Ub itcho hBia dI 'M' football radio announcer fired Former Michigan assistant football coach Jerry Nankon, who did radio commentary for Wolverine football games with WJR's Frank Beckmann for the past three years, was fired yesterday. The station has yet to choose a replacement. "We're just trying to change the flavor and tone of some things," said WJR sports director Chuck Swirsky. Friday April 5, 1996 11 M' tennis readies for homestand By Richard Shin Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's tennis team is literally going nowhere. And the Wol- *rines are actually where they want to be - right at home. Michigan (3-1 Big Ten, 8-7 over- all) begins a three-match homestand, facing Purdue (3-1, 12-3) tomorrow and Illinois (3-1, 7-7) Sunday. The teams are deadlocked in a three- way tie for second place in the Big Ten; a pair of victories would vault the Wolverines into first place in the ig Ten standings, one game ahead of e current leader, Minnesota. Michi- gan has been perfect at home, going 2-0 heading into the weekend. Both the Fighting Illini and the Boil- ermakers have improved from last season's seventh- and last-place fin- ishes, respectively. "Purdue is a much improved team this year," Michigan singles player Peter Pusztai said. "We expect it to be a good match." The Boilermakers are coached by rmer Michigan assistant coach Tim Madden, whose team has already sur- passed the Big Ten and overall-win totals it recorded last year. Michigan head coach Brian Eisner said Purdue is a much different team this year. "Purdue is coming in with enthusi- asm this season," Eisner said. "They have three freshmen starting for them that have done a good job." See TENNIS, Page 12 Women's track goes $o Relay By Jeremy Horelick Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's track and fieldteam is hoping the April rain might wash away its early outdoor-season sorrows. After last week's washout at the Florida Relays, the team flies to Williamsburg, Va., for the Colonial elays. With the Florida meet scratched, this weekend's competition officially kicks off the outdoor season. After a third- place showing in the conference indoor championships, the team realizes it must improve in several areas if it hopes to avoid a similar fate outdoors. "I'm still unsure about what we have forthe outdoor season," Michigan coach James Henry said. "It's our first full meet." While the team's questions clearly itnumber its answers, the weekend slate is set. Freshmen Sarah Hamilton and Katie McGregor, the squad's top half-milers, hope to shine in the freshman 1,500- meter. The tandem of junior Mara Guillemette and senior Jennifer Barber are scheduled for the open 1,500. Sophomore Tania Longe, who ear- lier this week set an NCAA provisional *andard in the heptathlon with a 5,142- point effort, will represent Michigan in the triple jump. "It's been a really, really hard week," Longe said, referring to the recent flux of strenuous workouts, both on the track and in the weightroom. "I'm starting to get really tired." Longe leads a talented group ofjump- ers, throwers and hurdlers, including freshman Tiffany Hodge and sopho- ore Hayley Wilkens, both of whom ill compete in the 400-hurdles. In addition, the quartet of seniors Tearza Johnson and Ebony McClain and freshmen Atiya Bussey and Rachel Edwards will provide a solid veteran- rookie balance in the 4x100 relay. Last week, Johnson, McClain, Bussey and sophomore Brandy Taylor eclipsed the school record of 1:43.1 with a 1:39.5 performance in the 4x200. Henry hopes the addition of Edwards ill help the group repeat last week's See TRACK, Page 12 Weather 3, Mic 0 Baseball game canceled; Blue will host Minnesota By Jim Rose Daily Sports Writer Surprise, surprise. The Michigan baseball team had another home game cancelled due to inclem- ent weather. Feel like you've read this before? You probably have. Yesterday's cancellation with Western Michi- gan marked the third time in just over two weeks that the Wolverines found Ray Fisher Stadium to be unplayable. Instead of getting in one more nonconference contest before Minnesota visits Ann Arbor this weekend, Michigan will jump back into Big Ten play Saturday on two full days of rest. The Wol- verines eked out a 5-4 extra-innings victory over Michigan State in a ceremonial nonconference game Wednesday. Michigan is currently 6-2 in league play, 9-15 overall. The Wolverines' strong start in the Big Ten is due in no small part to the contributions ofa young nucleus of players. "I'm happy with the progress we're making," Michigan head coach Geoff Zahn said. "When you've got young players, like we do, you have to improve with each game. We've got to continue to improve without making mistakes." There have been some mistakes along the way, but the young squad is definitely improving. Con- sider Michigan's pitching staff: the team ERA is still a whopping 5.98, thanks to the inauspicious 1- 13 start, but the Wolverines have surrendered just 23 runs in the past six games - hardly Atlanta Braves material just yet, but nonetheless a marked improvement. Most importantly, four of those six games have been Michigan wins. "I think we need to pitch a little better than we have in the last couple of games," Zahn said, "but we're definitely making progress." Of the freshman pitchers, J.J. Putz has been somewhat erratic (20 walks), but he's also shown flashes of his potential (21 strikeouts in 20 and two-thirds innings). The hard-throwing righty has two wins and an impressive 3.92 ERA. Putz and sophomore Brian Steinbach will prob- ably draw the starting assignments for Saturday's twinbill, Zahn said, but Sunday's starters have yet to be decided. Another area of concern for Michigan is the top of the lineup - although the Wolverines have been scoring runs lately, the meat