MAJOR LEAGUE *BASEBALL AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit 11, TEXAS 5 Boston 5, KANSAS CITY 3 BALTIMORE 10, Tampa Bay 7 N.Y. Yankees at Oakland, inc. NATIONAL LEAGUE FLORIDA 6, N.Y. Mets 2 San Francisco 11, CINCINNATI 8 Philadelphia 7, ATLANTA 4 LOS ANGELES 8, Arizona 6 Montreal 9, PITTSBURGH 2 NBA BASKETBALL Indiana 88, DETROIT 86 SPORTS Don't feel like making the trip to Bowling Green to see the Michigan baseball team this afternoon? Catch them tomorrow afternoon when they come back home to take on Toledo at 3 p.m. at Fisher Stadium. Tuesday April 6t 1999 9 ii M North Carolina edges 'M' tennis, 5-4 By Dan Williams Daily Sports Writer A win against No. 27 North Carolina in Chapel Hill might have really signaled a change in momentum for the Michigan women's tennis 4am. But a 9-7 decision in the final doubles match last night gave the Tar Heels a 5-4 victory and left the Wolverines (3-2 Big Ten, 4-11 overall) still looking for a chance to redefine their season. .Michigan sophomores Szandra Fuzesi and Alison Sinclair fought late into the night against North Carolina's Sarah Hawkins and Caroline Hill at No 3 doubles. The Tar Heels' tandem on five of the last six games to close out the match. "Our attitude hasn't been the prob- lem, we've had to work hard for every- thing we've gotten,' Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said. "This is just one of those matches where a few bounces didn't go our way, and that was the dif- ference." After winning two singles matches a week ago, Michigan junior Danielle Lund seemed to get on track. But she lost her second straight match last night, this one to North Carolina's Jessica Zaganzyck, 7-6, 6-5, at No. 1 singles. Michigan was encouraged by three third-set singles victories by players who had previously been struggling. Junior Brooke Hart won her second straight match at No. 2 singles over Caroline Hill, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6. Fuzesi broke out of a three-match funk at No. 3 singles with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph. Sinclair continued to reign as queen of the three-set matches with a 6-2, 2- 6, 7-5 victory. "Its a shame we lost, because we got some outstanding individual efforts," Ritt said. The other two losses in singles came from senior Jen Boylen and freshman Jen Vaughn. Boylen, after picking up a win against South Florida, fell 6-2, 6-0 to North Carolina's Cena Hackler. Vaughn lost her second-straight match after showing significant improvement last weekend. The Wolverines' struggles have resulted from their inability to produce consistent wins from any singles play- er or doubles team. Unlike teams that go into every match expecting a certain player to win, Michigan doesn't have any domi- nating players. "We don't have superstars at the top and we're not an especially deep team," Ritt said. Ritt altered the doubles lineups this weekend, hoping to give the Wolverines the lift they seem to have been missing. Hart and Lund, who had been play- ing doubles together their entire careers at Michigan, have found renewed life with new doubles part- ners. At No. 2 doubles, Lund and Boylen improved to 2-0 with an 8-5 win over Emi Shaffer and Courtney Zalinski. Hart and Vaughn fell to 1-1 after a nip-and-tuck match with Zaganzyck and Hackler. "Brook and Danielle have handled the decision (to change up the teams) with real maturity and class;" Lund said. "It's a bit upsetting because they've been partners for two-and-a- half years, and last year they were an NCAA-caliber team." The Wolverines return to Big Ten play this weekend knowing that wins against South Florida and North Carolina could have made their road into the NCAA tournament much sim- pler. But with ranked opponents like Indiana and Northwestern looming on the remaining schedule, the Wolverines aren't ready to consider this season a failure just yet. "A loss like this is disappointing and frustrating;' Ritt said, "but we can't let people get really discouraged." falcons a b eagn warm-up 4¢q; r r rame fo Michgan. By Michael Kern Daily Sports Writer Hitting has been the key for the Michigan baseball team over the last: feiv weeks, as it has won nine of its last 12. But on Sunday against . inois, the Wolverines' bats took a -p, as they were limited to just two 'Auk hits in the first inning for the entire game. This afternoon at Bowling Green R a (3-1 Mid-American, 12-10 overall), the Wolverines (5-3 Big Ten, 15-13 overall) will try to reawaken their bats against the Falcons as they pre- pare for a tough weekend series with first-place Ohio State. The Buckeyes . Sundefeated in the Big Ten, after I eeping Northwestern this past weekend. After splitting the series with b M defending Big Ten regular-season champion Illinois, the Wolverines are confident about their chances against the Buckeyes. "We are being put to the test this weekend," Michigan assistant coach Matt Hyde said. "But we know we've got a good team. We're not ,ing to be intimidated by anyone." n its last nine victories, Michigan has scored 97 runs, outscoring its opponents by 51. In that time, the Wolverines have hit 16 home runs, accumulated 51 total extra-base hits, and driven in 90 runs. . "We're really comfortable with ' our lineup;' Hyde said. "We're never out of a game." Senior co-captain Bobby Scales. o has been the story for the Wolverines all season, will look to ' keep his career-best I1 game hitting ' streak alive against the Falcons in this afternoon's game. This