The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 29, 1995 - 11
Hitters split twinbill with Iowa
By John Leroi
Daily Baseball Writer
Maybe Ryan Van Oeveren just
needed a few days off. Last season's
most valuable player began the 1995
campaign in a tremendous slump. But
after a strange week, Van Oeveren re-
*turned to his old self, helping the Michi-
gan baseball team split two games
Monday with Iowa.
Before sitting outlast Wednesday's
contest because of alleged NCAA rules
violations, the senior co-captain was
hitting a lowly .161 with only nine hits
in 56 at bats. Van Oeveren exploded,
batting .455 with five hits in 11 tries in
the weekend series against the
Hawkeyes.
Iowa shutout Michigan (2-2 Big
Ten, 9-13 overall), 4-0, in the first game
of the doubleheader, but the Wolver-
ines rebounded for a 3-2 extra-inning
victory in game two.
In the nightcap, Van Oeveren's sac-
rifice bunt with the score tied in the top
of the ninth moved Kelly Dransfeldt
over to third base. Scott Weaver, who
was limited to only to pinch-hitting
49onday because of a pulled hamstring,
singled to right field to score Dransfeldt
with the winning run.
"We had some really timely hit-
ting," Dransfeldtsaid. "When weneeded
a base hit, someone usually came
through for us."
John Arvai (3-1) struck out four
batters to pick up the win in relief for
Michigan. Starter Brian Steinbach was
knocked out in the sixth inning, after
allowing two runs, only one earned, on
three hits. The redshirt-freshman hurler
walked one batter while striking out
seven.
In the first game, Iowa's Matt Aus-
tin pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings to
earn his second win of the season. Kurt
Belger retired two batters in the seventh
for his fourth save. Matt Ferullo (1-4),
hurled a complete game, allowing four
runs on six hits for Michigan.
"Our pitching was strong the whole
weekend," Dransfeldt said. "Having
consistent pitching really helps out us
hitters."
The Wolverines' best scoring oppor-
tunity in game one came with one out in
the seventh. Catcher Scott Niemiec
singled and Van Oeveren doubled to
knock Austin out of the game. But with
two runners in scoring position, Belger
came in and fanned Rodney Goble and
Andy Wade to end the game.
Michigan finished the weekend in a
four-way tie for third place in the Big
Ten at 2-2. Michigan State and Purdue
are tied atop the conference standings
with 3-1 records.
Today's opponent, Western Michi-
gan (7-7), is led by leftfielder Chris
Munson. Munson leads the Broncos in
hitting, sporting a lofty .391 average.
Hot on his tail are catcher John
Kostrzewa (.378), third baseman Scott
Demetral (.373) and second baseman
Todd Staehle (.370).
Western'spower lies with Munson's
outfield mates, rightfielderLuke Wilcox
and centerfielder Dave Elliott. The duo
lead the Broncos in runs batted in (13
and 10, respectively) and share the team
lead in home runs (four).
Western met Michigan in its season
opener. TheBroncoscame away with a6-
1 victory asrighthanderRyanVanDeWeg
(2-1) shut down the Wolverines.
The Broncos are playing inconsis-
tent ball, as they have followed each of
their past four victories with a loss.
Western dropped its last game to Mi-
ami (Fla.), 9-2.
MIKE FITZHUGH/Daily
After splitting a pair with Iowa Monday, the Michigan baseball team travels to face Western Michigan today.
GYMNASTICS NOTEBOOK:
Wymer and Plocki shatter records at Big Tens
By Michael Joshua
Daily Sports Writer
At the conclusion of the women's
gymnastics Big Ten Championships,
four seemed to be the dominant num-
ber of the day. Was this a mere coin-
cidence or was there a hidden mean-
ing which needs to be deciphered?
Michigan, ranked No. 4 in the nation,
won its fourth straight conference title.
Ohio State is the only team to have
been more successful. The Buckeyes
did the Wolverines one better by win-
ning from 1983-87.
Senior co-captain Beth Wymer
won her fourth consecutive Big Ten
All-Around title. Since the Big Ten
meet began in 1982, no one else has
won more than two. Mary Olsen
from Ohio State did it in 1982 and
1983 and Marie Roethlisberger
from Minnesota did it in 1987 and
again in 1989.
