The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 18, 1996 - 3E O~klahoma sweeps Michigan in three games B James Goldstein and Jim Rose Daily Sports Writers The Michigan baseball team was probably thinking that 11 games in Texas over spring break would pre- pare the squad for this weekend's ree-game series in Oklahoma. But after their performance against the Sooners, the Wolverines seemed to leave their bats and gloves deep in the heart of Texas. Some might say they never even took their equipment to Texas, as evi- denced by the 10 losses incurred on the trip. Whatever the case, Michigan needed more than working equipment to beat Oklahoma this weekend. The Sooners completed a three- ame sweep of the Wolverines with a 13-8 win in Norman, Okla., yester- day. This followed Friday's 14-2 drub- bing and Saturday's 7-4 loss. The three wins improved Oklahoma's record to 15-7 and diopped Michigan to 1-13. lh yesterday's defeat, Michigan pitcher Mike Hribernik (1-2) was 'tagged for 12 runs on 10 hits in four aid one-third innings. But three er- rors led to seven unearned runs. Oklahoma's Jamie Gannn and Damon Minior belted home runs, and Jesse Zepeda drove in three runs. Minor con- n~ted on his third dingerinthree games, and ninth total, going 6-for-10 and knocking in 10 runs for the series. The Sooners used a four-run third and six-run fifth to put the game away. The Wolverines attempted a late-game Ially, however, scoring four runs in e eighth and threatening in the ninth with four straight hits. But Oklahoma converted a game ending double play to cut the rally short, nailing a Michigan runner at the plate. Michigan was *led by Mike Cervenak, who had a four-hit day for the Wolverines, giving the sophomore third baseman eight hits in nine at- bats for the series. Second baseman Kirk Beermann also got four hits. In Saturday's game, junior Brian Steinbach started and took the loss for Michigan. The Sooners touched Steinbach for seven earned runs in five and two-thirds innings of work. Minor got things started early for Oklahoma by hitting his eighth homer of the year, a three-run blast, in the first inning. The Sooners added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and pro- duced two more in the sixth. Wolverine freshman J.J. Putz pitched well in relief of Steinbach, striking out one and walking one in two and one-third innings, while al- lowing no runs. But the performance of the game came from Oklahoma starting pitcher Brian Shackelford, who, after hold- ing Michigan to four hits through eight innings, took a 7-2 lead into the ninth inning. For the Wolverines, Cervenak hit his first homer of the season, doubled, and knocked in three runs. Freshman Bobby Scales andjunior Mick Kalahar also had two hits apiece. On Friday, the Sooners rocked Michigan starter Mark Temple for four runs - three of them earned - on six hits, in just one and one-third innings pitched. Temple, who as a senior is the Wol- verines' top returning starter,' fell to 0-3 in the short season. Freshman hurler Luke Bonner was one of the few bright spots for the Wolverines. Bonner scattered six hits over the final five innings, and three of the four runs scored against him were unearned. All told, 10 different Oklahoma players hit safely in the game. Minor had a single, double and home run, scored three runs, and had six RBI. Cervenak led Michigan with two hits and an RBI, while junior short- stop Kelly Dransfeldt hit his first home run of the season. DARREN EVERSON Darren to be Different Se/cc/i bwzcommiftee 4 IJo/ven7)zes mcewwil udging by the NCAA's hockey tournament bracket (Page 2B), no one in that organization has ever owned a dog. Or, at the very least, no one there grasps the concept of dog biscuits. The idez makes perfect sense, even to a dog: When you do right, you get rewarded with one, When you don't, well ... all you've got for sustenance is your own saliva. Oral fluids are about all that the hockey Spartans have produced lately, winning four of their last 11 and blowing the CCHA title in the process. Meanwhile, Michigan won the playoff title and beat the Spartans in the standings and three of 2 four times on the ice. And yet, Michigan must beat either Minnesota or Providence at Michigan State's Munn Ice Arena to advance in the NCAA tournament. That's about as fair as watching the family pooch sit, roll over and stay, and then sending him off to scrap for food with the local junkyard dogs at their place. As for the Spartans, who get to play at home, they're getting rewarded for basically messing all over the living room floor. "It's unfair to the purpose of the playoffs to give a team an advantage when it hasn't earned it," Michigan coach Red Berenson says. Berenson is right: The NCAA ought to try something else - like having higher- seeded teams host games - than continue with the present system, in which regional sites are determined by a bidding process. The reason: Undeserving teams can get home-ice advantage. And make no mistake: It's a huge advantage. Being at home in hockey means being familiar with the rink's surface and its dimensions (these vary from one rink to the next), not to mention having the crowd and not having to travel. Not.coincidentally, your average hockey team fares better at home - and so does your not-so-average team: Michigan has suffered six of its seven losses away from Yost Ice Arena. One of those, by the way, was at Michigan State. "But in fairness to that statement." Berenson says. "the teams that have hosted it haven't won." One such team was last year's Wisconsin squad, which lost to the Wolverines in the quarterfinals. The Badgers still got to host Michigan, though, despite having an inferior record, a worse seed and a loss to the Wolverines earlier that season. And even though the Wolverines don't face the Spartans, they'll still be at a huge disadvantage. In the 1994 West Regional at East Lansing, a raucous, anybody-but-Michigan crowd cheered on Lake Superior State (whose band, incidentally, played Michigan State's fight song) to victory over the Wolverines. So what gives? "There has to be home-ice advantage," says Rick Comley, chair of the selection. committee. "If we were going to have two buildings (with good attendance) that weren't on campus, that would be ideal. But so far we haven't had that." The 1993 West regional at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit proved this point. Michigan's quarterfinal game against Wisconsin that year drew a paltry 7,483. Since then, schools have bid on on-campus regionals, and the NCAA has made sure host schools have played at home, Comley says. The Wolverines have yet to host one because, at first, they weren't aware of the NCAA's decision to make the West regional available to bidders. Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Michigan State have put in bids and hosted regionals. Further handicapping Michigan has been the renovation of Yost, Berenson says, as it makes the arena unavailable. The renovation has kept Michigan from having a regional here for two years, since it was supposed to be done in 1995 but was postponed until this year. These problems won't saddle Michigan forever, though, and Berenson says he'll probably put in a bid eventually. But for the time being, the Wolverines are forced to play for their tournament lives in their archrivals' backyard. I wouldn't do that to a dog. - Darren Everson can be reached over e-mail at evey@umich.edu. Michigan junior shortstop Kelly Dransfeldt and the Wolverines dropped three straight games to Oklahoma over the weekend. 'ftbail loses final after 6 straight shutouts By Dan Stillman Daily Sports Writer Wolverine pitching shutout oppo- nents for a school-record 44 consecu- tive innings as the Michigan softball team continued its early-season suc- cess at this weekend's Florida State *ady Seminole Invitational. Following six straight shutouts, the No. 15 Wolverines (15-7) defeated No. 9 Florida State in ithe tournament's semi- final yesterday morning, before losing 5-3 to South Florida in the afternoon's championship game. Junior pitcher Kelly Holmes high- lighted the Wolverines' weekend pitch- ing effort with a spectacular Saturday. On that morning, Holmes (8-4) re- orded a no-hitter against No. 20 Illi- nois-Chicago. Saturday night, she held No. 17 Indiana to one-hit. Sophomore pitcher Griffin won all four games she started while Holmes went 3-1 on the weekend. Michigan's pitching heroics did not last into the championship game, how- ever. South Florida pitcher and tournament MVP Monica Tri:nerstruck the big blow -ofthe game with a two-run homer in the ird, giving her team acommanding 5- 0 lead. Michigan's three-run fourth was not enough as the Wolverines did not threaten the rest of the game and fell short of successfully defending last year's championship in the tournament. The Wolverines' 7-1 weekend in- cluded three victories over nationally ranked teams. Inthe semifinal, senior third baseman Tracy Carr led Michigan over the Semi- noles with three RBIs, including a two- run triple in the first. Griffin, junior second baseman Jes- sica Lang and senior shortstop Kathryn Gleason each knocked in a run to com- plete the Michigan scoring. The Wolverines' advanced to the semifinal via Saturday night's 11-0 whipping of the self-destructing Indi- ana Hoosiers in the quarterfinal. Junior second baseman Jessica Lang started the Michigan scoring with a relatively harmless three-run homer in the first inning - relative to a two-out error by the Indiana third baseman, which led to eight more first-inning Wolverine runs, all of them unearned. Hoosier pitching helped Michigan out with six walks in the inning. Friday the Wolverines began the tour- nament by recording three shutouts in as many games. In the first game, Miami (Ohio) bats were no match for Wolverine starter Sara Griffin who shutdown the Redskins in the 6-0 victory. The shutout was Griffin's fourth of the season. Michigan did all of its damage in the middle innings, scoring twice in the third and four more in the fourth. Another four-run fourth inning keyed Michigan's second shutout of the day against Samford in a 7-0 win. Gleason's and Carr's two-run doubles accounted for the bulk of Michigan's scoring. Freshman outfielder Cathy Davie added two RBI of her own. As the day wore on, the Wolverines kept getting stronger. Michigan capped offthe opening day of the tournament with a season-high 13 runs and season-best 15 hits against Northern Iowa. Griffin and senior co-captain Erin Martino both went 2-for-4 from the plate with a double and an RBI. Saturday's set of Michigan shutouts began with 7-0 victory over Illinois- Chicago. Holmes recorded her first ever no-hitter and the Wolverines' second of the season. The game remained close until Michi- gan added to its 1-0 lead with a four-run fourth. Michigan took the 5-0 lead with back-to-back two-run doubles by fresh- man first baseman Traci Conrad and Griffin. Wolverine catcher Jennifer Smith suffered abad bone bruise on her throw- ing hand late in the game, which forced her to miss the rest of the tournament. The junior is expected to return behind the plate next weekend. The Young Women's Health Project University of Michigan Medical Center SOPHOMORE WOMEN The Young Women's Health Project is conducting an ongoing, federally-funded study of nutrition and its impact on menstrual function. Subjects are needed who have experienced or are regularly engaged in any of the following behaviors: " binge eating " intense dieting or fasting * vomiting or other types of purging The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures presents The Nineteenth Annual Hayward Keniston Lecture Blues for Tomorrow If interested, and you are a sophomore woman, you may be eligible to participate. by Stanley Crouch Tuesday March 19, 1996 4:30 p.m. Schorling Auditorium School of Education A reception will follow the lecture. For further information, please contact Dina Pasalis, Project Coordinator at 936-4867. All subjects will be paid up to $265 on completion of their participation in this research project. 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