weekend against Illinois, Scales hit safely in three of the four r games and did not record an official at bat in the fourth, walking three times and scoring two runs in the The Michigan nine will use a game at Bowling Green this afternoon to warm up ft See FALCONS, Page 10 The Wolverines are currently 53 in Big Ten play. Iiot bats 'contagious' for softball DANA LINNANE/DaSy Brooke Hart won her singles match but dropped her doubles contest as the Wolverines lost a tight one to North Carolina last night, 54. Gymnastics favored to advance Saturday By Vaughn R. Klug Daily Sports Writer The No. 4 Michigan women's gym- nastics team will travel to Lincoln, Neb. and the Bob Devaney Sports Center to compete in the NCAA Region III Championships Saturday. The Wolverines will be vying for a spot in the NCAA Championships along with Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Illinois-Chicago and Illinois. The two schools with the highest scores will advance to NCAAs. Here's a preview of Michigan's competition: NO. 7 NEBRASKA: The 19-2 Cornhuskers are coming off the great- est performance in school history, set- ting a school and conference record score of 196.725 to win the Big 12 Championship. Nebraska also achieved another first by as it finishing the regular sea- son ranked first in Region I1. The Huskers are ranked in the top 10 in all four events for the first time all season. Senior Misty Oxford and junior Heather Brink tied for the conference title for the all-around with scored of 9.375. A three-time All-American, Oxford scored 9.825 or better in all four events at the Big 12 Championships. Her performance was highlighted by a 9.900 on the floor exercise. Last season Nebraska finished fifth at NCAA Regionals and failed to qualify for NCAA Championships for the first time since 1994. NO. 22 OKLAHOMA: The 16-6 Sooners are highlighted by one of the nation's best all-arounder - junior Amber McCraken. The Big 12 gym- nast of the year is ranked ninth nation- ally in the all-around with an average score of 39.2812. McCraken is the second Sooner to be named Big 12 Gymnast of the Year as current senior Ginger Russel earned the honor in '98. Russel fin- ished sixth in the all-around this sea- son and finished second on the floor exercise. As a team, Oklahoma finished third at the Big 12 Championships, behind Nebraska and Iowa State, with a score of 194.675. No. 25 ARIZONA: The Wildcats maintained a mediocre record of 11-8- 1, yet remain one of the hottest teams in Region III. Arizona clawed its way from eighth in the region to fourth thanks to three straight victories with impressive team scores of 195.000'or better. This string of victories includes a school-record score of 196.30 to defeat then No. 7 Arizona State on March 26. Arizona fell at the hands of the Wolverines in March yet defeated both Nebraska and Oklahoma this season. "After finishing fourth in the region, I feel very good about .our prospects for post season action," Arizona coach Bill Ryden said. "We had such a rough start, and now we are truly competing at our best." ILLINOIS-CHICAGO: The Flames are appearing in just their third NCAA Regional with a No. 5 seed. Illinois-Chicago won the Midwestern Intercollegiate Championships on March 27 with a score of 193.30. The Flames madtea statement by sweeping all four events in the process. The Flames' 18 wins this season (18-5-1) is a school record and they own a 2-1-1' mark against other regional teams. ILLINOIS: The Fighting Illini make their second straight post season appearance after placing fifth at the Big Ten Championships. Sophomore Gina Wiechmann became only the second Illinois gym- nast to win a conference title on the balance beam, with a score of 9.875. The Illini are 0-4-1 against regional teams, including a pair of losses to Michigan and two losses and a tie to Illinois-Chicago. ,. r y :; .R, N _R x; ;, ® I Ir IA" s I I W I r " 0.0*.*.** &.0 000***00000. . *e e e*eee*.O*e0* 00000a000* 0 0 0 0 *0 * DANA UNNANE/Daily or a tough weekend series with Ohio State. .. 0 MEET US AT THE INTERSECTION OF T By Stephanie Offen Daily Sports Writer If hot bats are contagious, there's something spreading around Alumni Field. Ever since the Michigan softball m started its 26-game unbeaten streak on March 4, the Wolverines have been unstoppable at the plate. Throughout the month of March, the team's batting average went from a dismal .253 to an impressive .335. In that time, Michigan recorded over with a .429 average. She slugged her 16th home run against Ohio State on Saturday, which leaves her just three shy of Michigan's home run record. Davie also doubled twice in the opener against the Buckeyes, giving her 56 for her career. With two more doubles, Davie will break another Michigan record. "Davie's demeanor is very conta- gious," Hutchins said. "She keeps calm and shares that with the team. We can always count on her to bring and has really come on over the last two weekends." Last weekend's series set team records, too. The Wolverines really caught fire in the last game against the Buckeyes. Conrad and junior Pam Kosanke both finished the game with three hits apiece, to help the team to a 17-hit performance. This set a season-high team record for hits in a game. But like any fever, the Wolverines' hot bats may cool down. Lndon .............$577 School of Information Student Projects Showcase 1 - 6fp.m. Wednesday, April 7, 1999 411 West Hall Right above the Arch! 0 'Athens ................$89 1 A . w..:.... 0 C- -