Softball Basebai at Central Michigan (DH) vs. Indiana (DH) Tomorrow, 3 p.m. Today, noon Mount Pleasant Fisher Stadium h M i , Ai 1, 1, P 1 AROUND THE HORN Good field, good pitch propels 'M' by Charie Breitrose Daily Softball Writer Softball rallies to take three of four from Indiana You need to have good pitching to win- this is the clich6 that is heard over and over about baseball. But the thing that pitchers have to get to be successful is solid fielding. The Michigan softball pitchers benefit greatly from their infielders' play. "Yeah, (our infield) is really solid," Wolverine pitcher Kelly Kovach said. "I have a tendency to throw a lot inside, so a lot of balls get hit at Tracy Carr and Mary Campana, and Tracy's just been great at third, so that's like my dream.. "It's just really relaxing knowing that I can throw in- side and worry about killing them down there," she con- tinued. The beginning of the season was a bit rough for the team, with 20 errors in 11 games during the team's first tournament in Arizona. Four of Michigan's nine losses came during this excursion to the desert. Mary Campana, who Michigan coach Carol Hutch- ins calls "the key to our defense," has improved her play at shortstop considerably during the conference schedule. She and the rest of the infield - Carr at third, Kathryn Gleason at second and Michelle Silver at first - all have fielding percentages over .950. As a result, the Wolverines are second in the confer- ence standings. Kovach said she has been saved numerous times by her shortstop. "(Mary) took this one ball, it ricocheted off my leg," Kovach recalled. "I mean it was hit hard right at me - it went over to Mary, she saved it, threw it to first base .. totally out by a couple of steps. "She is just playing awesome, she's been great for us at short," Kovach said. The performance for the infielders is more impres- sive, considering half of them are freshmen. Carr and Gleason have come into their first season and played See FIELDING, Page 17 by Jesse Brouhard Daily Softball Writer The sky was the limit yesterday. Well, maybe not, but at least it was sunny and blue at times. For the Michigan softball team, though, things really didn't cheer up until the top of the seventh. The Wolverines entered the top of the seventh trailing Indiana (4-8 Big Ten, 18-14 overall) by a 5-2 margin. With the help of a seldom- used freshman and the clutch hitting of two veterans, Michigan (9-3, 25- 9) made a furious five-run comeback to defeat the Hoosiers, 7-5. Combined with their doubleheader- opening 6-2 victory, Michigan man- aged to take three victories in the four-game weekend series at Alumni Field. "We needed to win three of the four games at a minimum," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "This weekend was real important for us." The seventh started off with freshman Cheryl Pearcy pinch-hit- ting for second baseman Kathryn Gleason. Pearcy proceeded to find a gap in shallow centerfield and se- nior Kari Kunnen followed with a single to continue the Wolverine rally. Shortstop Mary Campana scorched her second hit of the game; a two-run triple, deep into right field Pearcy and Kunnen both came around to score on the blast. In total, five Wolverines scored in the inning. Kelly Forbis' im- proved pitching in the bottom of the inning clinched the win. Forbis was also credited with the win in the first contest of the day also, a 6-2 Michigan victory. Overall Forbis finished the day giving up two earned runs while pitching nine and two-thirds innings. According to Forbis, the relief appearance definitely was the finer of the two. "I didn't really feel that good be- fore the game today," Forbis said. "By the second game, though, m arm did feel better." The first two games of the series were not stellar ones for the Wolverines. Michigan managed to split the doubleheader 3-0, 7-1. The Wolverines suffered a monstrots collapse in the sixth inning of the second game to seal their defeat. Sis Hoosiers crossed the plate in the in- ning. "I think we pitched very well the first game. I don't think we pitched well the second game. We gave them too many chances," Hutchins said. "That last inning there they got See SOFTBALL, Page 17 Kelly Forbis pitched twice Sunday, earning two victories in Michigan's doubleheader sweep. Baseball splits two with Indiana by Antoine Pitts Daily Baseball Writer Home sweet home. After eight consecutive weekends on the road, the Michigan baseball team stayed home for a weekend se- ries at Fisher Stadium. The Wolverines' doubleheader against Indiana yesterday was their Big Ten home opener. Michigan (4-10 Big Ten, 12-25 overall) had its five-game winning streak snapped in the opener, 6-0, but came back to edge Indiana (8-6, 26-12)2-1, in the second game. Another great pitching perfor- mance by starter Ray Ricken (2-4) held off the Hoosiers in the finale to get the Wolverines back on the winning track. "Ray Ricken pitched, another outstanding game," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said. "That was a good one-run win - we haven't had that yet in the Big Ten." Ricken allowed just five hits in seven innings for the Wolverines. A fine defensive play in the second inning by centerfielder Brian Simmons took the Hoosiers out of the inning and kept Michigan on top. