12 - The Michigan Daily -- Friday, March 3, 1995 Wolverines leave Florida trip behind for Minnesota By Nicholas J. Cotsonika with a 4-4 record, but they have no baseball we're capable of," Freehan wentoutthere,"Freehan said."Ithink Either sophomore righthander Brian .310 mark. But other im Daily Baseball Writer time to rest. said. "You don't want to be satisfied he'll come outjust as strong this week- Steinbach (0-1, 5.40) or freshman ters didn't ripen during It's early March. Frigid Fisher Michigan heads to Minneapolis with4-4, especially afterstarting4-1. end." righthanderTyler Steketee(1-1,6.23) fruit season. 0 :) 1 portant hit- the grape- Stadium's field is covered with snow, a brisk breeze is blowing from foul pole to foul pole and nine-game homestands in 90-degree heat seem nowhere near. No matter. The boys of summer are back. The bats and gloves have re- turned to action and the Michigan baseball team has begun the quest for its first Big Ten title since 1989. The Wolverines returned from their annual spring trip to Florida Sunday this weekend to compete in the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Wolverines face Minnesota at7 p.m. tonight, 1993 NCAA Cham- pion Louisiana State tomorrow at 6 p.m. and No. 3Florida State at 5 p.m. Sunday. Michigan coach Bill Freehan feels the Wolverines must play up to their potential if they hope to improve their .500 mark. "We've got to play the kind of We have to hit the ball better, and we need some good pitching." Senior righthander Matt Ferullo(1- 0,3.68 ERA) will look to give Michi- gan just that in his start against the Golden Gophers. Ferullo pitched six innings against St. Leo last Saturday, left with a 2-1 lead, but did not record a decision. Later in the week, he went on to beat Eastern Michigan 6-5, fanning 10 in 8.2 innings of work. "Matt pitched well both times he Louisiana State will likely have to contend with juniorrighthander Mark Temple (1-1, 7.59). Temple started strong in the Sunshine State, allowing two runs in six innings against St. Leo, but he was tagged for seven runs in Michigan's 13-4 loss to Florida Southern. "He struggled a bit in his second game, but he's ready to come back with a good outing," Freehan said. Freehan will get a much-needed look at his young hurlers on Sunday. will head to the hill against the Semi- noles. "We still have to see how the young guys perform,"Freehan said. "They're always your unknown. We're going to start (Steinbach or Steketee), but everyone who travels is going to get some work." Freehan would like his offense to go to work as well. Mike Muir is hitting a team-high .385 and co- captain Rodney Goble leads Michi- gan with nine hits while compiling a Junior outfielder Scott Weaver, al- though displaying power with twohome runs and six RBI, is only hitting .222. Weaver led the Wolverines in RBI last season. Senior co-captain Ryan Van Oeveren is slumping with only two hits in his first 28 at-bats. "We need our hitters to step up." Freehan said. "We've played great 'D' and we've run the bases well, but we've got to score more runs if we want to win." Softball faims for three more rankedfoes a9CAtoiie By Danielle Rumore Daily Softball Writer The No.18 Michigan softball team embarks upon the UCLA Easton/ ReebokInvitational this weekend with A couple of important notches on its belt. The Wolverines are owners of a7- 2 record after last weekend's Arizona State University Classic. This is their best start since the 1981 season, when they went 7-0. Three of those victories came over top 20 teams - No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Hawaii-and No. 14 Oregon. One of the most important things tocome out of the team's early season record and play is confidence. "We came out with a bang," Wol- verine coach Carol Hutchins said. "The team is very excited. Our team has a lot of confidence in themselves, which is a key factor in our sport. It gives us an edge." Last weekend's ranked opponents served as good preparation for the level of competition Michigan will face in the UCLA Invitational, which begins today and ends Sunday. The field contains No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 UNLV, No. 7 Utah and the No. 18 Wolverines. The only unranked team is South Carolina. The Wolverines face the Runnin' Rebels today at 3 p.m., the Utes and the Bruins at 1 and 3 p.m. tomorrow and the Gamecocks at 9 a.m. Sunday. South Carolina holds a 3-1 all- time edge over Michigan. The Wol- verines have never beaten Utah or UCLA and have never faced UNLV. "This is our toughest tournament," Hutchins said. "Almost every team we are facing in the tournament is ranked. Wecan't giveaway anything; we can't make errors. We have to play solid ball. That's why we beat Wash- ington (last weekend). "We are going to face, in every team we play, the best pitching we have seen. It's important that our pitch- ing keeps us in the game," Hutchins added. Michigan's pitching staff is one of its greatest assets. The Wolverines return senior Kelly Kovach, sopho- more Kelly Holmes and junior Tracy Carr and welcome newcomer Sara Griffin. Last season, Kovach led Michi- gan in hitting (.306) and pitching (1.30 ERA/i 16 