* When was the last time a one- hitter was pitched at Fisher Stadium by the Wolverines? \ j IN, 'M' sports calendar Women's basketball Forrest Fires Women's crew Hockey Baseball Softball Men's basketball Major League baseball 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 8 8 M , 7 Blue fans. endure year of trageidies t seemed like it would never end. Heartbreaking loss followed heartbreaking loss on the road to insanity for most Michigan fans. No lead was too big, no victory assured. It brings me to one simple conclusion: There was some higher power working against the athletic program this season. It all began on that fateful Saturday in September. For most students the moment was surreal. The ball was in the air for an eternity. As the PAUL Colorado BARGER players Barger celebrated on than Life the field, the Michigan fans sat stunned and oeary-eyed in the stands. But the Michigan football team was resilient, and it played its way back into the race for a national title. But the game against Penn State spelled another tragic loss and early elimination from the national picture for the second year in a row. Sports Illustrated made matters worse by featuring both losses on the *Fover of its widely circulated publication. ESPN showed the Hail Mary every day until the ESPY awards. Thanks to sports media's two big guns, fans will be reminded of these two games forever. Relatively speaking, the losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin were not so bad. At that point, Michigan fans had learned to accept defeat in stride. Nothing could be as bad as the loss to Colorado. The season ended with a rather unimpressive Holiday Bowl victory, but at least it was over. Then the basketball season blew into town. The team was rated in the top 25 in almost every preseason poll in the nation. By the first week in December, Michigan was nowhere to be found in the polls. All things considered, the team's final record was not that bad. It was the way that the team lost many- of its games that is worth noting. It began in the non-conference portion of the season and continued until the final game. Against Pennsyl- vania, the team fought back from ore than 20 points down, just to lose See BARGER, Page 3 Hitters out-thrown by Illini Michigan drops three of four to Illinois over weekend By John Leroi Daily Baseball Writer Four games, four pitching gems. Unfortunately for the Michigan base- ball team, three of the stellar perfor- mances came from the Illini pitching staff. The Wolverines struggled for the most part against Illinois, drop- ping three of four games Saturday and Sunday at Fisher Stadium. Michigan's Matt Ferullo turned in the weekend's best performance on the mound in the Wolverines' 9-0 victory in game one Saturday. The junior had a no-hitter until the final inning, when Tom Sinak lined a bloop single through the hole at shortstop for the lone Illini hit. Ferullo (2-4) faced 23 hitters, only two over the minimum, in his one-hit shut-out. The 6-foot-5 righty fanned three batters, walked one and plunked two others. Cody Salter scattered nine hits over six and one-third innings and struck out three Wolverines in the second game of the Saturday's twinbill. John Oestreich (3-3) came on in the sev- enth, surrendering only one hit while striking out three, to pick up the win for Illinois (4-4 Big Ten, 11-17 over- all). Sunday, Illinois' Sean Williams (3-5) allowed just six hits and three runs in a complete game victory. Williams registered five strike outs and walked four batters. In the night- cap, Oestreich grabbed his second win of the weekend. The senior hurler gave up only three hits and one un- earned run in seven full innings. Oestreich walked only three batters while striking out 11 to bring his weekend total to 14. "We didn't do it, we didn't finish it up this weekend," Michigan coach Bill Freehan said. "I don't know if it was mental - we just didn't do it. I know this isn't an offensive ballclub, but we've got to score more runs." In Temple's one-hitter, Michigan (3-5, 10-17) scored at least one run in each of the first five innings, includ- ing a three-run first. Illinois starter Jason Wollard (3-3) hit Rodney Goble with a pitch to lead off the inning. Shortstop Ryan Van Oeveren laid down a bunt single to move Goble to second. