, b
More than a handful of Michigan players will have sweaty
palms when the 1996 NFL Entry Draft begins tomorrow in
New York City. Junior tailback Tshimanga Biakabutuka is
expected to go to the St. Louis Rams with the sixth
overall pick. As many as three other Wolverines - Amani
Toomer, Jon Runyan and Joe Marinaro - could be first-
round selections. The draft will televised by ESPN.
Friday
April 19, 1996
12
Sophomore
hurler stellar
in comeback
By Jim Rose
Daily Sports Writer
Just about everything went well for Michigan baseball
pitcher Tyler Steketee in yesterday's game - except the
final result.
In Steketee's first start of the season, the Wolverines (12-
4 Big Ten, 18-18 overall) were 4-1 losers to Eastern Michi-
gan at Fisher Stadium. The sophomore righthander didn't
figure in the decision, but he kept Michigan in the game
throughout the first five innings.
"I was happy with Tyler Steketee," Michigan coach
Geoff Zahn said. "He pitched real well today."
The Wolverines managed only four hits through the first
five innings, but the Eagles were equally ineffective, thanks
to Steketee. He allowed one run on two hits, while walking
just two. When he left the game with the score knotted at
one, the bullpen couldn't hold Eastern Michigan off.
Steketee, who has been recovering from a stress fracture
,in his leg, was a member of Michigan's starting rotation last
year. He injured the leg on this year's spring trip.
Steketee gave up a single and a walk with two outs in the
top half of the first yesterday, but he got out of the jam by
getting the Eagles' Jeff McGavin to pop out to the catcher.
.Then Steketee settled down and retired 10 straight hitters.
In fact, Eastern Michigan couldn't even get a runner on the
basepaths until the fifth inning.
The inning that finished Steketee for the day wasn't even
,entirely his fault. He walked Eastern Michigan's Scott
"Barrett then retired the next two Eagles in order. When
Barrett tried to steal second, Michigan catcher Mike Haskell
-rushed his throw, and it sailed into centerfield.
Then Eastern Michigan's ninth batter, catcher Travis
Wade - who, no doubt, was at the bottom of the lineup due
in part to his .133 average -hit a fly ball fairly deep to right
field. Michigan's Derek Besco initially appeared to have a
bead on the ball, but the swirling wind dropped it safely just
inside the foul line. Scored as a double for Wade, it allowed
See STEKETEE, Page 13
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Eagles soar
past Blue"
Flat bats doom Wolverines in 4-1
home loss to Eastern Michigan
MARK""IEDMAN/"il" y
Eastern Michigan reliever Mike Borkowski set down the Wolverines in order in the ninth inning to
preserve the Eagles's 4-1victory over Michigan at Fisher Stadium yesterday.
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By James Goldstein
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan dugout just didn't
sound the same.
In the past, the Wolverines have
cheered when they have won and done
the same when they have lost. But
yesterday, Michigan players would
tell you that their heads weren't into
the game.
For a good portion of the game,
silence replaced "Hey now, let's get a
hit" or "Come on, one more strike" or
"Keep your head in there" in the Wol-
verines' dugout.
It's not as if there was no cheering
or encouraging. It's just the dugout
wasn't as lively as the earlier games
in the season.
And it spilled onto the field.
Michigan fell to the Eagles 4-1 yes-
terday at Fisher Stadium as the Wol-
verines lacked the clutch hitbig pitch
and the smarts in the
field and on the Next up fa
basepaths.
"(We) were pretty A pair of Big Ten
dead today," Michi- tomorrow and Su
gan coach Geoff Ray Fisher Stadi
Zahn said. "(We)
didn't execute well)
at all."
The Wolverines
dropped their record
to .500 (18-18)
heading into this
weekend's crucial
four-game home series against Penn
State.
Eastern Michigan (11-23) broke a
- 1 deadlock in the seventh inning on
Brent Miller's two-RBI, bases-loaded
single off Mike Hribernik.
Hribernik entered the game in the
top of the sixth for the Wolverines'
starting pitcher, Tyler Steketee.
Hribernik started off strong, retiring
the Eagles in order in the sixth and got
the first out of the seventh on a fly-out
to center field.
' But the sophomore pitcher from
Birmingham struggled thereafter.
Eastern Michigan's Scott Barrett
got the team going as he beat out
Michigan third baseman Brian
Kalczynski's throw from the infield
grass for an infield single. Designated
hitter Mark Rutherford then crushed
Hribernik's fastball off the left field
wall for a stand-up double.
Rutherford's shot looked as if it would
go out of the park, but it plunked the
wall halfway up, saving Michigan a
run. Instead of Barrett scoring, he
wound up on third.
With two outs, Travis Wade walked
to load the bases. Miller stepped up to
the plate and took two straight balls.
But Hribernik fought his way back to
square the count with two pitches
down the middle of the plate. Miller
hadn't even taken the bat off his shoul-
o
n i
iur
lu
der. Michigan fans yelled, "He'sg
swinging, just throw it in there.'
But how wrong they were. Miller
grounded a base hit up the middle to
score Barrett and Rutherford and gave
the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
Eastern Michigan added its final
run in the eighth on a successful sui-
cide squeeze. This came after
Michigan's pitcher Matt Herr over-
threw a pick-off attempt at first base
into right field for a two-base error.
Brian Mitchell picked up his fe
victory for the Eagles in his second
start of the season. Before yesterday's
game, Mitchell only pitched eight in-
nings in eight games. But against
Michigan, he threw six solid innings
and allowed one run on six hits, walk-
ing none. Mark Borkowski threw in
the ninth to notch his second save of
the season. Hrbenik took'_e loss,
dropping his record to 1-5.
Zahn knot
C 'M': what Hrbernik is
going through in
doubleheaders his four-game
nday at 1 p.m. at losing streak.
im. "Hrber dik
started this sa-
son as our' best
pitcher." Zahn
said. "He would
be the first to say
that he is make
bad pitches in
bad situations.
And he just has to fight his. way
through that."
Steketee made the pitches to keep
the Wolverines in the ballgame. The
sophomore hurler made his first ap-
pearance of the season. Steketee, who
started 10 games last year, silenced
the Eastern Michigan bats in hisAfive
innings of work. He gave up a hie.
the first inning before retiring the'-next
nine Eagles.
The only blemish in Steketee's-per-
formance came in the fifth inning. He
walked Barrett, who stole second on
the first pitch to Wade. Then, the
Eagles got help from another source
en route to its first run -the weather.
Winds picked up throughout the
game that lifted the dirt around home
plate, bothering both catchers. .T e
wind was a factor in Wade's pop fl
right field. It looked as if it would be
an easy out to end the inning, but the
ball tailed away from Michigan right
fielder Derek Besco, who had to run
from right-center toward the foul line
to make the play.
Besco didn't make the catch as the
ball dropped in for a wind-blown
double. Barrett came home and knot-
ted the game at one.
The sophomore pitcher allowed j s1
two hits and two walks in five in-
nings. But Steketee impressed his
See EAGLES, Page 13
~V~CQ '~:~
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:Y
Kasdan Scholarship in Creative Writing
Arthur Miller Award
Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry
Jeffrey L. Weisberg Freshman Poetry Award
Dennis McIntyre Prize
Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing
Helen S. and John Wagner Prize
Andrea Beauchamp Prize
Robert F. Haugh Prize
Naomi Saferstein Literary Award
Meader Family Award
will be announced
Monday, April 22
S-2r n m in the
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