'M' recruits are No. 1
Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons has ranked Michigan's recruiting class
No. 1 in the nation. The Wolverines' blue-chip class of Robert Traylor,
Albert White and Louis Bullock put the team ahead of Arkansas and North
Carolina. The No. 1 ranking marked the second consecutive year that
Michigan's recruits were ranked as the best in the nation.
Page 9
Thursday,
April 13. 1995
I
Baseball
*stumbles
past
Madonna
By John Lero
Daily Baseball Writer
There's just something about Ma-
donna that makes baseball games
sloppy.
On March 22, five errors and four
unearned runs marred Michigan's 5-
4 extra-inning victory over the Fight-
ing Crusaders, and yesterday, the two
squads combined for 10 errors and
nine unearned runs in the Wolver-
ines' 10-9 victory.
Michigan's infielders produced
most of the gaffes, with all four com-
mitting one error and second baseman
Kirk Beerman taking the prize, rack-
ing up two.
"I'm pretty upset with our field-
ing," Michigan coach Bill Freehan
said. "You can't make six errors and
hope to beat good teams."
Yet, despite their poor fielding,
*the Wolverines' offense was hitting
on all cylinders, compiling 15 hits
andscoring 10 runs. But Michigan (4-
6Big Ten, 13-18 overall) had its hands
full with Madonna.
Down 9-8 in the bottom of the
ninth, Wolverine Mike Muir drew a
walk to lead off the inning. After
Kelly Dransfeldt sacrificed him to
second base, Andy Wade came in to
*pinlchrun for Muir. A Sean Coston
sacrifice fly moved Wade to third
base, and Kirk Beerman's two-out
single to drove in Wade with the tying
run.
After Beerman stole second,
rightfielder Rodney Goble walked,
putting two runners on board. Ryan
Van Oeveren then followed with his
third hit of the day, aline drive single,
to score Beerman from second base
with the winning run.
"It was a sloppy game, but we
swung the bat halfway-decent,"
Freehan said. "We we're down, but
we battled back against these guys."
With the game tied at eight in the
seventh inning, the Wolverines had a
chance to pull ahead.
With one out and runners on first
and second, Van Oeveren smacked a
* double off the wall in rightfield. But
Matt Fleury, who was on second base,
lost theball in the sun and got a late start
towards third. By the time Fleury
rounded third base, Rodney Goble, who
was on first, was right behind him.
Madonna rightfielderJames Solak
picked the ball up off the wall and
fired a bullet straight to catcher Craig
Peterson, and Peterson put the tag on
Fleury just as he slid into home. Goble
then ran over Peterson as he crossed
the plate. Peterson dropped the ball
during the collision, but the umpire
called both runners out.
Madonna was up 5- 1 in the bot-
tom of the third when Goble cranked
a stand-up triple off the wall in right-
centerfield. Van Oeveren sacrificed
Goble home with a fly ball to right.
Centerfielder Brian Simmons then hit
his eighth homerun of the year to
shrink the deficit to two.
The Wolverines scored three un-
earned runs in the bottom of the fifth
to take the lead, 6-5.
Madonna then mirrored the Wol-
verines, scoring three unearned runs
of its own to make the score, 8-6.
First baseman Chad Chapman tied
the game at eight in the sixth inning,
0knocking in Goble and Van Oevcren
with a one-out single.
"We hit the ball pretty well,"
Freehan said. "We got the win, but
we've got to get better."
See BASEBALL, Page 10
'M' softball blows
past Nittany Lions
By Tim Smith
Daily Softball Writer
With the Michigan softball team
leading Penn State, 4-0, after four
innings of play in the second game of
its doubleheader, the Wolverines had
to wait 52 minutes in the rain before
coming back on the field.
And when it seemed as if the rain
had finally stopped, No. 9 Michigan
opened the floodgates.
Michigan's offense sparked the
Wolverines (11-3 Big Ten, 29-7 over-
all) to a 14-0 victory over Penn State
(3-11,16-19) in the second game, af-
ter claiming a 10-2 victory over the
Nittany Lions in the opening contest.
