ATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PORTLAND 113, L.A. Lakers 86 MIAMI 90, Chicago 74 NEW YORK 91, Philadelphia 72 AMERICAN LEAGUE BOSTON 6, Chicago 0 Tampa Bay 8, TORONTO 5 NEW YORK 6, Baltimore 3 NATIONAL LEAGUE Milwaukee 8, MONTREAL 4 St. Louis 4, PITTSBURGH 2 Los Angeles at ARIZONA, inc. Houston at SAN FRANCISCO, inc. c'Ie Ot~9n Daig SPORTS Tracking 'M' teams You can't go fishing at Fisher Stadium, but you can see the Michigan baseball team in action tomorrow against Oakland. The first pitch is at 3 p.m. and stu- dent admission is free. Wednesday April 14, 1999 I Parker comnits to T arhleels The Michigan basketball team's rts to recruit another solid front-line ayer were damaged yesterday when 6- 8, 260 lb. power forward Jason Parker committed to North Carolina, the Charlotte Observer reported. Parker had been a Michigan target for quite a while, and was expected to choose between the Wolverines, North Carolina and North Carolina-Charlotte. Although his favorite was never clear until news of his decision came yester- , he seemed to have been leaning toward the Tarheels. Parker took his official visit to Chapel Hill this past weekend, and Michigan knew it stood a good chance of landing the blue-chip prospect if he left campus without giving North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge a com- mitment. But the high school senior did com- mit, passing up the chance to play in sler to play with his two friends -. s Lang and Brian Bersticker, who already wear Carolina blue. Michigan is forced to solidify its "recruiting class by signing La Vel Blanchard of Pioneer High School. The signing of Blanchard, a McDonald's All-America, would probably give the Wolverines a top-five class. - By Chris Duprey, Sports Editor o SPRING GAME For the second time in three years, the Michigan football team will not t play a spring game, the University ath- letic department confirmed yesterday, opting instead to have its final practice inMichigan Stadium. The practice will be Saturday at I p.m. and is open to the public. In 1997, the season before ichigan won the national champi- ship, there was no intrasquad scrim- mage, either. This season, injuries to several key players, have hit hard. The Wolverines have only had one tailback, sopho- more Walker Cross, healthy in prac- tice. Sophomore fullback Demetrius Smith was suspended Friday, for vio- lating a team rule. - By Rick Freeman, Sports Editor Michigan survives Eastern scare, 10-8 By Michael Kern Daily Sports Writer After the first two innings of yesterday's baseball game at Ray Fisher Stadium, Eastern Michigan looked more like Big Ten leader Ohio State than the team that Michigan had man handled 12-3 last Wednesday. The Eagles had I1 baserunners in just two innings and led the Wolverines, 8- 4. But sound relief pitching and timely hit- ting enabled Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 19-16 overall) to fight its way back into the game and earn a 10-8 comeback victory, giving Michigan coach Geoff Zahn his 100th victo- ry with the Wolverines. In the first inning, starter Bobby Korecky struggled, giving up four runs on four hits. His toils continued in the second, walking the first batter and then giving up three extra- base hits to the next four. Korecky "is a real bulldog, and he comes out and throws hard," Zahn said. "Today his rhythm was off and he couldn't locate his pitches. He's got a little work to do, but he is going to be fine." The slow start for the Wolverines forced their relief pitchers to come into the game and keep Eastern off the board, so that the hitters could get the team back into the game. The three relievers - Bryan Cranson, Jeff Trzos, and Nick Alexander - did just that, giving up just one hit and no runs over the final 7.2 innings. Trzos struckout three, walked none, and gave up no hits, earning the freshman his first victory as a Wolverine. Alexander also earned his first save of the season for the Wolverines. "I was happy with the way I pitched," Trzos said. "I left the ball down the middle a few times, but I got away with it." After falling behind by four runs, Michigan rallied back slowly, scoring three runs in the fifth, two in the seventh, and one in the eighth. Senior Dan Sanborn was the key bat in the Wolverines' lineup, going 3 for 4 with a homerun and two singles. Sanborn also pro- vided Michigan with a key insurance run in the eighth. After leading off the inning with a walk, the left fielder moved to third base on a sac- rifice bunt from centerfield Brian Bush, when Eastern Michigan failed to cover third after throwing Bush out at first. The senior co-captain brought Sanborn home with a sac- rifice fly to deep center field. "It's always key to get that extra run when you are only up by one," Zahn said. "That was a great play by (Sanborn). "We were pretty alert and aggressive as far as our baserunning today, and that's what we want to be." Unfortunately for lead-off hitter Bobby Scales, his career best hitting streak ended at 18 as he walked once but struck out in his final two at bats. Scales was more worried about how his failure to reach base affected his team, than how it affected the streak. "I was frustrated because I need to have better at bats to get on base," Scales said. "I'm the lead-off hitter and that is what I'm supposed to do. "I swung at a number of pitches that were out of the zone that would have been ball three or ball four. I can't do that. I have to get on base so that our big boys can knock me in. Tomorrow, Michigan hosts Oakland (4-6 Mid-Continent, 11-10 overall) at Fisher Stadium at 3 p.m. The Wolverines are hoping that