14- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 22, 2000

Michigan vs. Eastern Michigan

3 p.m. today

Gymnasts headed
back to State College
The top-ranked Michigan women's
gymnastics team, fresh off its record-set-
ting Big Ten Championships victory at
Penn State this past weekend, found out
its NCAA regional fate.
The Wolverines will return to State
College for the NCAA Region 5
Championships on April 1. Michigan's
will face No. II1 Florida, No. 18 Penn
State, New Hampshire, Pittsburgh and
Rutgers. The Wolverines are 2-0 vs.
Florida this season and 1-0 vs. Penn
State, and will be facing New
Hampshire, Rutgers and Pittsburgh for
the first time this season. The top two -.
finishers at the NCAA Region 5 '
Championships will receive berths to the
12-team field at the NCAA
Championships in Boise, Idaho, April
13-15. If the Wolverines win, they would
be the first women's team to win a
national championship in Michigan his-
tory.
Michigan won the regional meet last
year.
-Jfrom staffand wire reports
Softball's Kollen takes
Big Ten award
Michigan second baseman Kelsey
Kollen claimed the first Big Ten
Conference Softball Player of the
Week award for the 2000 after a
strong six-game performance at the
March 17-19 Tallahassee Democrat
Florida State Invitational. The sopho-
more All-American collected I I hits
in 21 at bats, hitting .524 to lead the
Wolverines to the Invitational title,
Kollen's tournament performance
raised her season batting average 72
points, from .234 to .306.
Kollen stole four bases and scored
six runs
-fot staffand wire reports

Opening
Veteran rotation key to
defending BTT crown

Day

at

The

Fish

The Michigan Nine
est. 1866

Without limits: Young
Parrish distinguished

S

By Dan Williams
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team will
be meandering around in cold weath-
er states for the first few weeks of the
Big Ten season - pitching weather.
When the team opens its home
schedule against Eastern Michigan
today, pitching will be
of utmost importance. To
The experienced RAY FISHE
Michigan hurlers may Who: Michipr
be forced to carry a Michigan (5.13
large portion of the bur- When:
den in the near future as Latest: Michig
the youthful batters homeseasonaf
adjust to both the north- weekend in Mi
ern weather and the col- Wolverines are
lege game. Ten Touiramen
Despite the cold kxkingtoretui
weather, returning to NCAA touna
the confines of Fisher seOclOyearin a
Stadium mean a famil-
iar mound and friendly fans for the
pitching staff.

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MSU Sweet Sixteen
tickets hard to find
Of the 5,000 requests that The Palace
of Auburn Hills recieved for the regional
games it will be hosting this weekend,
only 3,500 were filled.
Each individual team competing will
also receive 1,250 tickets. Michigan
State, which competes against Syracuse
at The Palace this Thursday, is one of the
teams. But of those 1,250 tickets, only
200 were set aside for students. The
Spartans held a lottery for their student
body on Sunday and received 1,200
entrys for those student tickets.
Students and other fans who may not
have been fortunate enough to get their
name drawn will have to look far and
wide for remaining tickets to this week-
 end's two regional games. Scalped tick-
ets have been reported as going for at
least $400 dollars apiece.
-fiom staff and wire reports
Seton Hall guard may
not play on Friday
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (AP) --
Seton Hall point guard Shaheen
Holloway has a torn ligament in his left
ankle and remains questionable for
Friday's game against Oklahoma State in
the NCAA Tournament.
While the university disclosed that an
MRI performed on Monday showed a a
tear of the anterior talofibular ligament,
Holloway issued a statement on yester-
day, saying he was feeling better.
Holloway, who converted a full-court
driving layup on Friday to give Seton
Hall a 72-71 overtime victory over
Oregon, sprained his ankle in the first
half of a 67-65 overtime defeat of
Temple in the second round Sunday.
The senior continues to be treated
with ice and electric stimulation. He also
is wearing a compression boot.
Senior guard Rimas Kaukenas sat out
practice on Tuesday because of a possi-
ble strep throat. Results of the test will be
known tomorrow afternoon.
QB Couch to sit out of
Nebraska spring practice
(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. -
Nebraska football coach Frank
Solich said Monday that starting
quarterback Eric Crouch will be
held out of all spring scrimmages,
including the Red-White game, as
he rehabilitated his shoulder.
Crouch, who had surgery on his
right shoulder in January, estimated
he threw 60 to 80 passes Monday,
but mostly participated in non-
throwing drills. But Crouch said he
expected doctors would clear him to
throw on a regular basis before the
end of spring.

