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