MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL MINNESOTA 7, Detroit 5 TEXAS 6, Milwaukee 2 Chicago White Sox 6, TORONTO 5 SEATTLE 4, NY Yankees 2 MONTREAL 2, St. Louis 1 CINCINNATI 11, Colorado 4 FLORIDA 4, Chicago Cubs 2 Philadelphia 3, LOS ANGELES 0 Pittsburgh 4, SAN FRANCISCO 2 SAN DIEGO 12, NY Mets 5 HOUSTON 2. Atlanta 1 PRO BASKETBALL Detroit 100, DALLAS 82 MIAMI 97, LA Clippers 87 New York 94, CLEVELAND 88 PRO HOCKEY St. Louis 1, DETROIT 1 Tampa Bay 1, PHILADELPHIA 1 New Jersey 1, WASHINGTON 0 4 Wednesday April 2, 1997 10 ..._ ,.. Bowled Over I ;... ...Er.~ ..: ri.. . . .. :T.:..4'.'rS JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily The Wolverines hope to establish a bit of consistency in a weekday doubleheader against Western Michigan today in Kalamazoo. Western serves as tune-up for Blue :L By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Writer The Michigan softball team might not know all that much about Western Michigan, but the Wolverines know what they expect out of today's 2 p.m. doubleheader in Kalamazoo - two wins. "I don't know anything about them," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said of the Broncos (4-8). "We haven't played them in two years due to weather, and to be honest, we don't really focus on the other team. We just focus on Michigan and play our game." The ninth-ranked Wolverines (28- 8-1) are led by a strong trio of pitch- ers. Ace Sara Griffin has shut down opposing offenses, going 14-1 in her 16 starts with a 0.87 ERA. Griffin has also added plenty of support at the plate. The two-time All- American is batting .317 and is sec- Kond on the team with two home runs. Jamie Gillies should also get a con- siderable amount of playing time today. The freshman only got two innings of work last weekend and was hit pretty hard, allowing four hits and one run. Gillies "may need to learn how to pitch in this weather," Hutchins said. "It also takes a pitcher a good inning or two to get settled into her game, and she didn't get that opportunity." Sophomore Cathy Davie has been spectacular at the plate, but the first baseman's fielding has been sub-par. Davie's .408 batting average is tops on the team, as are her 13 extra-base hits, but her four errors put her fourth on the team. While the pitchers have been very successful, the other half of the bat- tery has struggled. The Wolverines' two backstops, Jen Smith and Jen McKittrick, have combined for seven errors, and both are hitting well below the Mendoza line, with Smith at .176 and McKittrick still looking for her first base hit. All season long, the Wolverines have been looking to find one thing - consistency. They struggled to find it early on but are coming into their own as of late. "We're just looking to play consis- tent softball, which means play good defense, pitch well, and hit the ball hard," Hutchins said. "In the last five games, since we came back from a 2- O deficit at Purdue, we've shown signs of consistency both at the plate and in the other two categories." The break from the Big Ten sched- ule should actually help the Wolverines achieve that goal, accord- ing to Hutchins. "Consistency is gained during (games against) your non-conference opponents," Hutchins said. "It's a chance for us to stay sharp for the weekend, and that's why we play mid- week games." One area in which the Wolverines should have the edge is experience. Michigan has already played 37 games this season; the Broncos have played just 12. And the Broncos have struggled in the few games they have played, only gaining victories over Akron, Ferris State and Central Michigan. In their three games against Big Ten oppo- nents, the Broncos were outscored 22- 5, losing twice to Michigan State and once to Iowa. Western Michigan has shown flash- es of solid pitching, but often, when their pitching is on, their offense fails them. In a loss to Illinois-Chicago, pitcher Jennifer Vanover threw eight shutout innings, only to get no run supportl. Vanover surrendered three runs in the ninth, taking the loss. Angie Rosich has had several out- standing outings on the mound, pick- ing up three of the Broncos' four wins. Saturday against Akron, Rosich held the Zips to one run and struck out nine. In the second game of a tripleheader, Rosich again held Akron to one run, only to be relieved by Vanover. Michigan blanked as Falcons roll, 5-0 By Richard Shin g Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN, Ohio After scoring 17 and 14 runs in its previous two games, the Michigan baseball team's potent offense faced a Bowling Green team that has been equally hot at the plate. In the end, the Wolverines played the April fool and the Falcons had the last laugh. Bowling Green scored one run in the fourth and four in the sixth to defeat Michigan, 5-0. -T Bowling Green (10-6) took adv4a tage of two Michigan (16-10) errors that led to a three-run homer by pinch hitter Matt Best in the sixth innin. Michigan's best chance to score came in the seventh against Bowling Green pitcher Rick Blanc, when the Wolverines loaded the bases with two outs. Blanc settled down, howeier, and struck out Derek Besco on three pitches to end the inning. Five Bowling Green pitchers sed tered six hits over nine innings en route to the Falcons' second shutout in the past three games. For Michigan, it marked the first time this season that the Wolverines