"It's going to be good to play at
home. It's a lot more exciting, and we
really feel more comfortable," sopho-
more Bobby Korecky said. "You
work so hard you don't even notice
the cold weather. I think its a little
harder for the hitters to adapt to the
temperature."
The pitching staff went through a
luke-warm stretch during its early
road swing in the sunny states of
Florida and South Carolina.
Michigan will return home with a
5.37 collective ERA.
"I've seen some bright spots in the
pitching so far and some areas we can
improve on," Michigan coach Geoff
Zahn said. "We've walked way too
many guys. We've given up more hits
than what we should. That's the prod-
uct of pitching defensively. We have
the talent and the arms to be domi-
nant."
If the Wolverines are going to suc-
cessfully defend their Big Ten
Tournament crown, they're going to
have to get quality innings out of
their veteran pitchers. The staff,
despite the loss of captain Bryce
Ralston to injury, will feature an
experienced and proficient lineup.
Vince Pistilli looks to be an early

candidate for the top starter position.
The junior will probably have to con-
sistently dual with the top pitchers of
Big Ten foes.
Pistilli looks to his 89-91 'm.p.h.
fastball for power but his curveball
and change-up for outs. When he's on
his game, Pistilli gets a lot of ground-
ball outs. But so far this season, he
has been eradic.
AY "I haven't been getting
STADIUM ahead of guys. That caus-
-)Vst. Escm es me to get into trouble,"
Pistilli said. "When
they're ahead of the
opens its count, they're going to
r-2-t get more fastballs and
i. The better swings at them."
fending Big Korecky and senior
crown and are Bryan Cranson are also
to the likely to be fixtures in
ntifor the Zahn's pitching rotation.
OW Korecky, mainly a fast-
ball pitcher, struggled
through the first 15 games, with a
7.80 ERA in 15 innings.
Cranson, the team's veteran lefty,
is largely a location pitcher. Cranson
went 2-1 with an ERA just under six
during the team's early trek.
Throughout the season, these expe-
rienced pitchers will be looked to by
the entire team for leadership.
"If we can come out and throw a
couple of two - and three run
games, it takes the pressure off our
hitting," Korecky said. "We have a lot
of guys with good arms. If we get on
a roll, we're going to be tough to
beat"
After those three pitchers, the
other starting spots are up for grabs.
Freshmen Tim Leveque and Rich
Hill, as well as Santa Clara transfer
Bobby Wood, will likely see time in
spot start and long relieftroles.
Lefthander Nick Alexander slides
into the closer role after being a setup
man for most of last season. The
junior boasts a variety of pitches,
which helped him retire 10 hitters in
a row against Miami, Fla.
"I'm an aggressive pitcher,"
Alexander said. "I go after guys and,
I can hit my spots with a variety of
different pitches."
Michigan's hurlers will be relied
upon heavily by Zahn to carry the

