Who was Michigan's starting
* quarterback before Elvis Grbac
took over the reigns at the
beginning of the 1989 season?
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'M' salvages split with
By Ravi Gopal
Daily Baseball Writer
Comeback kids.
The Michigan baseball team surely
deserves this moniker after its perfor-
mance this weekend against Penn
State.
The Wolverines (4-6 Big Ten, 12-
18 overall) split Saturday's double-
header with the Nittany Lions (5-5,
13-19-1), losing the first game, 5-4,
before bouncing back to take the sec-
ond, 10-9. In both contests, Michigan
trailed from the beginning.
In the second contest, Wolverine
Mike Muir's two-out, two-run double
off loser Mike Rooney (1-3) in the
bottom of the eighth helped Michigan
even its home record at 4-4. Muir's
hit climaxed a series of Wolverine
comebacks, as they battled back from
deficits of 4-0, 5-3, 7-3, 8-5 and 9-7.
Michigan trailed to begin the final
stanza, 9-8. Rightfielder Rodney
Goble began the winning rally with a
walk to lead off the inning. Two bat-
ters later, leftfielder Scott Weaver
singled, setting up Muir's heroics. It
was Muir's first at-bat of the game, as
he relieved first baseman Chad
Chapman in the fifth spot in the bat-
ting order.
The top half of the inning saw
Penn State take a one-run lead. A
Michigan error allowed the Lions to
get a runner on base against reliever
John Arvai (5-1), The runner was
then driven in for the go-ahead run.
Miscues in the field are a continu-
ing concern for the Wolverines, who
made six errors over the two games.
"Defense is supposed to be one of
our strong suits," Muir said. "But
some errors we were charged with
came on tough pl
Michigan shoN
ing to get the gam
Staring at an 8-6c
of the seventh inn
had to stage one n
time, it was catc
who turned the tr
With the base
gan seemingly hur
loss in its past s
nailed a two-out
knot the game a
average, a lowly.
tion that he was u
Butthe Wolver
all game, as they tr
3, in the bottom
baseman Chad Ch
leftfielder Scott V
runs scored, two R
dig themselves ou
Nittany Lions
lays." With the gaps Penn State's hitters
wed its grit by rally- were seeing in Michigan's defense
e into extra innings. (the Lions totaled 10 hits in the game),
deficit in the bottom Wolverine coach Bill Freehan was
ing, the Wolverines forced to juggle his pitchers through-
aore comeback. This out the contest. Michigan starter Brian
cher Scott Niemiec Steinbach was pummeled for five runs
ick. (four earned) on four hits in just one
s juiced and Michi- inning. He also gave up three walks.
rtling toward its fifth "I couldn't get my changeup,"
ix games, Niemiec Steinbach said. "If you can only get
two-run single to one pitch over the plate and that's
t eight. His batting your fastball, you're dead."
128, gave no indica- Wolverine freshmen Mike
up to the challenge. Hribernik and Chris Hesse, along with
ines were challenged senior Aaron Toth, seemed to survive
ailed by fourruns, 7- the Lions' roar better than Steinbach.
of the fourth. First Combined, the trio pitched six in-
apman (3-for-3) and nings, surrendering three runs on five
'eaver (3-for-4, two hits.
Michigan pitcher Mike Hribernik leaves the field in Michigan's 14-9 win
over Penn State Saturday,
Spring
fli ng
Quarterbacks get a good look
rat Blue-White scrimmage
BI) helped Michigan
t of the hole.
By Barry Sollenberger
Daily Sports Writer
The controversy is over. The
Michigan Wolverines have them-
selves a starting quarterback - at
least for now.
Coach Gary Moeller called Scott
*reisbach the front-runner for the job
after Saturday's Blue-White game at
Michigan Stadium.
"If I had to start a game tomorrow,
I'd start with Dreisbach," Moeller
said. "I don't think there's any one
specific thing. He probably has a
little quicker release and a little
quicker arm."
The redshirt freshman was 6-of-
for 57 yards with no touchdowns
r interceptions.
Since the Wolverines can't actu-
ally "start" any games until Aug. 26
against Virginia, Dreisbach's posi-
tion is not secure.
"I'm not saying that he's way out
in front of the pack," Moeller said.
"But if I had to start tomorrow that's
the way I'd go."
The rest of "the pack" certainly
w action this weekend.
Three times as many quarterbacks
played Saturday (six) than have started
games for Michigan in the past four
years combined (two).
Dreisbach, Jason Carr,Brian Griese,
3cot Loeffler, Ed Kiser and Colby
Keefer - and seemingly three or four
)f the 8,000 in attendance - all took a
lumber of snaps from center.
The revolving door at the quarter-
back position made the annual con-
test a little more interesting than usual.
A little more.
The White's 45-44 win makes the
offensive production look better than
it was. In actuality, the final score
was more distorted than a flat world
map. Two touchdowns were scored
in the game.
The Offense (White) faced the
Defense (Blue) and points were
awarded to both teams for anything
ranging from a first down to a third-
down stop by the defense.
