12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 15, 1998
'M' can blame it on the wind
Strong wind neutralizes solid effort from catcher Parrish
By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports \Vriter
On a gusty day, a falcon can sail
effortlessly along, hardly flapping its
wings to keep moving.
The Bowling Green Falcons expe-
rienced one of those days yesterday,
.... beating the
Michigan base-
Baseball ball team, 9-5,
Notebook behind a strong
-.............. .. wind blowing
out to right field.
Bowling Green hitters took advan-
tage of the air current at three differ-
ent times in the game, hitting two
opposite field home runs and bene-
fitting from Michigan second base-
man Bobby Scales' second-inning
error.
Scales misjudged Bob Niemet's
leadoff pop fly, allowing the wind to
blow the ball into shallow right field.
Lee Morrison followed with a shot
to right, the first of the two homers,
which the wind carried out of the
ballpark.
Morrison's round-tripper ignited a
four-run inning that tied the game at
four after just two innings.
The Falcons would score five
more runs in the following inning
behind Bob Niemet's leadoff homer
to right, which was once again
helped by the wind.
MICHIGAN KILLER: Niemet is
quickly living up to the title of
"Michigan killer."
In addition to his game-winning
hit yesterday, Niemet went 5-for-5
when the Wolverines hosted Bowling
Green a week ago.
ALL OR NOTHING: Michigan catch-
er/designated hitter David Parrish
found himself in the starting lineup
yesterday - somewhat of a rarity for
him - and he picked up his seventh
hit of the season.
But just as he has done all season,
Parrish refused to settle for just a
single, belting a home run over the
left-field fence.
Of his seven hits this year, two
have been doubles and three have
been homers.
Parrish, the son of former Tiger
Lance Parrish, is an all-or-nothing
hitter. He is still hitting a dismal .179
on the season,
but the fresh-
man's slugging
percentage of
.462 is more than
respectable.
Parrish has
also hit some of
Michigan's
longest home
runs of the sea-
Parrish son. He took yes-
terday's shot out
to left field - a difficult task since
the wind was blowing to right.
But his greatest feat came during
the season-opening Texas trip, when
Parrish connected and drove one off
the light pole in the first game of his
Michigan career.
MARGARET MYERS/Daly
Many of Michigan's struggles this season can be attributed to weak pitching and defense. Despite jumping out to a two-run
lead yesterday, the Wolverines couldn't hold on, dropping a non-conference game to Bowling Green.
303 S. STATE ST. BY LIBERTYo998-3480OPEN 7 DAYS
FTOR THE FIRST T
Blue falls to MAC foe
FALCONS
Continued from Page 11
Carden. homered to the same spot
that Morrison's ball had just landed.
After giving up back-to-back
homers, Alexander struck out the
next two to end the inning.
But Alexander'ssecond-inning
strikeouts did not propel a more
advantageous performance in the
fourth. Niemet hit a two-run home
run to right center. Zahn decided to
keep Alexander on the mound
despite being hammered for two
innings.
The onslaught by Bowling Green
did not end. The Michigan defense
responded to the home run by com-
mitting two crucial errors.
The combination of three singles
and poor throwing by infielders
Mike Cervenak and Bobby Scales
combined for three more Falcon
runs.
"We just got beat up in the third
and fourth innings," Besco said. "We
were in control for the rest of the
game after that. We were unable to
battle back after they scored all those
runs."
Alexander was replaced by Bryce
Ralston, who pitched three innings
while retiring 10 out of the 12 batters
he faced. Robbie Reid, who had his
best outing of the season this past
weekend, continued to pitch well
against the Falcons, throwing two
innings and retiring all six batters he
faced.
Parrish added a solo home run in
the sixth, but it was about as useful 0
to the Wolverines as an appendix. As
usual, the Wolverines' offense was
productive, but the pitching and
defense failed once again.
I
Sara Griffin earned her 22nd victory yesterday in the first game of a doubleheader
with Michigan State, holding the Spartans to three hits.
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BUY ANYLDNGSEV *~R N
Y SEV oHR TAKE ANY 3 OF THE FOLLOWING FREE:
1. LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRTS
2.EMBROIDERED HATS
3.HEAVYCOTTONPOCKETSHORTS
4. REGULAR COTTON SHORTS
5.T-SHIRTS
6. HOCKEY NATONALCHAMPIONS TEES
7.FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS TEES
8.170ZT-SHIRTS
9.RINGER T-SHIRTS
10. TtEDWOOLHATS
$ .. ... au~ ...... .. . ..
SPLIT
Continued from Page 11
Michigan loaded the bases to start the
inning and seemed to be surging back.
The Spartans' three-run lead suddenly
looked a whole lot smaller.
But Joseph didn't look for help in her
kitchen. Instead, she turned to left field
and found Stephanie Noffsinger, sta-
tioned in left field after making two
appearances on the mound in the first
game. Noffsinger trotted into the huddle
on the mound, and Joseph dropped the
ball into her glove.
At first, Noffsinger looked like some-
one trying to put out a grease fire with
water. And Joseph's strategy didn't seem
so wise after all.
But Joseph's - and Noffsinger's -
patience paid off.
Noffsinger promptly walked
Michigan's Kellyn Tate. And after Sara
Griffin singled to left, it looked as
though the Wolverines would take back
their lead. But Noffsinger scooped up
Tammy Mika's bunt and gunned down
Traci Conrad at home plate. Catherine
Davie popped up to end the inning.
She started slow again the next inning,
as Gentile hit her sixth home run of the
season. But In the huddle of infielders
HUTCH
Continued from Page 11
Hutchins still feels quite a pull toward
her alma mater, although she now is the
head of its most hated rival.
following the homer, Noffsinger said not
one of her teammates was distressed by
the three-run lead.
"No biggie," they said.
And out they came to steal back the
game.
Tiffany Yeager walked and stole sec-
ond to start the inning. Danielle
Manzardo flied to left to advance Yeager.
This brought Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins to the mound, along with
Griffin.
But Hutchins' strategy didn't work as
well as it did for her counterpart.
Carpenter sent Griffin's second pitch
to shallow right field, scoring Yeager. The
run was charged to Gillies, though, drop-
ping her to 9-2 on the season.
But Gillies had help in recording her
second loss of the season, as the
Wolverines committed five errors, their
highest total of the season.
Rebecca Tune, who accounted for two
of those, tried to explain how frustrating
five errors is for a team that makes
defensive plays with regularity.
"We just all had them at the same
time,"she said.
But for Michigan State, there was no
frustration, only a coach looking all the
wiser for not giving up on her own strat-
egy.
equivalent to Benedict Arnold changing
allegiance from the Americans to the
British during the Revolutionary War.
"I never thought I would be coach at
Michigan," Hutchins said. "But if you
understand being a coach, you know