strikeouts) and was hon- ored as a GTE Academic All-Ameri- can. She is third in wins (54), second in strikeouts (374) and second in shut- outs (25) on the Wolverines career all-time records list. Holmes held a 16-11 record last season with a 2.20 ERA and 82 strikeouts Carr had a 1.27 ERA and seven strikeouts in seven pitching ap- pearances. They arejoined by freshman Grif- fin who was the 1994 California player of the year. Kovach, Griffin and Holmes are 3-0, 2-1 and 2-1, respec- tively, after last weekend's action. Carr did not see any action pitching. "(All of our pitchers) will start at least one game (this weekend)," Hutchins said. "Everybody came back with three games under their belt, and that's a bonus for us. We don't have to throw tired which we have to use to our advantage." So far this season Michigan has compiled 66 hits while its opponents have totaled just 57. Sophomore Jes- sica Lang notched two game-win- ning hits in last weekend's classic along with juniors Cheryl Pearcy and Kathryn Gleason who each added one game-winning hit. The Wolverines have four homeruns on the season thus far, two by freshman Kellyn Tate and one each by Kovach and Lang. "We need to consistently get bet- ter," Hutchins said. "The pitchers need to continue throwing hard and getting better, our hitters need to continue get- ting better. I told them that they can't be satisfied because it's only March." Senior Lesa Arvia leads the out- field contingent. Arvia moved from right to leftfield for defensive pur- poses last season, and will stay at that position this year. "We have a group of five that we feel can play (in the outfield)," Hutch- ins said. "The people who hit the ball most will get in the lineup. Right now we are giving them all shots to get some opportunities." 01 The Michigan wrestling team heads to Bloomington tomorrow to square off against all of its Big Ten opponents. Gra lerstraveltgTens By Jed Rosenthal Daily Sports Writer With all of its dual matches com- plete, it's all over for the Michigan wrestling team. The regular season, that is. After a season of peaks and val- leys where the No. 13 Wolverines were constantly falling behind early in their matches (only to come from behind and win or tie in six of them) Michigan has no time to relax. Tomorrow, the Wolverines (5-2-2 Big Ten, 7-3-2 overall) venture to Bloomington to square off against all of its regular season Big Ten foes, as well as those they didn't see in dual meets, attheBig Ten Championships. The championships will feature seven conference teams ranked in the top 25 nationally and four in the top 10, including No. 1 Iowa. "Iowa is definitely the prelimi- nary favorite," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "They haven't lost in this tournament since 1974 so they are definitely the odds-on favorite for both the Big Ten and National Champion- ship." With five wrestlers ranked in the top 12 of their respective weight classes, the Wolverines will display only their best talent at the tourney. That talent includes 167-pound se- nior Chad Biggert, who sports a 30-3 overall record and a perfect 12-0 in dual meets along with his unblem- ished 9-0 mark in the Big Ten. "Those dual meets are pointless," Biggert said. "No one remembers wha.f 0 you do in the dual meets. The only! thing that matters is the Big Tens and nationals. Ten years down the road, no one is going to say, 'Hey, he was an undefeated dual match wrestler.' They. are going to say, 'Hey, he was a Na- tional Champion."' Biggert has a long way to go if he wants to be a National Champion, let alone a Big Ten champ. No. I Zac Taylor from Minnesota, and No. 3 Matt Nerem from Iowa both stand in Biggert's way. Biggert beat Nerem at the Midlands tournament held in De- cember, so Biggert should be seeded ahead of the Hawkeye standout. "Since I beat Nerem, that should prove that rankings don't mean a thing," Biggert said. "I'm peaking at the right time. I have no injuries, and I'm ready to perform. I want to come. back a Big Ten champ." The championships serve as the only chance for wrestlers in the Big Ten to qualify for the National Cham- pionships, which will take place in Iowa City in two weeks. The top six in each weight class automatically get the opportunity to wrestle at Iowa, Sring ommencement Student Speaker Call or [ntriesF The Office of University Relations is making a Call for Entries for a Student Speaker for Spring Commencement Saturday, April 29, 1995 10:00 a.m. Michigan Stadium CRITERIA -Must be receiving a Bachelor's degree during Winter Term 1995 or Summer Term 1995 SUBMIT -Cover letter/resume highlighting U-M scholarship, campus leadership, and/or public speaking experience -Typed draft of speech (no more than 5 minutes in length) -Audio cassette tape of yourself reading speech I Nigel Hawthorne Present This Coupon THE MADNfSSOF When Purchasing A KING GEORGE Large Popcorn & g * SHALLOW Receive One e * GRAVE - a E what 0 ttlemurder r 32-z. DInk Stand Out In YOUR Next Presentation. See WRESTLING, Page 13 0 Use Color: It Stands Out! T-SHIRT PRINTING HxrIH UALIT WWPivveCES b 0 .. ,y.Y 4 ,w. i , 1 1 . - a No rnatter what your place Iooks like -you can findA a ci ,lf--cArI 0 I i I