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Scott Weaver knocked in Goble with a grounder to first base. Centerfielder Brian Simmons walked, but was caught in a run down attempting to steal second base. Sean Coston then ripped a double of the bag at third to Score Van Oeveren and Chad Chapman singled home Coston one batter later. Third baseman Kelly Dransfeldt knocked Wollard out of the game, smacking his first pitch off the leftfield wall for a double to lead off the sec- ond inning. Kirk Beermann then blooped reliever Matt McCully's first pitch into short rightfield to score -Dransfeldt and give Michigan a 4-0 lead. Simmons scored in the third on Sinak's throwing error and Coston crossed the plate as a result' of a McCully balk. Weaver and Simmons both had RBI singles in the fourth inning to give Michigan an 8-0 lead. Chapman hit a homerun over the leftfield wall in the fifth, his second round-tripper of the year. Chapman went 2-for-3 at the plate, knocking in two runs and scoring two himself. Coston also finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Weaver also notched two RBI for the Wolverines. In Saturday's second game, the Wolverines looked to have a comfort- able 4-1 lead late in the contest. How- ever, Michigan lost in extra-innings when Bill Antonacci laid down a bunt -to score Justin Busche from third in a perfect suicide squeeze play. See BASEBALL, Page 5 Matt Fleury and the\Wolverlnes drop weekend to Illinois. WEEKEND SCORES .Baseball Michigan 9, Illinois 0 Illinois 5, Michigan 4 (8 innings) Illinois 9, Michigan 3 Illinois 4, Michigan 1. Softball Michigan 11, Indiana 1 Michigan 7, Indiana 0 Michigan 6, Indiana 2 Michigan 12 , Indiana 2 Women's Tennis Michigan 5, Miami (Fla.) 4 Michigan 6, South Florida 3 Men's Tennis Michigan 7, Purdue 0 Michigan 6, Illinois 1 Modest leadfer Kovach succeeds with memories from past By Danielle Rumore Daily Softball Writer t was the worst day of her life. Kelly Kovach was a sophomore in high school, and her brother, Mikey, had just been killed in a car accident. Her high school academic and softball career was well underway, and her future looked so bright. And then tragedy struck her life, a tragedy which made her own future seem unimportant and meaningless. Her brother, and friend, had just passed away and it appeared that the pain would not go away. "I always wanted to dedicate something to him and I didn't want to do something and fail," Kovach says. "The whole Michigan thing has been for him, especially my senior year. I have little things that I do. He played hockey in high school and I have his skate cleaner (towel). He always had it with him at his games." The No. 5 Wolverines boast a 21-3 overall record after last weekend's series at Purdue. Michigan blanked the Boilermakers. 4-0, outmuscling them in every category of play. Kovach had a great series. She upped her pitching record to 8-0 after pitching two games in which she gave up only three runs. From the plate, she collected seven hits and five RBI. This weekend, Michigan hosted Indiana (3-1 Big Ten, 13-12 overall), the defending Big Ten champions. Kelly's parents, Michael and Georgia Kovach, traveled to Ann Arbor to watch the series and to celebrate their daughter's 22nd birthday today. As Kelly waits for the start of the second game, she can't help but think about her brother. She has her brother's towel with her - she always does. It's her own way of keeping his memory alive. "I keep it in my bag and I rub my ball with it (before games)," Kovach says. Her teammate and good friend, senior Lesa Arvia, picks up the ball and hands it to Kovach. Lesa does this every game - it's a ritual. "It's hard to explain why we do See KOVACH, Page 9 Softball r4ns win streak to 18 games_ y Tim Smith aily Sports Writer There was an unfamiliar sound in the air Sunday afternoon for the Michi- gan softball team. It was a sound the No. 6 Wolver- ines (8-0, 25-3) were not so familiar with this season. It was the sound of silence. After sweeping the first of two double headers on Sunday against rdiana (3-5,13-16), the Wolverines found themselves tied at zero going into the sixth inning of game three. The familiar ping of bat hitting ball that has helped Michigan domi- nate i nnnnnentc all ceannn lnp could get a break. We put the bat on the ball and made some contact and got going." Jennifer Smith and Lesa Arvia got things started for the Wolverines in the inning with back-to-back singles. After Kellyn Tate's fielder's choice, Michelle Silver lined one off Hoosier third baseman Aimee Lonigro's glove to load the bases. Kathryn Gleason followed with a fielder's choice allowing pinch run- ner Erin Martino to score first run to give the Wolverines the 1-0 lead. After Tate scored on a fielding error and center fielder Cheryl Pearcy coredon. cingle h knovach to make Baseball returns, but fans should stay away o, that's it. After 232 days of posturing and bickering with a little negotiating mixed in, the baseball strike came to an end Friday. The replacement players have been sent packing, having never played in a regular season game, and Opening Day 1995 is now set for April 2$. Everything is close to being back to normal - unfortunately. What's unfortunate? The fact that on the 28th, despite everything that has transpired in the last eight months, fans will flood back to major league stadiums. Americans love baseball, and they'll return to the ballparks. { They'll do this in spite of the fact that baseball RYAN doesn't give a damn about them. The strike didn't WHITE end because the players and the owners missed the White on game and it sure as hell didn't end because they felt Taroet bad for the fans. ., .'.' ,.,. .£. r .. , ., a 44 . -. 1,' o" -C ' ':.. y4. .....