By Dena Beth Krischer
Daily Sports Writer
Every time he goes to bat, junior
catcher David Parrish plants both feet
just outside of the white chalk line of
the batter's box.
Before stepping inside, he pauses
- ensuring he's mentally prepared for
what the 6-7 monster standing 60'6"
away from home plate might have in
store for him.
His ritual doesn't mean that he's
superstitious. If he were, he would
never voluntarily have worn the num-
ber 13 on his jersey for two of his
three years at Michigan. It just means
he's cautious.
"It took me a long time to figure out
certain things about hitting, and I have
to keep reminding myself," Parrish
said. "Because if you just get into the
batter's box and get in there to swing,
sometimes you lose focus on what it is
that you're trying to do."
The results?
A .300 career average, 100 hits, 22
doubles, 18 homeruns, 70 RBI and 23
multiple-hit games.
. Last May, Parrish had a 7-for-I11
weekend at Michigan State with two
doubles, three homeruns and eight
RBI to earn Big Ten Player of the
Week honors.
The catcher's offensive and defen-
sive prowess has earned him honors
above and beyond his expectations.
Before his college career even start-
ed, he was selected as a 10th-round
draft pick by the New York Yankees in
the June 1997 draft.
Parrish shared Michigan's 1999
Most Improved Player after batting
.320 with 18 doubles and nine home-
runs to compliment his 227 putouts
and .981 fielding percentage.
And this past December, Parrish
was named as the 2000 Big Ten
Preseason Player of the Year by the
magazine Baseball America.
"As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't
really mean anything," the catcher
said. "You can be preseason player of
the year and have a terrible year. It
doesn't mean anything unless you can
prove yourself throughout the season.
It's a nice compliment, but when it
comes down to it, it doesn't mean any-
thing."
But perhaps the greatest honor of
all is that the All-American candidate
follows in the footsteps of his father
Lance Parrish, former catcher for the
Detroit Tigers (1977-86) turned third-
base coach.
Some try to compare the two, but
that doesn't phase the younger
Parrish.
"My dad is my dad," he said. "I
haven't felt that I've been really com-
pared with him - other than he
played pro ball and people might
expect me to play pro ball. If people
want to compare me, that's fine, they
can do what they want. But that's

Team
1. Ohio State M
2. Penn State
2. Illinois
4. Minnesota
5. Michigan
6. Purdue
7. Indiana
8. Northwestern
9. Iowa
10. Michigan State

BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL

another thing that doesn't really mea*
anything to me."
They're both 6-foot-3, weigh 2.15
pounds, wear No. 13, bat right-hand-
ed, throw right-handed and crduch
behind the plate - the two are so sim-
ilar on paper, it's hard not to draw
comparisons.
"I always say to him, 'don't limit
yourself by what your dad did,"'
Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "As
soon as you say, 'I want to be like my
dad,' you limit yourself. He might b*
better than his dad was."
Parrish recalls standing on the field
of the final game at Tiger Stadium
alongside his mother, watching his
father - his favorite athlete - run
onto the field wearing his number 13.
It was probably the greatest moment
in sports that he has ever witnessed;-
even greater than the time he played
catch with Ken Griffey Jr. when h
was 13.
"I can't even describe the feeling,"
Parrish said, of watching his fath'er
back in his Tigers' uniform. "Growing
up, I knew he was fairly popular. But
being so young, you take everything
for granted and being in my position
now -- being able to appreciate every-
thing that he really did and what he
was all about - just seeing that was
overwhelming."
What's funny is that Parrish neve*,
really wanted to emulate his father
Yes, his love of the game, the N6. 13
and his position can all be attributed to
him, but mostly is rather coincidental.
None of it was forced onto him by
the man he idolizes - it just sort of
happened that way.
He didn't want to wear the number
13 because it was all he ever saw. He
started donning it in high school, out
of respect - right around the end oW
his father's career.
He only ended up behind the plate
because, after his growth spurt, he
claims he wasn't quick enough to con-
tinue at third base or shortstop if he
wanted to play on his high school's
varsity team.
Now, there's only one milestone
left.
"If I could have half the career my
dad had, I'd be more than satisfied."

2000 Record
12-6
13-5
9-6
7-9
6-8-1
9-6
15-7
8-5
4-12
4-12

"

team to its goals. Despite losing a lot
of talent in the field from last season,
Zahn isn't planning on lowering the
team's expectations. He wants his
pitchers to improve and take the team
back into the postseason.


i

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