Softball vs. Penn State Today, 5 p.m. State College ; r = -' ' , " r r Baseball vs. Iowa Tomorrow, 1 p.m. Fisher Stadium Eastern Eagles rip into Baseball team finally gets chance to play; to face Iowa over weekend r 'M' hitters, 5-4 k0 By RYAN WHITE DAILY BASEBALL WRITER Lo and behold, the sun came out yesterday, and they finally played baseball in Ann Arbor. For Michigan, however, the game's outcome wasn't as sunny as the weather. The Wolverines lost to Eastern Michigan (12-14), 5-4, at Fisher Stadium. The Wolverines (7-5 Big Ten, 13- 16 overall) rallied in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit from 5-2 to 5- 4, but were unable to tie the score. With one out in the ninth, second baseman Kevin Crociata walked and then moved to second on a single by rightfielder Rodney Goble. The next batter, shortstop Ryan Van Oeveren, grounded the ball to Eagle shortstop Don DeDonatis. DeDonatis threw out Goble at sec- ond, but second baseman Dan Deak, threw the ball over first baseman Ja- son MacDonald's head. The throw- ing error allowed Cociata to score. Leftfielder Scott Weaver tripled into the gap between left and center with two out to score Van Oeveren from first. Centerfielder Brian Simmons, looking to bring home Weaver, nailed his grounder off the foot of third baseman Jason MacDonald and it popped in the air. DeDonatis, however, snagged the ball and threw Simmons out at first to end the game. As was the case with last week- end, offense was a problem. The Wolverines didn't get their first hit until the fourth inning. "Hitting is contagious," Crociata said. "It seems like if a few guys go up there to start the game and things don't happen for us, it seems to change the tide." The other major problem for. the Wolverines was defense. "We came back, and we had op- portunities," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said. "But we had given up a couple of unearned runs, and had a few errors." Brad Tinkham (0-1) picked up the loss for the Wolverines and the Eagles' Mark Borkwoski (1-0) picked up the win. For the second non-conference game in a row, Freehan used much of hispitching staff. Starter Mark Temple pitched the most, working the first three innings. Aaron Toth threw the fourth and fifth. Tinkham, Chris New- ton, Ray Ricken and John Arvai fin- ished the game with an inning apiece. "A couple of guys hadn't pitched since Saturday, and we were doing inning by inning _ about where we plan to pitch them this weekend," Freehan said. Coming off a pair of losses to conference foe Toledo, Eastern Michi- gan coach Roger Coryell was happy with the play of his team. "After (Toledo), I asked them to do it the right way," he said of his team's play. "We really tried to do it the right way today." Despite the loss, Freehan remained positive. "We came back in this ballgame," he said. "We'll try to learn and im- prove each day." Michigan's next opportunity to improve will come this weekend. The Wolverines play a pair of double- headers against Iowa (7-5 Big Ten, 14-17-1 overall) tomorrow and Sun- day. The twinbills are set to begin at 1 p.m. at Fisher Stadium. The series against the Hawkeyes is important since Michigan is cur- rently tied with Iowa for third in the conference. "We're looking forward to this weekend - no matter what happened today," Crociata said after the loss to Eastern. "(Non-conference) games aren't our biggest focus." Wolverine pitcher Ron Hollis, who will be looking for his third Big Ten win of the season, isn't worried about the club's lack of offense lately. "(The hitting) doesn't worry me because I know what we're capable of," he said. "We need to turn it around a little bit and the pitching needs to stay solid." Only the top four teams in the Big Ten make the conference's postseason tournament, so this weekend provides Michigan with an opportunity to so- lidify its playoff position. "To win four this weekend would put us in a good spot going into Min- nesota (May 7-8) and Ohio State (April 30-May 1)," Hollis said. "If we do well, we will be in good shape Big Ten-wise going into the tournament." JONATHAN LURIE/Daily Brian Simmons connects for Michigan earlier this season. The Wolverines face Iowa this weekend. Men's rugby confidently awaits Sarnia matchup - ummmm -am U Come ... explore our surroundings! SAVE UP TO 0 OFF ONE IT EM, WIT H b.w THIS PUZZLE PIECE* 0 * Increase your savings from 10% to 30% by collecting all 3I LE puzzle pieces. Look for our ads on 4-11-94 (save 10%), 4-14-94 PUZZ1 (save 10%), and 4-15-94 (that's this one, save another 10%). PIECE #3 '9 r , r YourContemporary Card & Gift Shop for the Modern Lifestyle Located at S. State & Liberty, on the lower level of 222 State Plaza. Opn asaee'Enter through TheGaCofe Shop.