MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL
DETROIT 3,
Milwaukee 1
BOSTON 7,
Oakland 2
Seattle 8,
CLEVELAND 4
BALTIMORE 4,
Minnesota 1
N.Y. YANKEES 5,
Anaheim 4
Kansas City 7,
TORONTO 5
TEXAS 5,
Chicago White Sox 2
Colorado 10,
CHICAGO CUBS 7
St. Louis 9,
FLORIDA 3
San Francisco 8,
PHILADELPHIA 4
PITTSBURGH 3,
San Diego 2
ATLANTA 3,
Cincinnati 0
N.Y. METS 5,
L.A. Dodgers 0
Montreal 7,
HOUSTON 2
PRO
BASKETBALL
ATLANTA 109,
New Jersey 101
Utah 127,
PHOENIX 122
HOUSTON 123,
L.A. Clippers 119
MILWAUKEE 92,
Toronto 85
Wednesday
April 16, 1997
19
Baseball Bowled
over for last time
By Tracy Sandler
Daily Sports Writer
After a 16-3 loss yesterday and a 5-0
defeat two weeks ago, the Michigan
baseball team was probably pretty
happy to say goodbye to Bowling
Green for the season.
After sweeping Northwestern over
the weekend to capture the top spot in
the Big Ten, the Wolverines (22-13)
could not get it together to beat the
Falcons (16-14). As has been the team's
main area of concern all season, sub-
par pitching took Michigan out of the
game.
Senior Marion Wright (1-1) started
the game for the Wolverines, going 4-
plus innings before turning the ball
over to pitcher/catcher Mike Haskell.
Before leaving the game, Wright gave
up five runs on six hits, walking four
batters.
"I take a big part of the blame,"
Wright said. "I didn't feel that I did my
job. We have a competitive team. Not
that I'm not competitive, but I've seen
better days."
Life did not get much better for
Michigan after Wright sat down.
Haskell didn't last the inning. Of the
10 batters he faced, he allowed seven
runson four hits, giving up four free
passes. He then handed the ball over to
sophomore Brad Scheiner. By the time
the inning ended, the Falcons had
roughed up the Wolverines' pitching
staff for nine runs and a 9-3 lead,
which Bowling Green never relin-
quished.
"Marlon kept us in the game for the
first -few innings, but then the game
came apart on us;" Zahn said. "We did-
n't hit cutoff men very well today. Other
than that, when you don't get good
pitching at critical times in the ball
game - and we walked way too many
guys - then it makes the whole team
lok kind of bad."
Due to a sore arm, third baseman
Mike Cervenak did not see any action.
Usual shortstop Brian Kalczynski took
Cervenak's place, which gave freshman
Kevin Quinn a chance at shortstop.
Rob Bobeda took over for Brian
Bush in centerfield but was replaced by
Bush in the sixth inning. Freshman
Andrew Miller took over Haskell's
duties behind the plate.
Although the new faces slightly
changed team dynamics, they may not
have been the cause of the Wolverines'
poor performance.
"I think it has a little bit to do with it,
but it's no excuse,"' second baseman and
team captain Kirk Beermann said.
"Everybody that was in our lineup
today has played enough this year. You
can't play the same guys everyday, and
sometimes everybody needs a rest. I
don't know if it had anything to do with
it.
"I think people just weren't focused,
and we couldn't get on track. After we
got behind, we realized we weren't
playing well, and we just couldn't do
anything to get back in the groove."
If there were any bright spots for the
Wolverines yesterday, they were
Scheiner and pitcher Mario Garza Jr.
After the fifth inning, Scheiner did
give up three runs on six hits, but he
did not throw horribly. Garza pitched a
no-hit eighth and ninth, fanning three
batters.
"I thought Scheiner, who hasn't
pitched, came in and threw pretty well,"
Zahn said. "Mario threw pretty well.
You give up nine runs in an inning, and
you walk eight guys in a ballgame, it's
going to be tough to win. We had four
hits, and if this club only gets four hits,
we're not going to win too many
games."'
Disappointing as the day was,
Michigan will not dwell on its perfor-
mance. They have to come right back
today to play at Western Michigan, and
pitcher Brian Berryman will start
"He's another one we're trying to get
going" Zahn said. "We're going to be
alright. We lost today. We just have to
take it as one loss and not the end of the
season. You can't get down about it. You
learn from mistakes."
} Bats return.
assoftball
takes two
By John Friedberg
Daily Sports Writer
Well, the bats are back. For a couple of innings anyway.
Michigan (7-4 Big Ten, 36-12-1 overall) used the big
inning to sweep a doubleheader over last-place Penn State (1-
12, 20-14), 5-1 and 9-3, at Alumni Field yesterday.
Michigan scored all five of its runs in the third inning of
the first game and seven of its nine in the second inning of
the second game.
"It's contagious," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said of
her team's hitting. "When a few of us hit,,it shows that we ca*
hit and gets everybody's confidence up. Plus, it takes the
pressure off."
Michigan's offensive effort in the first game was high-
lighted by right fielder Cathy Davie's grand slam. Davie lined
the first pitch over the right center field wall for her fifth
home run. It was Davie's first career grand slam.
The second game was highlighted by Michigan's seven-
run second inning, in which 12 Wolverines came to the plate.
Sophomore Tammy Mika hit a 1-1 pitch over the left field
wall for her second home run of the season. After a walk to
Traci Conrad, Jen Smith smacked her second home run to th
same part of the field. Jessica Lang walked, and Penn Stat
coach Robin Petrini had seen enough.