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Indiana's Joe Sturtz attempted to move the runners over.- The first pitch from Ricken sailed out of the strike zone and the Wolverines had a chance to nail Kyle Kramer straying off of second. Catcher Scott Niemiec's throw bounded past second baseman Scott Timmerman into centerfield. Kramer tried to advance to third base but Simmons' throw reached third in time to get Kramer. "Brian Simmons made just one, hellacious play," Freehan said. "He's got an outstanding arm and it showed today." "I was just backing up second base in case there was a play there," Simmons said. "The ball got through and they took a chance to try to get to third. I was fortunate enough to make the play." Ricken went on to retire the next two batters to retire the side and al- lowed only one hit and one walk for the final five innings. In the final in- ning, Freehan had a pitcher warming up but elected to stay with Ricken. "I had Todd Marion in the pen but I wanted to see what Ray could do," Freehan said. "The last two games I've seen (Ricken) pitch in- stead of throw. Early in the season (he) was more like a high school pitcher. I've seen more of a college pitcher the last two games out." d Indiana opened the game with a run in the first inning on two hits, an error and a hit batsman. It looked as if the Hoosiers would keep on at- tacking Michigan's pitching likb they had in the opener. See BASEBALL, Page 17 0 Sean Coston goes down on strikes in a game last week. This week saw Coston hit his first two collegiate homers. Men golfers finish seventh' at Firestone Invitational WHO: Beth Wymer TEAM: Women's Gymnastics HOMETOWN: Toledo, Ohio YEAR: Sophomore . ELIGIBILITY: Sophomore WHY: At the 1993 NCAA championships at Oregon State, Wymer became Michigan's first- ever national champion. She scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars to tie Agina Simpkins of Georgia for the title. Wymer placed fifth in the all-around and sixth in the uneven bars a year ago. BACKGROUND: Last year, as a freshman, Wymer was named the Wolverines' Most Valuable Performer after earning All-American status in the all-around and on the uneven bars. Those accomplishments earned Wymer Big Ten gymnast-of-the-year and freshman-of-the-year honors. Wymer also earned an Athletic-Academic Achievement award and All-Big Ten honors in her rookie campaign. Wymer is a graduate of Sylvania Southview High School in Toledo, Ohio. S by Elisa Sneed Daily Sports Writer They just weren't on fire at Firestone. Last week, after the Michigan men's golf team's disappointing performance in the Marshall Invitational April 9th and 10th, coach Jim Carras was finally given the opportunity to hold a qualifier of his own to choose the top five Wolverines for last weekend's event, the Firestone Intercollegiate Invitational Golf Tournament. However, even after getting a chance to play for the spots, the five Wolverines who made last week- end's traveling squad - senior cocaptains James Carson and An- thony Dietz, senior Bob Henighan, junior Mike Hill, and sophomore Bill Lyle - were still unable to play to the level they needed to at Akron to secure a place at the NCAA re- gionals in May. With three other Big Ten teams playing in the event - Indiana, Michigan State and Wisconsin - it was especially important for Michigan to play well. Unfortun- ately for the Wolverines, though, they finished in a tie with Miami (Ohio) for 7th. Their team total of 924 put them 22 strokes behind the winner, the Kent State Golden Flashes. The individual champion was also a member of that team. Kent State's Kevin Kraft won with a score of 218, 12 shots ahead of the top Wolverines. Lyle and Henighan led Michigan with totals of 230 strokes, putting them in 19th place. Carson and Dietz finished in 26th with 232's and Hill finished in 73rd with 242. Even though they haven't played like they think they can, the Wolverines still have three more events to play up to their potential, including Big Tens. I_ Wyiner U I DEPARTMENT OF RECREATIONAL SPORTS INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM SPRING/SUMMER IM ACTIVITIES!!! PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SUMM ER OF SE RVICE FROG RAM at the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN " 300 full-time paid positions Casting Film ...a cross between Fast Times at Richmont High and River's Edge filming in Ann Arbor late June - early July. Award winning director from NYU's grad film program and U of M Alumni. CASTING UNION / NON UNION ACTORS: 0 0