Michigan coach Bev Plocki won
her fourth consecutive conference
coach of the year award. This has
also never been accomplished.
Katalin Deli (Minnesota) won the
award twice, in 1989 and 1991.
With Heather Kabnick winning
freshman of the year, the Wolver-
ines boast four members on the team
who have won this award. Along
with sophomore Andrea McDonald
and Wymer, undergraduate assis-
tant coach Wendy Wilkinson gar-
nered the award for Michigan in
1991.
This does not seem like much,
but with regionals and the NCAAs
looming in the future, the Wolver-
ines must look for signs of good
fortune. Consider that in the past
three years Michigan has continued
climbing up the ladder at nationals.
In 1992 the Wolverines finished an
impressive 14th. Michigan followed
this with a ninth-place showing in
1993 and finally a fourth-place fin-
ish last year. Could the fourth year
finally bring the grand prize? For
the Wolverines, four instead of three
could be the charm.
AVOIDING THE SOPHOMORE JINX:
After having an excellent freshman
year which culminated with being
recognized as the freshman of the
year, McDonald is doing just fine in
her second year. McDonald finished
fourth in the All-Around at the Big
Tens and was named to the All-Con-
ference team. While many athletes
suffer from the dreaded sophomore
jinx, McDonald has found a way to
avoid this disease.
"I haven't even thought about it,"
McDonald said. "I do normal stuff. I
didn't even realize that was an issue
with other athletes."
LONE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE:
Michigan is the only team from the
Big Ten to qualify for regionals. The
Wolverines are seeded second for the
Central Regional Championships
which will be held April 8 at Crisler
Arena.
Only seven teams qualify for the
regional meet as determined by sea-
son-ending rankings. Minnesota and
Michigan State are the first and sec-
ond alternatives respectively. If any
qualifying team cannot attend, these
two Big Ten teams will have the
chance to compete. At the moment,
however, the two teams believe their
seasons are finished.
"From what we understand we
won't be participating," Michigan
State coach Kathie Klages said. "We
all believe that we belong at regionals
deep down in our hearts regardless of
what the committee says."
-Let us
shipye eyous
Mae' p arts
(oh yeah, and everything else tool)
--.. .- -
MOLLY STEVENS/Daily
The women tumblers will be the Big Ten's lone representative at regionals.
*ICERS
Continued from page 10
For the Black Bears, who simply
can't score goals like the'93 champion-
ship team did, that strategy has worked
just fine. The approach has led to tight
games, which means they've been up-
set once or twice. No upset was bigger
than Maine's 4-2 loss to Massachu-
*setts-Amherst, one of the weakest teams
in Division I hockey.
However, the BlackBears havebeen
quite consistent this year - especially
when compared to the Golden Gophers.
When the season started, Minne-
sota was among the nation's top three
teams. Like Maine, the Gophers'
strength lays in their ability to shut
down theiropponents, withJeffCallinan
back in goal and Dan Trebil and highly-
touted freshman Mike Crowley leading
the defense.
If the Gophers could only find
enough offense, there was no reason
why they couldn't win the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association
(WCHA) title.
And Minnesota seemed to have that
problem solved The Gophers opened
the season with a two-game set at Min-
Nesota-Duluth and scored 11 goals; a
month later they beat Michigan and
Michigan State.
Only recently has Minnesota re-
turned to that level of play. After their
sweep of the Wolverines and Spartans
in late November, the Gophers (25-13-
5) stumbled to a puzzling fourth-place
finish in the WCHA. It's no wonder
their coach worries more about his team
*han its opponent.
"What we've tried to do in the play-
offs is not worry about who we're play-
ing, but how we're going to play," Min-
nesota coach Doug Woog said. "Our big
goal was to approach the games con-
I w
UNDERQRADUATES
Interested in concentrating in History??
Meet History faculty,
receive information, and ask questions at a
mass meeting:
Wednesday, March 29, 4-6 P.M., 4633 Haven Hall.
Come
tke
see
YBER RTS
S HO
IF lie had a PowerMac A NMATO0N
with Mid isoftware,
Peethoven could lave.
finished his smphon
NCAA SEMI-FINAL
HOCKEY
*PARTY
IN THE MICHIGAN UNION
GRAPHICS,
GRI uM
TDDAY
E. E.D.S
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