Women's Tennis Football
vs. Minnesota Blue-White Game
Saturday, 11 a.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Liberty Sports Complex Michigan Stadium
theM ,ia Daily Thursday, April 8, 1993 Page 8
....;. ..< i3 '> Blue hitters fall short in ninth,
. a@|: G lose 4-2 to Eastern Michigan
0
by Brett Johnson
Daily Baseball Writer
YPSILANTI - One day it's the
fielding, other days it's the hitting
and the next day it's the pitching. It
seems that every time the Michigan
baseball team (0-8 Big Ten, 5-23
overall) plays, one or more of these
phases of the game do not show up.
Yesterday at Eastern Michigan
(14-7), the Wolverines didn't do a
bad job at any of the three phases.
They just didn't do enough to win.
"When you lose it's hard to be
encouraged, especially when we've
lost ten in a row now," Michigan
coach Bill Freehan said.
The Eagles built a two-run lead
by the fifth inning and hold on for
the 4-2 victory despite a Michigan
rally in the top of the ninth.
The major problem for the
Wolverines was walks. The old
adage "walks will haunt" came true
as three of EMU's four runs came
around after they were given free
passes to first base.
"Pitching is really going to be a
key," Freehan said. "We walked a
couple of guys and those guys
scored when we had two outs. Those
things hurt. You just can't walk
people."
The Eagles got a run on the
scoreboard in the bottom of the first
to take the early lead. With one out,
starting pitcher Eric Heintschel
walked T.D. Denney, and Mike
Wiseley followed him with a single
to put runners on first and second.
Second baseman Jim Bostock then
singled to bring home Denney.
The Wolverines came back im-
mediately with the tying run in the
top of the second off Eagle starter
Dan Scutchfield. Scott Winterlee
singled and then stole second. It was
the first hit of what would prove to
be a four-for-four day for the senior
shortstop. With two outs, designated
hitter Kevin Crociata singled in
Winterlee and the score was knotted
at one.
Heintschel went on to post three
scoreless innings before he reached
his pitch limit. Regular starter Ron
Hollis (1-5) then came out in the bot-
tom of the fifth and promptly gave
up a single to Jason LaJoice and then
walked Denney. The outfield then
shifted towards left field when
Wiseley stepped up to the plate.
Wiseley pulled the ball into the va-
cant rightfield area for a triple, and
the Eagles took a 3-1 lead.
"Wiseley hits the ball the other
way," Freehan said. "Ronny (Hollis)
is bright. It's not like there was lack
of knowledge. He just hit a breaking'
ball and pulled it."
In the sixth, Hollis struck out the
first two batters he faced. He then
walked Tim Tessmar and Brandon
Belli, and LaJoice followed with a
single to give EMU a 4-1 lead.
Meanwhile, Eagles relief pitcher
Fred Londo shut down Michigan.
Londo entered the game in the fourth
with a runner on first and no outs
and pitched through the eighth.
The Wolverines had one last shot
to beat the Eagles. Winterlee com-
pleted his four-hit game with a sin-
gle and then Brian Simmons hit a
ball towards second which looked as
if it would be a double play.
However, the second baseman
pulled up on the ball, and it skipped
to his right. By the time he was able
to recover, Winterlee had reached
second and Simmons was on first.
The error gave the Wolverines two
base runners and a last life.
After Eagles pitcher Steve Herbst
settled down to record two outs,
catcher Scott Niemiec knocked in
Winterlee on a single through the
hole between third and shortstop.
Kevin Crociata then walked to leave
the bases loaded for the Wolverines'
Michigan junior pitcher Chris Newton delivers in a game earlier this season. Eastern Michigan prevailed over the
Wolverines by a 4-2 margin in Ypsilanti yesterday. Michigan has now lost 10 straight games.
AROUNDTHEHORN:
Hitters aren't going anywhere at this rate
by Michael Rosenberg
Daily Baseball Writer.
YPSILANTI - OK, so they
were down 4-1 in the ninth inning.
But something weird was happening
to the Michigan baseball team -
weird, at least, for the Wolverines.
Here's Scott Winterlee, stroking
a single up the middle. Here's Sean
Coston, striking out. One out. Here's
Brian Simmons, hitting ... well,
reaching first on an error. (Hey,
when you're 5-22, you take what
you can get.)
Could this be ... a rally?
Here's Pat Maloney, going down
on strikes. Still, only two outs.
Here's Scott Niemec, poking one
through the hole to leftfield, scoring
Winterlee. 4-2. Here's Kevin
Crociata, walking on four pitches.
Bases loaded. Up comes sophomore
Rodney Goble, the team's leading
hitter, with a .435 batting average
and a .605 slugging percentage.
Goble is also red hot. He has gone
six for his last eleven.
In the dugouts, the two coaches
are thinking the same thing.
"I'm not unhappy with that
matchup," Michigan's Bill Freehan
will say later.
"Except for maybe Winterlee,
there's no one you would rather have
up there, from their point of view,"
EMU's Roger Coryell will say later.
Goble grounds out to the second
baseman. Eastern wins, 4-2.
Michigan's losing streak reaches
double digits.
Goble did nothing wrong,
Freehan points out later. The pitch
was a strike.
"We teach our hitters to be ag-
gressive," Freehan said. "I have no
problem with him swinging at that
pitch."
