BASEBALL The Michigan Daily -- SPORTSMonday -- Monday, April 15, 1996 - 7B I-AND-RUN Continuedi from Page 1B his record to 4-2. tn yesterday's opening game, Wild- cat riglitfielder Jim Reeder supplied Northwestern with its only runs of the contest as he crushed a three-run homer over the right field fence in the third inning off Michigan pitcher Brian Steinibach. The dinger put the Wildcats *front 3-1. But Steinbach (3=2) settled down, pitching a seven-inning complete game and picked up the win, thanks to the Wolverines' pesky extra-inning play. .Michigan broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning on Jason Alcaraz's fielder choice with the based loaded. Cervenak came home to score the tie-breaking run and made it' home on Josh Levey's° wild pitch togive Michigan a5-3 lead. North- Sestern coach Paul Stevens felt his uad was in too much of a giving mood.. r "Wei did have leads, and we gave away a lot runs with two outs or two strikes," Stevens said. "We gave a lot of things away this weekend. I kind of felt like Santa Claus." Greg Ziesemer suffered the loss for the Wildcats as his record fell to 2-2. In Michigan's victory in the second Ome, Michigan broke open a 1-1 game with a seven-run ninth inning. Wildcat pitcher Mark Seaman, in his third in- ning of relief, hit the next two Michigan batters._- Kallahar and pinch-hitter Ryan :Kelly. Cervenak walked to load the bases. Beermann then walked and Kallahar trotted home from third for the tie-breaking run. Next, Alcaraz roped a liner just inside the first base line for a bases-clearing triple, giving the Wol- erines a commanding 5-1 lead. *Michigan's Mark Temple pitched a nine-inning complete game, giving up five, hits and two runs to pick up his sixth straight victory. His record stands at 6-3. The Wolverines' only loss came when Chris Pederson cracked a grand- slam in the bottom of the sixth off Arvai that put Northwestern on top, 5-2. Wolverines finaily reach .500 mark By Will Mccahili Daily Sports Writer EVANSTON -Who woulda thunk it? After the last game of Michigan's spring-break roadtrip, the Wolverines were 1-13,and it already looked like coach Geoff Zahn's first season at the -~i helm would be a washout, if not a complete drowning. But since the last loss of that roadtrip almost a month ago, the Wolverines have gone 16-4, and now find them- selves at .500 for the season. "To start out 1-13 is tough," sopho- more Derek Besco said. "But we battled back, and now we're at .500." His brother echoed these senti- ments. "it took a long time, but we're fi- nally there," pitcher and designated hitter Bryan Besco said. "We should be on our way now."~ After reaching the .500 mark for the first time in his career at Michi- gan, rookie coach Geoff Zahn was quick to pass the credit to his team. "It's a credit to them - they've battled the whole way," Zahn said. Not only are the Wolverines all- even for the first time all year, but they find themselves in first place in the Big Ten with a 12-4 conference record. "We're in first place, and that's all I can ask for," Derek Besco said. Michigan's success this season has surprised few players, either from among the Wolverines or their latest victims, the Wildcats. "Yeah, I thought they were going to be a very, very good team," North- western coach Paul Stevens said. "1 thought they were going to be a very sound, very disciplined team. "Everything you heard about them pointed to Geoff doing a great job with them." And, so far, that's certainly what Zahn has done. This is a team that lost seven start- ers from last season, including the Big Ten batting champion. And that squad finished dead last in the con- ference. This year's team is composed al- most completely of underclassmen, with only four seniors on the roster. But here they are, in the conference driver's seat, with two more confer- ence wins than last year's team could eke out in the entire Big Ten season. Zahn has capitalized on the solid pitching he had when he arrived, and has squeezed the young hitters for everything they could deliver. His aggressive moves on offense have made the Wolverines into a ballclub that can explode for bunches of runs on short notice. Zahn will almost always call for a steal or - what is by now his old standby - the hit-and-run, whenever there are run- ners on base. And as each Michigan run crosses the plate, one can almost hear the silence as another doubter- and there were certainly many among the Wol- verine baseball