-j pOpen 7Days a Week! 769-4208 Coupon expires 5-7-94. By RAVI GOPAL DAILY SPORTS WRITER Game experience. This will be the catch phrase for the Michigan men's rugby team as they take on the Sarnia (Ont.) Saints tomorrow at Mitchell Field. The Wolverines will play three games against the Saints, with the opener between the teams' top club sides scheduled for 1 p.m. The Saints are expected to pro- vide as much competition for the Wolverines as did Michigan's last opponent, Cleveland. The Wolver- ines demolished Cleveland in their two games played last weekend. "It's a definite possibility (that the results will be similar to the Cleve- land games)," senior tight-head prop Tom Vestergaard said. "(Sarnia) has experienced a bit of a falloff (in talent level) the last season or two." With an apparently easy victory on the horizon, Michigan has decided to give its younger players a chance to compete in the first and second games versus Sarnia's A and B sides. The Wolverines hope that this experience will give their underclass- men a chance to see what playing against club level talent is like, since the Michigan youth have played only lower-level club talent and collegiate squads so far. "The club side will be mixed with players from the college side, so (the college players) can get more experi- ence playing a club style game," Vestergaard said. "That's really the big goal of this weekend and next weekend (when the Wolverines take on Michigan State)." An added incentive for playing the youngsters in the first and second games is to keep them excited about rugby. Since mostof the youngerplay- ers were introduced to the sport only by their coming to the University, letting them play versus top talent will hopefully increase their desire to continue playing. "We want to keep people interested. Most people come out for rugby in the spring because there's no football games to go to," Vestergaard said. Although there weren't many negatives from last weekend's win, sophomore Mike Springs mentioned that the younger players needed more cohesiveness, something that would only come from playing together as a team for a longer time. Both Michigan Rugby Club Presi- dent Tom Warburton and Vestergaard mentioned that the Wolverine youth have to be able to keep their heads in the game for the duration of play. "The farther we went (in the sec- ond game versus Cleveland), the more relaxed people got," Vestergaard said. "(The younger guys) have to learn to look for the ball; they have to think a bit more," Warburton said. "They got mentally fatigued (vs. Cleveland), and (their mental strength) will take time to develop." The Saints don't look to be too much of a pushover. Known as an older, physical team, they come in to tomorrow's matchup with a lot more experience than the younger Wolver- ines. The Saints, like Cleveland, are also a good ball-control team. Yet, the Wolverines enter the game confi- dent. "We should be able to beat them," junior center Jason Kreta said. Women's track travels to Mount Sac tourney e By BRIAN SKLAR and DOUG STEVENS DAILY SPORTS WRITERS Life on the road. It is usually not the most pleasant situation because you do not have the comforts of home. However, for the Michigan women's track & field team, which has not had a home meet this season, there are some advantages. "We like to travel," Ronda Meyers said. "We don't have the top-notch facilities that other places have. It's tough to be on the road." After coming off a meet at Miami (Ohio) in which they dominated their opponents, the Wolverines now head to the prominent Mount Sac Invita- tional in Walnut, Calif. In Oxford last week, the runners swept every event from the 100 meters to the 3,200 meters. Those included victories from Tearza Johnson in the 100 and 200, Rachelle Webb in the 400, Jessicat Kluge in the 800, Karen Harvey in the 1,600 meters, and Molly McClimon U a- Imo.