Wolverine Sara Griffin was the
first batter after the rain delay, and the
freshman nailed a line drive far down
the right field line for an inside-the-
park home run and a 5-0 Michigan
lead.
In the next inning, Michelle Silver
crushed a fastball over the centerfield
fence to give the Wolverines a 7-0
lead. And then after Cheryl Pearcy
singled, Griffin followed with a blast
over the left-centerfield fence to give
Michigan a 9-0 lead.
It was Griffin's fifth homerun of
the year, which ties the Wolverines'
single-season homerun record.
The runs didn't stop there. With
runners on second and third, Kathryn
Gleason singled to increase the lead
to 11-0. Three batters later, Silver
increased her game-RBI total to four
with a two-run double. Silver then
scored the final run on a passed ball to
give Michigan the 14-0 victory.
Wolverine Kelly Kovach pitched
a one-hitter to improve her record to
i 1-2 and her career win total to 65.
Kovach is now tied with Vicki Mor-
row on the Wolverines' all-time list.
"It feels good," Kovach said of
tying the record. "The team is good,
and they've been carrying me defen-
sively and we've been hitting the ball
real well.
"The recordjust goes to show what
great teams I've been on in my four
years."
It was Kovach's bat, however, that
got the Wolverines going in their 10-
2 victory in game one.
After Silver doubled to lead off
the bottom of the first, Kovach fol-
lowed with a double to give Michigan
a 1-0 lead.
In the second, Lesa Arvia, Jessica
Lang and Jennifer Smith hit consecu-
tive singles to make it 2-0 before
Kellyn Tate's single increased the
lead to 3-0.
Silver followed with what would
be her first of two homeruns on the
day. Her blast rocketed over the 220
foot sign in center field to stretch the
lead to 5-0.
"It feels really great," Silver said.
"I was relaxed at the plate. I wanted to
come out and swing hard every time
and as a team we wanted to come out
and jump all over Penn State."
The Wolverines continued their
assault on the Nittany Lions' pitch-
ing in the third when Smith doubled
to score Carr and Arvia for a 7-0
lead.
Penn State threatened in the top of
the fourth when Rebecca Wisnoff
singled in two runs with two outs. But
that was all the Nittany Lions would
score off Griffin who was credited
with the victory and moved her sea-
son record to 11-4.
"Our kids just hit the ball, what
can you say?" Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins said. "The first game was
cold, but we did a good job rising
above the weather. The weather has
definitely not been on our side this
year.
"We needed a good solid win
(after losing three of four to Iowa
last weekend). We only look ahead
after we lose or win-not behind.
We're still in the thick of things,
and we are every bit in (the Big Ten)
race."
See page 12 for
more softball
coverage
MIGHALL HIHUGH/Daily
The Michigan softball team overcame a 52-minute rain delay to sweep a doubleheader from Penn State. The
Wolverines won the first game, 10-2, and triumphed in the second game, 14-0.
BASEBALL NOTEBOOK:
Errors plague Wolverine defense
By John Leroi
Daily Baseball Writer
For a team that prides itself on
being a good defensive ballclub, the
Michigan baseball team is making
many errors. Yesterday marked the
eighth straight multi-error game for
the Wolverines.
Michigan's infield has been the
source ofmostofthe blunders. Against
Madonna, third baseman Kelly
Dransfeldt, shortstop Ryan Van
Oeveren, first baseman Chad
Chapman and catcher Matt Fleury
all committed an error. But, second
baseman Kirk Beerman won the
butterfingers award for his two gaffes.
"We played pretty sloppy," said
Van Oeveren, who was voted the
team's bestdefensive playerlast year.
"It's really frustrating to play like that
defensively. There's really no ex-
cuse."
Van Oevern, for one, has not lived
up to last season's defensive perfor-
mance. The co-captain has commit-
ted 12 errors already this season, the
worst on the team. Last year, Van
Oeveren committed justnine errors in
238 chances and sported a team-best
.962 fielding percentage.