faithful this time last month - clams up. Just Released! TH E A T&T 4 x JOE WESTRAT/Daily Michigan freshman Bobby Scales tries to steal third against Michigan State earlier this season. J eft aiers dominate - g. - ; inweekend series ' By Will:J~cCahlll Daily Sprt Writer EVANSTON - In Latin, the word for "left" is "sinister." Sinister is also probably how the Michigan and North- *Festern pitching staffs are referring to each other's lefthanded hitters afterthis weekend's four games. The eventual winning runs in three of the four games came off of the bats of southpaws. In Saturday's first game, Wildcat in- fielder Chris Pedersen single-handedly beat the Wolverines. He knocked in all five Northwestern runs in a 5-3 victory, A ith four of those tallies coming on a xth-inning grand slam off of Michigan's John Arvai. In the second game, Wolverine left fielder, Jason Alcaraz drove in the runs that broke the Wildcats' backs, driving a bases-loaded triple into the rightfield corner. to blow the game open in the ninth inning (the second extra frame, Big Ten doubleheaders being sched- uled for only seven). In that contest, Michigan scored seven runs in the ninth ' coast to an 8-2 win. Sunday's games held more of the same.,Alcaraz struck again, driving in the go-ahead run in the first contest, a 5- 3, eight-inning Michigan triumph. All three of the Wildcat runs in the same game-were driven in by another lefty, rightfielder Jim Reeder. "I don't know I hit it;" Alcaraz said of his triple Saturday. Pederson said that the lefthanded hit- ter has a step up on the righthanded one. "I do have an advantage as far as hitting (lefthanded)," Pedersen said. "The ball's coming in at me, and it's easier to see, easier to swing." Northwestern coach Paul Stevens, however, said his team did not get many good cuts in Saturday or yesterday. "I think we had two good swings all weekend," said Stevens of the Pedersen and Reeder dingers, which came amidst an otherwise lethargic hitting effort from his team. Wolverine pitcher Mark Temple, who got off relatively lightly against Northwestern's southpaw hitters in Saturday's second game (lefifielder Mike Stritch knocked in one of the two Wildcat runs), said he tries not to treat the odd-handed hitters any dif- ferently. "It doesn't really affect me when I go out there and pitch," the Michigan senior said. "I'm going to try to pitch to my strength and not their weak- ness." Fortunately for Michigan, Pedersen was the only Wildcat lefty to do to the Wolverines any real damage, Reeder's ultimately inconsequential homer aside. Northwestern has four other lefthanded batters in the everyday lineup, and the combined averages of all five going into the weekend was .338. Find a job on the Web Our best research links Services for students JOE WESTRATE/Daily Kirk Beermann, shown here siiding Into second two weeks ago at Michigan State, contributed to Michigan's weekend successes with a couple of hits and a pair of runs. y~r A \ 1 1 1 ' , Besco brthr la Contests! Prizes! By Jlames Goldstein Daily Sports Writer It was doubly sweet for the brothers against Northwestern this weekend. Derek and Brian Besco both contrib- uted in Michigan's three victories over the Wildcats. Derek was smoking the ball almost every time at bat. He went 9-for- 16 in the four game series, including 6-for-8 in yesterday's games. His batting average is now up to a scorching .466. "I feel good out there," Besco said. confidence in him." Brian said that he had command of his favorite pitch. "My fastball is my best pitch, and that's been working real well for me," Brian said. "I just kept throwing it, and my defense made great plays, and I made good pitches." RUNNERS sTRANDED: Even though the Wolverines cameout on top in yesterday's 5-2 victory in the second game, Michigan had trouble bringing home runners on base. In all, the Wolverines left a season- high 12 runners on base. There were numerous opportunities for Michigan to break the game wide open. One example was the fifth inning when Jason Alcaraz stepped up to the plate with runners on first and third with two outs. The Wolver- ines had just increased the lead to 2-0 on Kirk Beermann's RBI single, and Alcaraz had a chance to give-the Wolver- I Links to free software http://www.att.com/college "Couple of times (Michigan coach Geoff Zahn) is giv- ingmeahit-and-run, and he's letting me swing away, and I got a good pitches to hit." Derek said he didn't hit any long B~aebAX Notebook rj ..ir.. I t)