Such is life for Michigan these
days. It has its best hitter up with a
chance to win the game, and still it
cannot win.
Freehan is not encouraged by his
team. How can he be? The
Wolverines have not won in three
weeks. Sometimes the fielding fails.
Other times Michigan simply can't
hit. The pitching has often been dis-
appointing, as well. Always, the
Wolverines lose.
"I'm not worried about the other
team," Freehan has said over and
over during the streak. "I'm worried
about our team."
It does not look like Bill Freehan
will stop worrying any time soon.
Winterlee
leading hitter, Rodney Goble.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines,
Gobel grounded to second, and the
hopes of a Michigan victory ended.
"Rodney has played well for us,"
Freehan said. "It was just one of
those things. He's who'd you want
to have, if you were going to do it,
but we didn't."
:
'M' baseball looks to snap losing
streak against Saginaw Valley
by Brett Johnson
Daily Baseball Writer
Someone once said, "Baseball is
a simple game. You hit the ball,
throw the ball, and catch the ball."
Unfortunately for the Michigan
baseball team (0-8 Big Ten, 5-23
overall), it has simply not done any
of these things very well so far this
season.
Today, the Wolverines get an-'
other chance to start turning around
their play as they host Saginaw Val-
ley (9-5 pending Thursday's game)
at Ray Fisher stadium. Michigan is
coming off of a 4-2 loss yesterday at
Eastern Michigan, its 10th straight
defeat, and is looking for its first win
since March 21 at Alabama.
Michigan coach Bill Freehan ex-
pects to give a lot of pitchers work
against Saginaw. "We'll probably
pitch a whole bunch of guys, some
of the guys that didn't pitch today,"
Freehan said. "I think (Chris) New-
ton will start the game and Humbles
and some other guys will come out
of our bullpen."
It's been hard to find many bright
spots for the Wolverines, but the
hitting of the outfielders has been a
plus. Rodney Goble, Scott Weaver,
Pat Maloney and Brian Simmons
share the three outfield spots and
carry four of the team's top five bat-
ting averages (BA). Weaver, a
freshman, is also tied for the lead in
homers and leads the team in runs
batted in (RBI).
Ryan Van Oeveren holds the
other top-five batting spot (fourth,
with a .293 BA), but has not played
since separating his shoulder against
EMU March 31. In addition, All-Big
Ten second baseman Scott Tim-
merman broke his thumb in the same
game, and it is still unknown when
he will return.
Another bright spot has been
closer Todd Marion. Marion has
pitched 16.1 innings and is 0-1 with
a 0.55 earned run average (ERA).
He has also added three saves to his
Michigan school record of 27.
Unfortunately for the
Wolverines, they have not been able
to get to Marion very often this year.
The starting pitching has not been
good and the middle relief has been
even worse, as the team's 6.47 ERA
attests.
The Cardinals are off to a good
start this season but have not faced
the competition that Michigan has
played. Saginaw has demonstrated a
potent offense with six starters hit-
ting over .300.
Shortstop Mike Bloomfield leads
the onslaught with a .382 batting
average and 15 runs batted in. Two
other Cardinals hit at better than a
.365 clip, outfielder Randy '
Bukowski and catcher Tim Madden.
Madden also leads the team in
homers with three.
However, pitching has been the
biggest problem for Saginaw. Al-
though its top two pitchers have sub-
2.50 earned run averages, the rest of
the staff has not been as effective.
"I'll look at (Saginaw) tomor-
row," Freehan said. "My concern is
us, not the opposition."
01
MICIGAN SPORTS ROUNDUP:
'M' coaches to get medals for Olympics,
from staff reports
Michigan coaches Dick Kimball,
Jon Urbanchek, and Greg Gio-
vanazzi will be awarded medals for
their participation in the 1992
Summer Olympic Games, the
National Association of Collegiate
Directors of Athletics (NACDA)
announced.
NACDA, with the approval of
the U.S. Olympic Committee
(USOC), is going to present the
awards to coaches of U.S. Olympic
teams which won medals. The cere-
mony will take place at the NACDA
Convention, June 8.
This will mark the first time that
coaches have been given medals for
the Olympic achievements of their
athletes. Traditionally, medals have
been bestowed upon athletes only.
long overdue," Mike Cleary, Execu-
tive Director of NACDA, said. "We
also wanted to extend our apprecia-
tion to the colleges and universities
and their athletic directors for releas-
ing the coaches from their institu-
tional duties to guide the Olympic
athletes and teams."
The Wolverine coaches to be
honored are Kimball, Michigan's
diving coach, Urbanchek, men's
swimming coach; and Giovanazzi,
the volleyball coach.
out five while scattering seven hits
to pitch an 8-0 victory. The shutout
was her third straight and sixth of
the season, raising her record this
year to 10-2.
Those ten wins are the most
Forbis, a three-time letterwinner, has
tallied in one season. She had nine,
eight and eight victories in her first
three years. She now has a career
mark of 35-25.
While Forbis is not a threat to
Vicki Morrow's Wolverine record of
65 career wins, four more victories
would move her into third place on
the Michigan all-time career victory
list. Forbis is also fourth on the
Michigan all-time career innings-
pitched list, and holds the same spot
on the strikeout list.
While the Pitcher-of-the-Week
Forbis named
Big Ten Pitcler
nf the Wok
I