The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 22, 2000 -15 The boys are back on South Campus The weather's getting warmer (slightly), college bas- ketball is nearly over (or in the minds of Wolverine fans - long gone) and it's opening day down at The Fish. College baseball is back in Ann Arbor, and for the *Wolverines that doesn't mean just for the season, but maybe for good. Michigan returns to the diamond this season as the defending Big Ten Tournament champions - the first time hiey've been able to make that claim since 1987. And despite the fact that they are aA very young team - the winning atti- CHRIS tude has returned to Ann Arbor. GRANDSTAFF Five seasons ago the Michigan base- The ball team was a wreck. The Wolverines Grand Scheme .were horrible - having failed to com-_._ pose a winning season during the 1990s. Quite a change for the Michigan who had been one of the nation's elite teams during the '80s, until an NCAA investi- gation (not involving Ed Martin) and subsequent probation sent them into a tail spin they would not soon recover from. The '80s saw the Wolverines capture all ten regular season Big Ten Championships, four Big Ten playoff champi- onships, four trips to the College World Series - and 43 NCAA rules violations, leading to the first athletic probation in the history of the University of Michigan. The two-year probation led to the resignation of head coach Bud Middaugh, and his successor, Bill Freehan, was never able to out distance himself from the shadow cast by the violations. Enter current head coach Geoff Zahn. In five seasons the Michigan skipper has led the Wolverines to four Big Ten tournaments, and last season, Zahn guided the team to its first NCAA appearance in a decade. With key losses all over the lineup don't expect a repeat of last season, but don't count out the Wolverines with Zahn at the helm either. -Chris Grandstaff can be found chilling in a semi-buzzed state at Ray Fisher Stadium (or more appropriately, The Fish) all spring next to the likes offormer Tiger Lance Parrish, and a shirtless Wolverines'radio announcer Doug Kasch. He can be reached at cgrandstaumich.edu PREVIEW Continued from Page 12 doing the tight things to score runs. ."But if we have runners on with Bobeda, Parrish or *(Alex) Coleman up, we'll take our chances and let them hit." Foremost among the freshmen are Brock Koman and Gino Lollio. Koman won the starting third baseman job out- right and has responded with a .410 showing - tops among averages on the team. Lollio continues to vie for the starting spot at shortstop, while carrying a strong .275 average. "There's not much experience at the college level in the lineup," Bobby Korecky said. Speed, it's been said, is a God-given thing. There are no true speedsters in the Michigan lineup - but the potential for quickness exists, according to Zahn. "We have guys in our lineup that can run for us and do a pretty good job. We just have to keep working everyday to get beter."~ Lead-off man Scott Tousa has swiped two bases in the first 15 games while the rest of the team has combined for five thefts. "Tousa doesn't have exceptional speed but he's a smart base runner and he can get some jumps," Zahn said. ichigan coach Geoff Zahn, a 13-year Major League veter- an, has the highest Big Ten win total through four seasons, tallying 58. Zahn led Michigan to the 1997 reg- ular season Big Ten title - winning Big Ten Coach of the Year in the process - and last year, he coached the Wolverines to the Big Ten Tournament title. In 1968, Zahn got his degree from Michigan before being drafted by the Chicago White Sox and eventually sign- ing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. MICHIGAN BAS EBALL The Michigan Daily's projected starting nine hile most have heard of Branch Rickey, Bill Freehan, Barry Larkin and even Steve Fisher, few have heard of Ray Fisher - the coach that Michigan's baseball stadium was named after. s Ray Fisher led Michigan baseball to 15 Big Ten titles, the 1953 national title and a school-record 637 wins in his 37 years as the head coach. In his 10 years in the majors, playing for both the New York Highlanders - later the Yankees - and Cincinnati Reds, he posted 2.38 ERA and 102 wins. He pitched against the "Black Sox" in the controversial 1919 World Series. 400 ft. ake Rutkowski(7th) 42 Rob Bobeda\ 14 Eric Esper 330 ft. 330 ft. A l-.. M!--- lr.J.L% 8 Jay Dines (6th) 3 Jordan Cantalamessa (2nd) 7 Gino Lollio 7 Mike Sokol 17 C.J Ghannam 42 Rob Bobeda 15 Bill LaRosa (8th) 2 Scott Tousa (1st) 4 Kevin Quinn 3 Jordan Cantalamessa 2 Scott Tousa Coaches Geoff Zahn - fifth season Chris Harrisont Matt Hyde Andy Hood Probable Starters 24 Vince Pistilli RHPx 30 Bryan Cranson LHP 10 Brock Koman (3rd) 28 Bobby Korecky RHP 22 Jordan French (9th) 4 Kevin Quinn 39 Bobby Wood RHP 8 Jay Dines 21 Tim Leveque RHP 25 Dan Dombos n 134 years of Michigan baseball, quite a few niners have gone on to Major League glory. Here's our All-Star team: Pos PLAYER LAST PLAYED FOR MAJORS Bullpen IB Hal Morris Cincinnati Reds 193-? 36 Nick Alexander LHP 2B Ted Sizemore Boston Red Sox 1969-80 29 Nick Bellows RHP SS Barry Larkin Cincinnati Reds 1986- 26 Phil Lobert RHP 3B Chris Sabo St. Louis Cardinals 1988-96 27 Kirk Taylor LHP C Bill Freehan Detroit Tigers 1961-76 32 Jeff Trzos LHP OF Don Lund Detroit Tigers 1945-54 34 Joe Young RHP OF Rick Leach San Francisco Giants 1981-90 9 2 Rh Hi I IHIP OF L HP RHP Reliever GIM Dick Wakefield Jim Abbott Scott Kamieniecki Stvve Howe Branch Rickey New York Giants Milwaukee Brewers Baltimore Orioles New York Yankees Brooklyn Dodgers 1941-52 1986-99* 1991-? 1980.96** 1942-50 13 David Parrish (4th) 20 Alex Coleman 31 Stephen Penick R AY FISHER STADIUM 40 MI I d ill L..l I 18 Brad McCloc key RHP Designated Hitter 42 Rob Bobeda (5th) 8 Jay Dines * * Retired from 1996-1998 Missed time due to suspension Still active I r I ( 6),59 a . - -0----------- 4 """ sr , i *^, 3 "''z:;>:::::> w. > #f4~ r Sun Micros stems anpounces the lowest prices ever on its U traMwor stat ons. 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