they can carry a victory over to their four-game weekend series at Big Ten co- leader No. 21 Minnesota (7-1, 24-7). "We are trying to build momentum for this weekend against Minnesota," Scales said. "The only way to build momentum is to win the games during the middle of the week." DANA LINNANE/Daily Scott Tousa had two hits and three RBI yesterday in Michigan's come-from-behind victory over Eastern Michigan. Softball streak is 33 after twin victories By Stephanie Offen Daily Sports Writer It was her game to save. The Michigan softball team's 32-game unbeaten streak was on the line yesterday when sophomore Rebecca Tune stepped up to the plate in the top of the eighth inning of Michigan's second game. The score tied 0-0 with Penn State, then bases loaded and two outs, the game's hero- ics were left up to Tune. "I felt good about my hitting all day long," Tune said. "I felt that if this was going to be the time for me to do it, then I was going to do it. I was more relaxed then I was for the rest of the game." Tune smacked a line-drive up the middle clearing the bases and giving Michigan a 3-0 lead. That score held up through the bottom of the inning, thanks to an amazing grab in right field by Michigan sophomore Melissa Taylor. With an outstretched arm, Taylor stole a multiple-base hit from Penn State third- baseman Leah Toth to get the first out of the inning, stopping the Nittany Lions' momentum. This was followed by two more defensive stops, and the Wolverines earned their 16th- straight win. With 10 strikeouts on the game, it was Penn State pitcher Jaci Kalp who held off the Wolverines for seven straight innings. "I thought Kalp was outstanding," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "She was throwing smoke all game long. It was tough for the hitters to pick it up coming off her hand and she threw well." Michigan also could not convert on the seven hits that Kalp gave up. "We didn't make things happen for our- selves," Hutchins said. "We didn't get our bunts down, we tried stealing and it didn't work. But the bottom line is that we played good defense and we won the game." But the first game of the afternoon was a different story. Michigan's bats were on fire as they pro- duced 12 hits on the game and sealed a 10- 2 victory in five innings. Led by the bats of Kelsey Kollen, Tami Mika and Traci Conrad the Wolverines tal- lied six hits and five runs in the first two innings. Penn State pitcher Tanis Ambelang was pulled after Michigan went ahead 6-0 in the bottom of the second. And new pitcher Kelly McCann also could not hold off what seemed to be "contagious" hitting from the Wolverines. Michigan kept shelling out the hits, as they recorded another one in the third, and three more in the fourth. Conrad led the hit parade as she convert- ed all four of her at bats, and continued the streak to the second game of the series. "One person started hitting and another one did and then everyone started doing it," Conrad said. Like the hitting, the defense also looked unstoppable. Pitcher Marie Barda was look- ing at a one-hitter until the top of the fifth See SOFTBALL, Page 10 DANA INNANE/Daily Rebecca Tune picked up the double play, and Michigan picked up both sides of a doubleheader against Penn State. El-Amin arrested for pot possession HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Khalid El-Amin, who helped lead Connecticut to its first national championship just 15 days earlier, was arrested yesterday and charged ith possession of marijuana. 'Thesophomore was picked up on a Hartford street and charged with pos- session of less than four ounces of marijuana, police said. El-Amin was hustled out of a police substation in the city's North End, just after 6 p.m., and taken to the.main police station to be booked. About a dozen teenagers had gath- red at the substation on news of the Brest. They cheered as El-Amin Tuded reporters and jumped into the car. Another Connecticut star, junior Richard Hamilton, was with El-Amin when he was arrested, police said. Hamilton, a first-team All-America, Was not charged. Tim Tolokan, Connecticut's sports information director, said the school had no knowledge of the arrest, and io further comment. I-Amin, a 5-foot-10 point guard, led the Huskies (36-2)to a 77-74 vic- tory over top-ranked Duke in the national championship game on March 29. It was the school's first trip to the Final Four. El-Amin announced last week that he would return to Connecticut for his junior season rather than make himself eligible for the NBA draft. He has started 71 games and became the third Connecticut player to score 1,000 points as a sopho- more. For the past two seasons, he has averaged 14.9 points and 4.1 assists. He finished second in scoring this season at 13.8 points and led the team in assists with 140. EI-Amin was voted to the Final Four all-tournament team after scor- ing 30 points and handing out 10 assists in the wins over Ohio State and Duke. EI-Amin's arrest came one day after Minneapolis North High School in Minnesota retired his jersey. El- Amin graduated from North High School in 1997 after leading the Polars to three consecutive state high school basketball championships. Summer school has changed a lot since you were a kid. Lodn.......$7 Paris. .ass..e.me...s $565 .......... Aw .............$891 With the Great Taste and Winnin Varieties of the HOT POCKETS, LEAN POCKETS, CROISSANT POCKETS Brand Stuffed Sandwiches, HOT POCKETS*Brand PIZZA MINI'S, and TOASTER BREAKS' Brand Melts and Pizza Summer classes at Eastern Michigan University can give you a whole new perspective on the May to September educational experience. I I