MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Toronto at Chi. White Sox, ppd. N.Y. Yankees at Anaheim, inc. Boston at Oakland, inc. Cleveland at Seattle, inc. Florida 5, CHI. CUBS 3 ATLANTA 4, Houston 2 ST. LOUIS 2, Montreal 1 PRO BASKETBALL TORONTO 100, Washington 94 Miami 94, NEW JERSEY 92 Cleveland 93, NEW YORK 73 DALLAS 87, Portland 82 Orlando 97, MILWAUKEE 82 SAN ANTONIO 96, Denver 90 Minnesota at Phoenix, inc. PRO HOCKEY PITTSBURGH 3, Boston 1 New Jersey 2, TAMPA BAY 2 Detroit 3 CALGARY 2 Wednesday April 9, 1997 9 Softball splits with Purdue Wolverines fall to 1-2 without injured Griffin in lineup By Josh Kielnbaum Daily Sports Writer The Michigan softball team need- ed to sweep yesterday's doublehead- er with Purdue. It didn't. After winning the first game of the twinbill, 7-3, the Wolverines (4-3 Big Ten, 31-11-1 overall) dropped the second game, 3-1, and now find themselves in a hole. The two-time defending Big Ten champions have dropped three of their last four games and are in the middle of the Big Ten standings, two games behind undefeated Michigan State and 1 1/2 games behind No. 6 Iowa. And the Wolverines are going to have to make their title run without one of their best players - Sara Griffin, the pitcher/third baseman who broke her arm in a collision with first baseman Traci Conrad on Saturday. It was the first time in the all-time series that a Purdue softball team has beaten Michigan. Conrad, who was expected to miss yesterday's games due to a concussion and a sprained shoulder suffered in the collision, batted in both games, playing designated player. Conrad paced Michigan's offense. The sophomore went 3-for-7 at the plate despite her shoulder injury. The Wolverines jumped out to a 3- 0 lead in the second inning of the first game, only to have the Boilermakers strike right back, scor- ing three of their own in the same inning. Michigan used a pair of two- run innings, the fifth and the sixth, to put the game away. The Wolverines turned to an unlikely source for some offense - catcher Jen Smith. The senior was batting .169 com- ing into the doubleheader and had hit only one extra-base hit all season. But Smith got a hold of a Jenny Deno pitch and drove it out of the park for her first home run of the season. Smith drove in three runs. Senior Kelly Holmes pitched her 10th complete game of the season, allowing three runs, striking out two and walking two. Holmes improved her record to 9-5. Michigan scored first in the sec- ond game, too, when Tammy Mika knocked in Cathy Davie. But fresh- man hurler Jamie Gillies got no more run support, and couldn't hold on for the win. The Boilermakers put two runs on the board in the fifth and one more in the sixth for the victory. Gillies (7-4), who was relieved by Holmes in the sixth, let in all three Purdue runs on six hits. Holmes allowed two hits and one walk in her two innings of work and struck out one. In the first game, the Boilermakers were not able to mount much offense because of the lack of production from the middle of their lineup. Jenny Schoen, Jen Blasnick, Susan Denny and Kristie Boland, Purdue's third through sixth hitters, could not muster a single hit between them. But in the second game, Purdue used a much more balanced offense to beat the Wolverines, getting base hits from eight different batters, but not getting multiple hits from any one. Entering the doubleheader, the Wolverines had committed 42 errors. Griffin's pitching and batting, though. managed to get the Wolverines out of situations created by those mistakes. Without Griffin, the Wolverines knew they had to play mistake-free softball to win. "Errors that we've been getting away with, and little mistakes that we have been making and getting away with, we don't have time for those any more," Holmes said after Griffin's injury. "We have to make .sure we're focused every pitch and just get the job done the first time." In the first game, the Wolverines did just that. The only two errors committed were both by Boilermakers, and the Wolverines held on for the victory. But Holmes' prediction proved true, as Tammy Mika and Pam Kosanke both committed Michigan errors in the nightcap. Mika has been hot at the plate of late. Her 3-for-7 day gives her a .464 average in her last 13 games - a stretch in which Mika has reached base safely in 10 games. Lisa Kelly's 0-4 performance in the nightcap halted a nine-game hit- ting streak. The Wolverines now return home to face Notre Dame tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Alumni Field. WARREN ZINN/Daily Michigan's Kelly Holmes will have to carry the pitching load for the Wolverines with the loss of pitcher Sara Griffin. Holmes itched in both games yesterday, winning the first game after giving up just three runs in seven innings. Holmes' contribution the second game was limited to two innings of relief work. Conference season challenges Blue netters . . _ By Andy Latack Daily-Sports Writer 0The Michigan men's tennis team is in the middle of something very important. Its Big Ten season. Having struggled through their first six games, the Wolverines (3-3 Big Ten, 5-10 overall) have only five matches remaining in their defense of last season's Big Ten champi- onship. In the midst of a crucial five- game road trip, the Wolverines may te searching for some inspiration. nter Michigan State. Michigan visits its arch-rival today with a chance to climb above .500 in the conference and win some brag- ging rights in the process. "We love this rivalry," Michigan coach Brian Eisner said of the yearly meeting, which was televised on cable two years ago. "There's usually a good crowd, and it's always a tough match." * It could be a particularly difficult test for the Wolverines this time. Last year, the Spartans finished 6- 7 in the Big Ten and fell, 5-2, to Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines lost one conference match all year, en route to their 36th Big Ten title since 1910. This year, the teams are more evenly matched. Although Michigan enjoys a com- manding 38-5 series edge over the Spartans, their records- this season are nearly identical. Michigan State (3-3, 7-11) like Michigan, has beaten Ohio State and Iowa and lost to Purdue and Minnesota. As if the teams could possibly be more even, Michigan is ranked No. 57 in the nation, while Michigan State checks in at No. 60. Michigan State coach Gene Orlando anticipates a slugfest between the two rivals. "It's going to be a hard-fought match," Orlando said. "Every time we play the Wolverines, it's a battle." There will be plenty of attention paid to No. 1 singles matchup, which pits Michigan junior David Paradzik against Michigan State sophomore Trey Eubanks. Both lead their respective teams in overall wins, and Eubanks is 5-1 in the conference, while Paradzik is 5- 2. Eubanks has won his last two matches, including a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Minnesota's Lars Hjarrand. Hjarrand defeated Paradzik, 7-6, 6-1, Sunday. "Eubanks is a very strong player," Eisner said. "He's having a great year, and he always plays strong ten- nis. He's going to be a tough oppo- nent." Michigan, which struggled last weekend on the faster, foreign sur- faces at Iowa and Minnesota, will have to deal with such adversity again today. "We're going to have to adjust quickly to the courts," Eisner said. "We have to come out and compete, regardless of the surface." The similarities between the two teams extend to include poor doubles play. Like Michigan, the Spartans have cycled through their nine-man rotation, searching for a doubles pairing that would result in consis- tent victories. The Wolverines do not have a duo with a winning record in the conference; Michigan State has one. In a contest between two so nearly identical teams, something's got to give. As Orlando said, the teams are "both 3-3. One team's got to win, and the other one's going to drop." After visiting East Lansing, the Wolverines will move on to State College for a meeting with Penn State on Saturday. -M-11 /f you 're V Act interested In..... isual Basic, OLE, five X, Visual C++, I I Custom Control Building, SQL/ODBC, M, QuakeC Work Across Differences Participate in an INTERGROUP DIALOGUE Dialogues among different groups: - Women & Men - People of Color & White People Client Server, or Web 9 Programmng ... then we're interested in you. ...for Learning 111 tu lfQP th pCVi n crnnm