of the order has been doing most of the work. Zahn is still looking for someone to step up and be a consistent table- setter. "We need to find a leadoff hitter," Zahn said. "We'll still be experimenting a little bit with that this weekend, trying to find the right combina- tion." Wolverines Derek Besco and Kelly Dransfeldf have been on a tear at the plate recently. Besco is hitting .385 with a .731 slugging percentage after being injured early in the season, while Dransfeldt is at .364 with three home runs and 13 RBIs. The Golden Gophers (2-1, 10-12) come to town having won four of their last five games, including two of three at Purdue last weekend Minnesota senior infielder Rob Smith leads the offense, hitting .357, while juniors Bob Keeney and Phil McDermott are hot on his heels at .355 and .351, respectively. Junior right-hander Justin Pederson handles much of the work on the mound for the Golden Gophers. Pederson has struck out 49 in just 45 innings, but he has also surrendered 49 hits. He and junior southpaw Mike Diebolt are each 3-2 for the season. Regardless of who takes the mound for Minne- sota, Zahn thinks his Wolverines will have to be in top form to keep pace with Ohio State (also 6- 2) at the top of the Big Ten standings. "They're usually a pretty good ballclub," Zahn said. "They're usually at the top of the conference standings, so we'll have to play well this week- end." Left: Michigan }freshman J.J. Putz delivers against Michigan State in Wednesday's action. Putz is 2-2 on the season. Right: Wolverine closer John Arval pitches in the same game. Arval picked up his second win of the season in the 54 victory ' contest with Westem Michigan ,,.«:. .-., was canceled due F .to poor weather. >$ . The Wolverines host Minnesota for a four-game series this - weekend. Photos by JOE WESTRATE/Daily No.10 softball looks to stay hot in thecl g s By Dan Stillman Daily Sports Writer There's nothing like April softball in the Midwest. With high temperatures expected to barely break freezing this weekend, the Michigan softball team takes on North- western in a three-game weekend series at Alumni Field. Both teams must take on the elements. No. 10 Michigan (4-1 Big Ten, 25-9 overall) and the visiting Wildcats (2-1, 7- 15) play a doubleheader tomorrow and a single game on Sunday, both starting at I p.m. Cold temperatures can affect pitching and hitting, said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. "It'll make hitting that much more dif- ficult, and it makes it tough on pitchers to throw pitches that need fingertip con- trol," Hutchins said. "But our players are good at dealing with things they know they can't control." The Wolverines are coming offasweep of Tuesday's doubleheader at Penn State, while Northwestern is coming off a dis- appointing loss to Northeastern Illinois. Against the Nittany Lions (0-4, 17-12), the Wolverines had a hitting bonanza. In the first game, Michigan piled up 14 hits for a 7-1 win. Junior catcher Jennifer. Smith, freshman first baseman Traci Conrad and sophomore pitcher Sara Grif- fin each managed three hits, including a doubleandtriple by Conrad. Juniorpitcher Kelly Holmes improved her record to 11- 5. Game two featured more ofthe same as the Wolverines scattered 10 hits in a 5-0 victory. Griffin (14-4) allowed three hits in her eighth shutout of the season. At one point, the sophomore retired 19 in a row. While Wolverine pitching has been "6(The cold weather) will make hitting that much more difficult." - Carol Hutchins Michigan softball coach strong all season, Michigan's recent suc- cesses have been keyed by hitting. With a .328 average, Michigan is sec- ond only to Minnesota in Big Ten team batting. Individually, sophomore outfielder Kellyn Tate leads the Wolverines, batting .425, good for fourth in the conference. Junior catcher Jennifer Smith has sparked Michigan lately with several key RBIs in the clutch. Despite success at the plate, Michigan has left significant numbers ofrunners on base lately. The Wolverines stranded 10 runners in each game against the Nittany Lions. "We tend to get a little uptight with the bases loaded," Hutchins said. "Even though we left the bases loaded against Penn State, we still scored five runs." If last season's meetings between Michigan and Northwestern are any indi- cation, the Wolverines will need clutch hitting. Michigan lost twice to the Wild- cats by one run in splitting a four-game series last year. Top NorthwestempitcherAlison Ward (5-7) is a force to be reckoned with as she, like Michigan's Griffin, poses a dual- threat. The senior leads the Wildcats in pitch- ing with a 2.04 ERA and in batting with a .417 average. The Wolverines must also contain Wildcat second baseman Katie Ballman, who is second in the conference with 17 steals in 20 attempts. The series begins a hectic stretch for the Wolverines in which they will play 14 games in 12 days. ATTENTION,. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISERS! Beginning April 10, 1996 The Michigan Daily Classified Department will no longer be accepting personal checks. Acceptable forms of payment are business checks, cash, money orders, Visa and Mastercard. Sorry for any inconvenience, but your cooperation is appreciated! Welcome to Dental Career Day 8:30 - 9:15 9:15 - 9:30 9:30 - 10:30 10:30 - 10:40 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY SATURDAY, April 6, 1996 Registration - Refreshments in Kellogg Auditorium OPENING SESSION - Kellogg Auditorium Dr. Jed J. Jacobson, Director of Admissions, School of Dentistry "Dentistry Today and Tomorrow" PRESENTATIONS ON DENTAL CAREERS General Practice Orthodontist Prosthodontist Dental Student FINANCIAL AND STUDENT SERVICES Dr. Marilyn Woolfolk. Director of Student Affairs Former Wolverine wideout Alexander faces Jet Ski mishap