ind. to in the game and serving gives you take on the Tri-State University the chance to build it." Momentum this weekend. Michigan "I would like to give up going to will battle Tri-State Friday and hang five games in every match we play," around for an eight-team tourna- sophomore Chad Engel said. ment Saturday. This weekend the Wolverines The spikers will see a familiar would like to make Tri-State sacri- face across the net. Rico Latham, the fice the match. The "short and Wolverines' 1992 co-captain and scrappy (Tri-State) team" is a varsity most valuable player, is now starting program with several players on for the Momentum and is one of scholarships, but Michigan remains their premier players. confident. 0 r Solutions from your Apple Campus Reseller: a lot of Macintosh for an affordable price. Te bestvestmen statwihinside ifrai 01 Built-in video support lets you ad up to a 16"Apple display with 256 colors. It runs over 4,000 Macintosh Comn programs. which all work in the same. consistent, intuitive way -4A-di . i A screaming 25 AIHz 68030 microprocessor helps the Macintosh LC III computer run up to 50%f.ster Its internal disk drive comes in tha itsbss-e2 ngpreeceso three b sirs. s 40M h 80MB or 16eMa So you can store lots of papers.__ letters, notes, ideas. Add up to seven external hard disk drives, scanners or other devices through the SCSI port. 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