fJ tdjt9jtw&v Irvin free on bond, awaits trial Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin is free on $5,500 bond while he awaits trial. Irvin, along with two topless dancers, were arraigned Monday on charges of cocaine and marijuana possession. The former charge is a felony and carries with it a penalty of two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. No date has been set for the trial of the 30- ,year-old All-Pro wideout, who pleaded not guilty to the charges. 0 V Wednesday April 3, 1996 10 'M' baseball visits stmggling Spartans Michigan penalized 0 By James Goldstein. Daily Sports Writer If one told the Michigan baseball team that it would be tied for first place in the Big Ten after eight games, the Wolverines would have laughed. Yet, even with Michigan's 8-15 overall record, the Wolverines are 6- 2 in the conference and tied for first with Illinois and Ohio State. "I really didn't expect us to be where we are," Michigan's Kelly Dransfeldt said. "We have such a young team and need experience." In fact, only six out of the 31 play- ers on the roster are seniors. Michi- gan is coming off a disappointing sea- son last year. And to make things worse, last season's top two hitters, Scott Weaver and Bryan Simmons, graduated. But new Michigan coach Geoff Zahn has come in and done a remark- able job so far. True, the Wolverines' overall record is way under .500, but Zahn's pitching and aggressive hit- ting style is working for Michigan. Zahn and the Wolverines hope to break the first-place jam as they pre- pare to face Michigan State (0-8 Big Ten, 5-21 overalr) today at 3 p.m., at the grand opening of Oldsmobile Park in East Lansing. The Wolverines haven't had much time to prepare for today's game. Michigan just got back from Indiana after completing Sunday's rain-sus- pended games on Monday. So it's back on the road for the Wolverines. And right back home to- morrow to face Western Michigan. The busy week ends with a four-game series at home versus Minnesota. The Wolverines don't mind play- ing so many games in one week. It's what they are missing that hurts. "It's tough because we are missing a lot of classes and a lot of things are coming up at the end of the year," Dransfeldt said. "That's the hardest thing. Playing games- that's the easy part." Things are also coming much easier for the junior shortstop. In the Indiana series this past week- end, Dransfeldt went 4-for-9 with five runs batted in and three runs scored. For all games this season, Dransfeldt is batting .342 with 11 RBI, and is tied for the team lead with Bryan Besco in home runs with two dingers. But in Big Ten contests, Dransfeldt is hitting an even more impressive .478 with nine RBI. One reason for Dransfeldt's batting success is his adjustments at the plate. "I feel a lot better at the plate right now," Dransfeldt said. "Coaches have worked with me a lot on getting my timing back to where it should be." Jason Alcaraz has also mastered his timing at bat for the Wolverines. The freshman left-fielder has a siz- zling .367 batting average, including four doubles, one triple and a home run. Michigan State's Matt Riggins also knows a thing or two about the long ball. Even with the Spartans' terrible record, Riggins has gotten off to a solid start. The Michigan State first baseman leads the Spartans with a .358 batting average and eight home runs. In last weekend's four-game series against Ohio State, Riggins stroked seven hits in 15 times at bat. The Michigan pitching staff will try to keep Riggins at bay. The Wol- verine hurlers have kept their confer- ence opponents in check so far, post- ing a team-combined 2.53 earned-run average. Dransfeldt is enjoying playing be- hind the Wolverine starting pitchers and is thrilled with the progress of the young staff. "Overall, ourpitching staff has been doing excellent," Dransfeldt said. "We couldn't ask anything better from those guys. (J.J. Putz and Luke Bonner) have proved that they could play at this level already. (Mike Hribernik, Mark Temple and Brian Steinbach) have all upped their games for the Big Ten and are playing excel- lent right now." * KRISTEN SHAEFER/Daily Louis Bullock will not be missing Maurice Taylor or Willie Mitchell next year. 'Gon'nowhere Tle r Mitchell say they wilnot leave Michigan for NBA, Detroit self for car accident The Associated Press The University stopped recruiting Mateen Cleaves as self-imposed punishment for a traffic accident involving the prep basketball star and five varsity players, the school said. The NCAA accepted as adequate the University's de sion to suspend efforts to recruit Cleaves for six day according to documents released by the school. The accident occurred at 5:10 a.m. Feb. 1 7, when a Ford Explorer driven by Michigan sophomore Maurice Taylor rolled over in Washtenaw County's Superior Township. Taylor and teammates Robert Traylor, Louis Bullock, Willie Mitchell and Ron Oliver had taken Cleaves, a recruit on an official visit, to a party in Detroit. The University completed an internal investigation four days later, then notified the NCAA and the Big Ten that one minor NCAA rule had been violated - Cleaves had been entertained more than 30 miles from the Ann Arb* campus. "The involved student-athletes stated that they were aware of the 30-mile radius stipulation, however, and believed they were within the allowed radius," the Uni- versity said. The University said in the future "student hosts in the sport of men's basketball will be required to provide a written itinerary of the scheduled activities and locations that they have planned with the prospective student- athlete." Although Michigan told the NCAA that it was suspenO ing efforts to recruit the Flint Northern star, the associa- tion lifted the ban six days later, The Detroit News re- ported yesterday. Louis Onofrio, an NCAA eligibility representative, told the University by telephone that the ban was lifted. He wrote to Michigan two weeks later and said the NCAA officially ruled the incident a secondary violation requir- ing no further action. Cleaves, runner-up for the Mr. Basketball award honor- ing the state's top high school player, announced last week that he will attend Michigan State. The News obtained the University documents aftW filing a Freedom of Information Act request. School officials twice denied the documents existed, then fought to prevent their release, the newspaper said. The newspaper retained a lawyer to begin legal pro- ceedings. The University then released the documents, calling its previous failure to do so an "oversight," accord- ing to The News. 