Sara Henick relieved Penn State starter Jaci Kalp, allowed
a single to Pam Kosanke, and walked Kellyn Tate, loading the
bases for Lisa Kelley.
Kelley looped what appeared to be a lazy fly ball to left.
But Penn State's Susannah Forde was shallow in left field and
the ball soared over her for a three-run double to round out
the scoring in the second.
After Davie scored an unearned run in the fourth, third
baseman Melissa Gentile finished the Michigan scoring i
4 y-.the seventh inning with a solo home run to left. It was th
freshman's second homer of the season.
In the first inning of the first game, it appeared that Penn
State would be the offensive force of the afternoon.
Penn State shortstop Brandi Contri led off the game with a
double to left center off pitcher Kelly Holmes. Contri would
move to third on Forde's bunt single. After Shannon Salsburg
struck out, cleanup hitter Karolyn Peterson came to the plate.
Peterson tried to squeeze the run home but bunted through
ROB GILMORE/Daily a Holmes change-up. Catcher Jen Smith was able to throw
The Michigan softball team had a productive day yesterday, winning a pair of games against Penn State, out Contri, who strayed too far from third. Peterson ended up
5.1 and 9-3. Jamie Gillies, shown above, saw relief action in both games. See LIONS, Page 1s
Unusual sources provide offensive punch
Smith, Gentile, Mika provide power, consistency at plate while offense takes sabbatical
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Writer
Fourteen runs. Twenty hits. Four home runs. All in
two games.
After taking a 10-day hiatus, the Michigan softball
team's offense came back to life yesterday as the
Wolverines swept a doubleheader against Penn State,
9-3 and 5-1.
The Wolverines were making a statement. After 10
days in which their offense averaged less than three
runs per game, they said,
"Don't worry about us, we're
back."
And they're not only back,
they're better.
"It's easy to hit when we
don't feel pressure," Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins said.
"When it's a tight game and
we're not scoring runs, it puts a
lot of pressure on our offense.
N--v
> /
y..~--
bench last year in pinch-runner roles. Her .387 bat-
ting average for the year has been boosted by her per-
formance in the past 10 games, a span in which she
has batted .419 in 31 at-bats.
Gentile was barely batting over .230 10 games
ago, but since then, she has boosted her average to
.277.
Smith has only batted .250 over the past 10 games,
but she has shown power over that span, hitting her
only two home runs of the sea-
son.
But despite these strong per-
formances, the Wolverines have
struggled, primarily because the
big-time hitters were struggling. '
Cathie Davie batted .231 during
the eight-game offensive slump, :
and although Traci Conrad
played well when' she was in the
lineup, she missed four games
due to a sprained left shoulder. Mika
Those hitters weren't getting it
done, because they weren't showing patience at the
plate. They were swinging at change-ups out of the
strike zone with less than two strikes. With two
strikes, the batter has to protect the plate, especially
with the magically expanding strike zones of Big Ten
umpires. But when the batter is ahead in the count,
she can't jump at those pitches.
Yesterday, the Wolverines showed patience at the
plate, as they had done for the first two months of the
season. And they reaped the awards.
When the top of the lineup started hitting, coupled
with the increased production from the bottom of the
order, Michigan was a force to be reckoned with,
Everything was working for the Wolverines. They
were getting production from the entire lineup, from
Davie's grand slam in the first game to Smith's
homer in the second.
If there's a concern, it shouldn't be the offense. It
should be pitcher Jamie Gillies.
In the wake of an injury to star pitcher Sara
Griffin, Gillies has been asked to step it up, as the
pitching rotation has been cut to two. She hasn't.
The freshman entered the first game in relief, after
Kelly Holmes turned in a masterful performance,
giving up only three hits in five scoreless innings. I*
just two innings of work, Gillies let up one run on
three hits, walked two and struck out one.
In the second game, she again relieved Holmes,
this time allowing one earned run on five hits in
three innings.
Since Griffin's injury, Gillies-has allowed 16 runs
in 23.1 innings - an ERA of 4.85, more than double
her ERA the rest of the season. In her four starts in
that span, twice she has not pitched beyond,'the
fourth inning.
"We need (Gillies) to get her-confidence back an*
pitch the way she's capable of pitching," Hutchins
said. "It's tough to have confidence as a freshman,
and we just want to make sure she stays confident'
Gillies has shown impressive flashes, highlighted
by a streak of 12 1/3 innings pitched without "an
earned run, as well as a complete game shutout over
Ball State.
But since then, she has struggled. Her pitches
aren't finding the plate, and her fastball seems much
more hittable than it did two weeks ago.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Ichigan freshman catcher Andrew Miller wasn't able to hold onto the ball on this
play. The Wolverines dropped the game to Bowling Green as well.
1 Yearbooks
are coming
Available for pick-up on the Diag
or in the Fishbowl
They played today without pressure, because we got
some runs on the board early."
The Wolverines showed patience at the plate -
something they haven't done much lately - and
took advantage of Penn State mistakes, hitting two
home runs on high fastballs thrown with two strikes
on the batter.
During the offensive drought, the bulk of the
Wolverines' production has come from unlikely
sources - Jen Smith, Melissa Gentile and Tammy
Mika.
Mika has been strong all season, which is a sur-
prise in itself, as she predominantly came off the
Divine 9ntervention helps
01
so