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And the winner is ...
Michigan softball player Jessica Lang was named the Big Ten Player of
the Week. Lang hit 8-for-15 at the plate this weekend with four doubles
and 12 RBI. The sophomore second baseman went 4-for-4 in the second
game of a four-game set against Indiana and was errorless in 16
chances.
Page 13
Wednesday,
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Rockets blast into Fisher
* Struggling Wolverines hope to take
By Ravi Gopal _
Daily Baseball Writer
It's time for the Michigan base-
ball team tobreak out the young pitch-
ers.
The Wolverines (3-5 Big Ten,
14-17overall) take on Toledo.(3-
12) today at 3 p.m. at Fisher Sta-
dium in a non-conference contest.
Michigan coach Bill Freehan will
use the matchup as a chance to ex-
amine his rookie pitchers, resting
his starters for a weekend set with
Penn State.
"We're looking to see what our
young pitchers are going to do,"
Freehan said. "It'll be a whole staff
day."
For Michigan's Mike Hribernik
(five innings pitched), today's starter,
Chris Hesse (one inning) and Derek
Besco (eight) it will be a chance to
show the coaching staff what they
can do.
"I finally get my chance to help
the team out as much as I can," Hesse
said.
Of the three of them, Besco has
had the most chances to help the
team out.Unfortunately, he has taken
the most lumps. In the second game
of the Wolverines' first double-
header with Illinois last weekend,
the Westland native pitched just one-
third of an inning, yet came away
with a loss. His ERA stands at a
robust 10.13 compared to the team
average of 6.55.
That could go up today, as
Toledo's offense is led by catcher Bill
Bronikowski and infielder/outfielder
Joel Irvine, who are hitting .333 and
.327 respectively. Bronikowski leads
the Rockets in home runs (four) and is
second in RBI (11). Irvine leads in
RBI (14) and is second in home runs
(three).
However, beyond these two play-
ers, Toledo is a weak hitting ballclub.
Batting just .239 as a team, the Rock-
ets are worse offensively than the
Wolverines (.249).
Outfielders Brian Simmons and
Scott Weaver have been Michigan's
only bright spots at the plate.
Simmons leads the team in every
conceivable offensive category this
season, carrying a .348 batting av-
off against Toledo
erage to go along with his seven
homers and 27 RBI. His slugging
percentage is a whopping .719.
Weaver, who is hitting .333, will
be sidelined for today's contest, along
with starting first baseman Chad
Chapman. Both are nursing injuries
- Weaver a hamstring pull and
Chapman a sore elbow.
Third baseman Kelly Dransfeldt
and shortstop Ryan Van Oeveren
have pulled vanishing avts this year
as well. Both have been stuck below
the Mendoza line for a large part of
the season, and have only recently
shown signs of life. Dransfeldt is
still batting just .219, with Van
Oeveren just ahead at a .226 clip.
"He's feeling a lot more comfort-
able at the plate," outfielder Sean
Coston said of Van Oeveren. "He's
not putting pressure on himself."
Michigan's hitting woes should
come as good news to the Rocket
pitching staff, which owns a horren-
dous 6.05 ERA. Only two hurlers
sport ERAs below this mark: Jason
Bloomer (1-4, 2.73 ERA,) and Chad
Gluff (1-1, 4.76).
Michigan's Scott Weaver won't be scoring any runs today. The leftfielder is sidelined with a hamstring injury.
Consistency eludes f
'M' golfers i Dallas
4||||5J Softball challenges Toledo
By James Goldstein
Daily Sports writer
Consistency is essential in all
sports. This is even more the case for
golf, however. In a game that could be
won or lost by a few strokes, it is a
must to keep up solid play for the full
18 holes.
Lack of consistency is the problem
that plagued the Michigan men's golf
team last weekend. The Wolverines
never got into the flow at the
Tanglewood Intercollegiate in Dallas.
Michigan finished 12thout of 16 teams.
"We really didn't have a good
tournament," Michigan coach Jim
Carras said. "We didn't play that
badly, but we still didn't play well at
all. We didn't have any bit of consis-
tency throughout the tournament."
Coming off a ninth place finish in
their first tournament of the spring
season, the Wolverines hoped that
they could make a solid improvement
at the Texas competition - espe-
cially since Michigan was able to
practice for two straight weeks before
Tanglewood.
Although the Wolverines' scores
weren't that high, the strong tourna-
ment field made Michigan look bad.
"In any other given tournament,
we would have been in the top half of
the field with the scores we had in this
tournament," Carras said. "The
schools we competed against were
really tough teams."
Ohio State captured the team com-
petition with a 875 total score, edging
Minnesota by one stroke. Along with
See GOLF page 15
By Doug Stevens
Daily Softball Writer
In its past 18 games, the Michigan softball
team had been unbeatable. Yesterday, however,
the Wolverines were stopped.
After sweeping a four-game series over Big
Ten rivals Purdue and Indiana, the team suc-
cumbed to the 20-degree temperatures afflicting
the state of Michigan. The Wolverines double-
header at Western Michigan was canceled due
to inclement weather.
No. 6 Michigan (8-0 Big Ten, 25-3 overall)
will have an opportunity to extend its win streak
to 20 games today when they face Toledo (16-11
overall) in a doubleheader at Alumni Field, at 3
p.m.
Michigan is coming into the game on a hot
streak, both offensively and on the mound. The
team is batting .316 compared to .218 for its
opponents, and have 242 hits on the season
versus 155 for the opposition.
In addition, the Wolverines have been scor-
ing runs in bunches. In its four-game sweep of
the Hoosiers last weekend, Michigan scored at
least four runs in seven different innings. The
team counts on maintaining its torrid hitting
pace at the plate.
Second baseman Jessica Lang, pitcher/first
baseman Kelly Kovach and pitcher/shortstop
Sara Griffin have been the Wolverine's most
productive hitters. In the four-game series against
Indiana, Lang went 8-for-15 with 12 RBI,
Kovach batted 7-for-13 with nine RBI, includ-
ing a grand slam, and Griffin hit 8-for-12 with
three RBI.
"We've been working hard when we bat,"
Griffin said. "I have all the confidence in the
world in my teammates that they will come
through."
Although the solid run production certainly
hasn't hurt the Wolverines during their streak, it
hasn't been the sole reason for the victories,
either. The team's three ace pitchers - Kelly
Holmes, Kovach, and Griffin - have been
almost unhittable, surrendering only three runs
in their last four games combined. Holmes,
Kovach, and Griffin have records of 7-1, 10-0,
and 8-2, respectively.
See SOFTBALL page 15
Michigan faces Toledo at Alumni Field today.
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