This season, the senior out of
BASEBALL Results
Madonna 023 003 010 -9 10 4
Michigan 012 032 002 -10 15 6
W - Hesse, L-Solak; DP®--Mad
1, UM 1; LOB -Mad 7, UM 11; 2B
- Weaver (UM), Beermann (UM),
Van Oeveren (UM); 3B6- Goble
(UM); HR - Simmons (UM); SB -
Anderson 2 (Mad), Jones (Mad),
Kasubowski (Mad); CS - Wilczynski
(Mad); SH - Quinn (Mad), Taylor
(Mad), Kasubowski (Mad); SF -
Anderson (Mad), Van Oeveren (UM);
WP - Benedict (Mad), Temple 2
(UM); HBP - Muir (UM) by Solak; E
- Kasubowski (Mad), Peterson
(Mad), Taylor (Mad), Quinn (Mad),
Beermann 2 (UM), Van Oeveren
(UM), Fleury (UM), Dransfeldt (UM),
Chapman (UM).
Grandville has seemingly lost his de-
fensive wizardry, dropping his field-
ing percentage below .920. He is in
danger of eclipsing his 1992 total of
13 errors.
"It gets in your head and you just
keep messing up," Van Oeveren said.
Dransfeldt is playing equally poor
at the hot corner. The sophomore has
made 10 gaffes so far this season, one
short of his total of last year. Dransfeldt
also sports the infields' worst fielding
percentage, which dipped below .900
yesterday. Lastyear, Dransfeldt bobbled
his way to an .833 percentage.
Leftfielder Scott Weaver is also
error-prone. Thejunior carries a team-
low .864 fielding percentage.
So far, the Wolverines' circus act
in the field has cost them a couple
games. As the season progresses,
Michigan's defensive woes may be
it's downfall.
"With off-and-on defense, you
can't expect to win too many
ballgames," coach Bill Freehan said.
AT LEAST THE OFFENSE IS CLICKING:
Yesterday, Van Oeveren, Weaver and
Rodney Goble all tallied three hits
for Michigan. Although this feat isn't
quite monumental, the players' per-
formanc. at the plate is a far cry from
their play once they put gloves on.
"Well, at least we hit well,"
Freehan said.
FULL SCHEDULE: Next week, the
Wolverines may be a bit weary. After
their 10-9 win yesterday over Ma-
donna and today's game against East-
ern Michigan, the team hosts Michi-
gan State for a doubleheader on Sat-
urday and then travels to East Lan-
sing for a twinbill on Sunday.
That makes six games in five days,
Tuesday, the Wolverines will en-
tertain Central Michigan at Fisher
Stadium to make a grand total of four
opponents in one week.
If Freehan chooses to use five
pitchers in each game like he did
yesterday, there is sure to be an ice
bucket shortage in the lockerroom.
And remember, Monday's double-
header with Penn State was cancelled.
With so many games and the added
stress of final exams, there may well
be a few grouchy Wolverines next
week.
SOFTBALL results
Penn State 000 200
Michigan 142 300
W - Griffin, L - Hannah; LOB - PSU 4,
0-2
X- 10
UM 9; 2B-
3 1
13 1
Silver (UM), Kovach
(UM), Arvia (UM), Smith (UM); HR - Silver (UM); SB - Lang (UM); SH -
Pearcy (UM); WP - Hannah (PSU), Hippo (PSU), Griffin 2 (UM); E - Serpico
(PSU), Gleason (UM).
Michigan 220 19 - 14 15 0
Penn State 000 00 -0 1 1
W - Kovach, L - Gooding; LOB - PSU 1, UM 9; 2B - Kovach 2 (UM), Silver
(UM); HR - Griffin 2 (UM), Silver (UM); SB - Carr 2 (UM), Silver (UM); WP -
Schwab (PSU), Kovach (UM); PB - Hackett 2, (PSU); HBP - Carr (UM), Tate
(UM) by Schwab; E - Boyd (PSU).
On tap
here is the upcoming schedule for the Michigan baseball team.
Today
Saturday
Sunday
April 18
April 23
EASTERN MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN STATE
at Michigan State
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
SIENA HEIGHTS
3 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
3 p.m.
3 p.m.
1L 1 J
Alft
RJCML-
q
MICHIGAN
MOVERS, INC.
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