The point system was amended by
Moeller at halftime.
The "Commissioner" gave the
Defense an extra 10 points to make
the game closer. Indeed, the word
"serious" does not describe this con-
test.
"At one point, you guys didn't
catch it, but we added a few points in
there," Moeller said. "I kind of liked
the format of the thing. I think we got
a little bit more out of it than we
expected.
"The score was close at the end ...
and that made it nice. But you can see
we have a long way to go."
Griese, a walk-on, accounted for
both of the game's touchdowns. The
sophomore threw 14 yards to tight
end Mark Campbell for a score with
21 seconds left in the opening quarter.
He then hit wide receiver Anthony
See FOOTBALL, Page 4
"I understood (Freehan) wanted a
See BASEBALL, page 5
Women
gymnasts
place 2nd
By Sarah DeMar
Daily Sports Writer
Something unusual happened this
weekend at Crisler Arena - the
Michigan women's gymnastics team
lost a meet. It was just the Wolver-
ines' third defeat of the season and
came during the Central Regionals
Saturday when the No. 4 Wolverines
fell to No. 2 Alabama, 196.675-
195.725.
However, merely saying that
Michigan lost to the Crimson Tide is
like summarizing "The Lion King"
by saying that Mufasa dies. For Michi-
gan, there is a happy ending.
Not only did the Wolverines beat
the other five teams in the tourna-
ment, including No.5 Louisiana State,
but more importantly, they qualified
for the NCAA Championships April
21-23 in Athens, Ga.
"Qualifying is the most important
goal, though, so I'm very pleased
from that standpoint," Michigan coach
Bev Plocki said. "We'll have to wait
until the other regions are finished to
find out what the seeds will be, but I
think our score is good enough."
A team may qualify for NCAAs in
two ways: if it wins its regional, the
squad automatically receives a bid,
and then the next seven teams with
the highest scores are also invited to
compete. Overall, 12 teams will be
making the trek to Athens in two
weeks.
Plocki's instincts proved true.
With 195.725, Michigan had the high-
est score of any non-victorious squad
and the fifth-highest overall. There-
fore, it has gained the fifth seed in the
NCAA finals.
As expected, No.1 Georgia earned
the top seed, followed by Alabama,
See GYMNASTICS, Page 8
EVAN PETRIE/Daily
Running back Chris Floyd was one of several Wolverines who got a chance to perform in Saturday's spring
scrimmage. Floyd was part of a triumphant White squad. The White team (offense) defeated the Blue squad
(defense), 4544.
Am.ing grace
Simmons powers Wolverines
iy Nicholas J. Cotsonika
-y Baseball Writer
ehold Grace. He patrolst
centerfield at Fisher Stadium,
attracting attention, but not
feeding or wanting it. Words, silky
soliloquies or catchy soundbites ate for
other men. Grace leads with smooth
strides, a looping swing and a powerful
arm. They are enough to fill fans' hearts,
and so they are enough for him.
Behold Grace as he leads the Michigan
aseball team back to respectability after
years of embarrassing conflict and
scandal. Watch him as he plays every day,
hits .320 with seven home runs and 27
RBI while grabbing fly ball after fly ball.
Admire him as he brings home a 3.46
front of guys. He
just leads by
example."
Simmons is a
worker and a
winner. He has started
'108 games in a row -
101 in center, six as
designated hitter and one in
right field - and has played
in all 143 games in his career.
He has started for the
Wolverines 142 times.
He has done it all while
garnering grades that would be
considered outstanding for any
student, and while taking classes in a
difficult concentration.
{
WEEKEND
SCORES
Sping Football game
White 45, Blue 44
Baseball
Penn State 5, Michigan 4
Michigan 10, Penn State 9
Softball
Iowa 1, Michigan -0 (10 inn.)
Softball's winning
ways halted in Iowa
By Dan McKenzie
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan softball team re-
ceived a call from reality this week-
end. Up until last Thursday, the Wol-
verines were riding a 19-game win
streak and had earned the No. I spot
in the Big Ten by winning all eight of
their conference match-ups.
However, after splitting a double-
header with Toledo last week, Michi-
gan traveled to Iowa City, where the
Hawkeyes were able to claim three
out of four games.
Iowa swept the doubleheader on
Saturday by scores of 1-0 and 2-1.
Yesterday, the Wolverines won the
first game 5-1 but lost the second,3-
0.
"f thnk at th anw-Mi ~a
Iowa capitalized on an error at first
base which brought the winning run
home.
The second game was also a ldw-
scoring affair. However, it didn't start
off that way. Iowa began the game
with two quick runs. But after that,
the Michigan defense stepped up,
keeping the Hawkeyes off of the bases
in four of the remaining six innings.
However, the Wolverines had
scoring troubles of their own. Despite
coming up with eight hits, Michigan
was unable to cross the plate until
Lesa Arvia drove in Tracy Taylor,
who was pinch running for Jennifer
Smith, in the seventh inning.
"Unfortunately, we got hits, we
just didn't clump them together,"
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