'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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