'M' basketball awards Softball wins 2 on the road From Staff Reports The Michigan softball team swept Penn State yesterday in Happy Valley in a Big Ten doubleheader. The Wolverines used a 14-hit bar- rage to pile up seven runs against the Lady Lions in the first game. Jennifer Smith, Traci Conrad and Sara Griffin each had three hits in the offensive explosion, which left the Lions on the short end of a 7-1 score. Michigan's Kelly Holmes allowed Penn State only three hits over seven innings. In the nightcap, the No. 11 Wolver- ines once again shut down their hosts, winning 5-0. Sara Griffin once again starred for Michigan, this time on the mound. The Wolverine sophomore gave up a mere three hits in blanking the Lady Lions. Tracy Carr singled-handedly outslugged Penn State. In four trips to the plate, Carr had three hits - in- cluding a home run - while tallying three runs batted in. Carr's performance was part of a 10-hit effort by the Wolverines. Michigan's fielding contributed to the sweep, as the Wolverines did not make an error in either game. One glaring statistic stands out for the Wolverines. Despite the impres- sive offense in both matchups with the Lady Lions, Michigan nonethe- less stranded 10 baserunners in each contest. With the pair of victories, Michi- gan improved to 4-1 in the Big Ten, while running its overall mark to 25- 9. Penn State, meanwhile, drops to 0- 4 in Big Ten play, and 17-12 overall. By Barry Sollenberger Daily Sports Editor Defections, defections, defections. They have hurt the Michigan men's basketball team before. Will they hurt the Wolverines again this spring? That was the major point of interest at last night's Michigan Basketball Bust - the Wolver- ines' awards banquet. Never mind that Maurice Taylor(M VP), Dugan Fife (leadership and hustle), Travis Conlan (defense), Albert White (most im- proved) and Maceo Baston (rebounding) all won awards. Word has it that the sophomore Taylor is hearing whispers that are telling him to declare his elgibility for June's NBA draft. Taylor shot all of that r down last night. I'm stay "Like any player, 1 thought about leaving dogs. I'm s early," Taylor said."But I sat down with my family my family. and coach and decided to do what is best for me and that's to stay in school." Michiga The Wolverines' best player had a solid season, but probably figures that he isn't exactly ready to take on the Olajuwons and O'Neals of the NBA just yet. The sophomore averaged 14 points and seven rebounds per game this past year. In the Big Ten opener at Wisconsin, Taylor sat next to coach Steve Fisher during the last seven minutes of a 51- 46 Michigan loss. The sophomore was in the lineup during crunch time thereafter. "Expectations are good," Fisher said. "But you can't let them choke you - kill you. You have to be determined to be better and that's what Maurice has done. His biggest improvement has been from the neck up." And then there is Willie Mitchell. Two years ago, he was one of the top senior high school players in the nation. Every college wanted him. The Wolverines got him. Today, Fisher must wonder ifhe still wants him. The sophomore just finished his second disap- pointing season as a Wolverine. Rumors that Mitchell will transfer are flying, just like they were a year ago after hispoor freshman campaign. This time they say he is headed to Detroit Mercy. But Mitchell, too, said that he will be returning to Michigan next fall. "I ain't goin' nowhere," he said. "I'm staying with my dogs. "I'm staying with my family." If Mitchell is, indeed, speaking the truth, Big Ten opponents have reason to be excited. Mitchell's problems begin and end with his jumpshot. He couldn't ring with my taying with - Willie Mitchell an basketball player hit the broad side of the Great Wall of China with it this past season. His shooting percentage was .313 - a nice bat- ting average, but a horrendus everything- else-in-this-world aver- age. In fairness to Mitchell, a knee injury Name of award Bill Buntin Most Valuable Player Thad Garner Leadership Wayman Britt Defensive Player Loy Vaught Rebounding Steve Grote Hustler Award Player Maurice Taylor Dugan Fife Travis Conlan Maceo Baston Dugan Fife Rudy Tomjanovich Most Improved Player Albert White hindered him through- out much of the season. That is probably why his coach still stands behind him. "If I had to give one word to describe Willie, it would be toughness," Fisher said. "He won't tell you when he is hurt. At (Michigan State) he played the way Willie Mitchell can play." In that contest, Mitchell scored 13 points-his high for the season. Fisher also addressed the Jerod Ward situation last night. The sophomore has brought new mean- ing to the word "disappointment" for a number of reasons - including a couple of knee injuries - during his short Michigan career. One of the top recruits in the land two years ago, Ward played just 10 games this past season, averaging just 7.2 points per game, before suffer- ing one of those knee injuries. "Press clippings don't mean anything and he knows that," Fisher said. "We need him in this program and he knows that, too." r.. 11 This summer you can speak Russian, meet Jefferson, and get to know Billy Wilder... Whether to catch up, get ahead, or get out, Columbia University is the place to be this summer. The Summer Session offers an extensive range of graduate and undergraduate day and evening courses in the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. Pick The Taste America Loves! Hot Pockets* And Lean Pockets Are Stuffed Full Of Good Stuff! 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