could not muster a run. "For whatever reason, we took a lot of pitches, and we weren't aggressive with the bat," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "Their pitchers, for their part I give them credit. They c4ng right after us, and they weren't afraid to throw strikes." After a dominating five-game homestand, Michigan batters could manage only six hits while striking out 14 times. The Falcons did not score in the first three innings, as Michigan pitcher Brian Berryman allowed only one run on three hits before being replaced in the fifth. Jeff Hundley earned the win in relief for Bowling Green, raising his record to 1-1. Hundley was masterful in three innings of work, allowing two hits, no runs and two walks while striking out five. Berryman suffered his sec- ond loss of the season, dropping to 2-2. Despite the loss, Zahn was encur- aged by Berryman's performance. "I think, overall, our pitching getting a little bit better," Zahn said. "We just have to stay patient with the young guys. "Berryman's starting to come around. He pitched defensively again today and got away with it. He's got too good of stuff to be nibbling o the corners," Best paced the Falcons, clubbing his second home run of the season i. a pinch-hit appearance. Bowling Green designated hitter Jason Calvin drove in center fielder Matt Mlynarek for the first run of the game, singling to center. Shortstop Drew Niles drove in Bowling Green's final run and went 2-5. For Michigan, shortstop Brian Kalczynski and Besco each went2-4. See FALCONS, Page 12 JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily Michigan pitcher Pete Martay contributed to Michigan's 50 loss to Bowling Green yesterday, allowing two earned runs in only 2.1 innings. On the bright side, Martay was not saddled with the loss - that distinction went to starter Brian Berryman. * Baseball commentary Simple mistakes evident in loss By John Friedberg Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Moving runners into scoring position, throwing first-pitch strikes and making the easy plays in the field. All of these things are routine for quality baseball teams. They were also things that Michigan did not do in its 5-0 loss to Bowling Green yesterday. Michigan made three errors in the field and many others at the plate yester- day. The miscues will have to be avoided if the Wolverines expect to challenge for the Big Ten crown. While the Michigan pitching seems to be coming around, there are still some glaring weaknesses that need to be cor- rected. Sophomore Brian Berryman had one of his best outings of the season but still experienced some control problems. "(Berryman's) still only getting one pitch over the plate," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "For them, they came right after us and threw breaking balls for strikes and fastballs for strikes." Berryman walked three batters in four innings and failed to strike out anyone. Part of Berryman's problem was his fail- ure to throw first-pitch strikes. Berryman threw roughly two good pitches per at- bat. But when he did throw quality pitch- es, he was able to retire hitters. Sophomore Pete Martay followed Berryman and had similar problems with his control, but he was more let down by the defense. During Bowling Green's four-run sixth inning, the first three batters reached base. Martay fell behind Bowling Green center fielder Matt Mlynarek, 2-1, before allowing him to rope a single. Catcher Donny Schone hit a weak groundball to the right of Michigan first baseman Jeff Van Sickle. Van Sickle took an easy play away from second baseman Kevin Quinn as he fielded the ball and flipped it to Martay, who was beaten to first by Schone. Michigan appeared to have caught a break when Martay tried to pick Mlynarek off second. Mlynarek was caught leaning toward third, but when Quinn threw over to Michigan third baseman Mike Cervenak, Mlynarek was safe. Cervenak was not able to put the tag on the elusive Falcon. That put runners on the corners with no outs. Had the defense made the routine plays there could have been two outs and nobody on. Martay then faced Bowling Green pinch hitter Matt Best. Best took the first pitch out of the strike zone for a ball. Martay allowed the game-clinching home run two pitches later. The fundamental breakdowns were not limited to the defense, as numerous mistakes happened at the plate. Quinn was unable to move Michigan catcher Andrew Miller into scoring position after Miller led off the fifth inning with a walk. Quinn ended up bunting a foul third strike, and Miller, who represented the tying run, did not advance. Michigan had its best opportunity to get back in the seventh as pinch hitter Dan Sanborn led off the inning with a line-drive single to center. Again, Quinn was asked to move the runner over. Again he struck out after fouling off two bunts. After Michigan designated hitter Bobby Scales fouled out to Bowling Green third baseman Brian Cannon, Rob Bobeda and Brian Kalczynski hit back-to-back singles to load the bases for clean-up hitter Derek Besco. Besco struck out looking, one of four Michigan hitters to do so, to end Michigan's best threat. The game was basically over. Quinn's failure to lay down a bunt cost the Wolverines a run, but he is not to blame for the lack of offensive output. It was a team effort. 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