Scoreboardm
NFL FOOTBALL Minnesota at
Atlanta at OAKLAND, inc.
DALLAS, inc. Tampa Bay at
ANAHEIM, inc.
COLORADO 12,
Arizona 7
Houston at
PITTSBURGH, inc.
Cincinnati at
SAN DIEGO, inc.
San Francisco at
LOS ANGELES, inc.
UT~w td jt§U ' at
Tracking 'M' teams
The Michigan club rifle team's tryouts will be
Wednesday Sept. 22. Yesterday's Daily published the&
CorreCt day, but the incorrect date.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
DETROIT 4,
Cleveland 3 (10)
Kansas City at
SEATTLE, inc.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 7,
Chicago 2
MILWAUKEE 5,
Philadelphia 4
Monday
September 21, 1999
12,
'M' hoops holds
first scrimmage
By Jacob Wheeler
[aily Sports Writer
The stands at Crisler Arena were nearly empty yesterday,
even emptier than they are during the basketball season.
In fact, only one fan and one reporter took their pick among
thousands of empty seats to watch a Michigan intrasquad bas-
ketball game - minus the coaching staff.
The players hold scrimmages open to the public on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday afternoons until Oct. 16 when practice
officially begins, third-year coach Brian Ellerbe takes the
reigns and Crisler is closed to the public until opening night.
Since student ticket sales are up this year, said Tom Brooks,
Michigan's director of sports marketing, the next three weeks
might be the fans' last chance to see a young hoops squad in
action - for free.
"There's a nice spike in the ticket sales since last year,"
Brooks said. "People are all excited with all the new freshmen
coming in - especially LaVell Blanchard."
If pre-season, pre-practice pickup games are any indication
- which they rarely are - the five new freshmen hoopsters
will give the program a shot in the arm.
"It's wide open right now," said Gavin Groninger, a fresh-
man from Indiana. "I think we could have three or four fresh-
men in the starting lineup. We all challenge each other."
Team veterans Josh Asselin and Peter Vignier know
Michigan's future rests on the shoulders of Groninger,
Blanchard, Kevin Gaines, Jamal Crawford and Leland
Anderson. So the "old men" didn't dictate the tempo or the
mood of yesterday's pickup game, they just let the fast break,
run-and-gun offense take its course.
"That's going to be our emphasis this year," said senior
Darius Taylor. "We don't have a real big team. But I think we
have the speed to shock a lot of people."
Every once in a while the hoopsters would stop and re-hash
the past 30 seconds of play because they'd forgotten the score,
but neither Vignier nor Asselin - the most experienced play-
ers - would speak up and take charge.
They preferred to remain in the background and let the
freshmen get accustomed to each other.
FEELING THE WEIGHT: Last year's starting center, Peter
Vignier, didn't play in yesterday's pickup game, and it had lit-
tle to do with his ability on the court. The senior dropped a
weight on his left foot before the scrimmage when the
Wolverines were pumping iron.
He walked out of the tunnel halfway through the game and
opted instead to take shots on a side-basket, showing a slight
limp and a wince once when the ball touched his ankle.
Yet the injury is only a minor setback and is considered day-
to-day.
"He just dropped a weight on his foot,' said Taylor. "But it's
nothing."
0 CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN: Coach Ellerbe has yet to name his
captain, or co-captains, for the upcoming season, and say he
probably won't do so until after practice begins on Oct. 16. But
with nearly half the team playing college basketball for the
first time, his upperclassmen will play a pivotal role in break-
ing in the youngsters.
Asselin is the likely choice because he's seen significant
playing time in each of the past two seasons and improved a lot
last year with the absence of Robert Traylor and Maceo
Baston.
} "He's emerged as a leader," said Groninger. "He's been look-
ing out for us younger kids and taking us under his wing. I
think he probably will be one of the captains."
In yesterday's scrimmage Asselin took on sophomore Chris
Young - Michigan's likely backup center - challenging him
in the low post but also encouraging him to shoot the ball.
"Throughout our scrimmages Chris has really improved a
lot and gotten a lot more aggressive," said Groninger. "He's
playing bigger."
Golfers *
make
most of
ro adtirip
0
AP PHOTO
The Michigan defense must prepare to meet 252-pound Ron Dayne, who broke Archie Griffin's Big Ten career rushing record last Saturday.
Defense aware of Dayne-ger z
By Sam Duwe
For the Daily
Colorado offered more than just a
low scorecard to the Michigan men's
golf team this past weekend. A lot
more.
To Brent Baribeau, it mean
receiving support in the battle for his
life.
Baribeau, a junior, made the golf
team as a redshirt freshman. But two
summers ago he fractured his spine
in a diving accident, leaving him
paralyzed below the waist and with-
out the use of his fingers. Numerous
surgeries and constant rehabilitation
followed.
Even though he no longer play*,
Brent still keeps in touch with his
teammates.
"As far as we're concerned, he is
still a member of the team," coach
Jim Carras said.
When Carras and his players
received word that Brent would be
receiving potentially fatal spinal
cord surgery in Denver this week-
end, less than a hundred miles from
the tournament, they decided a visi*
was in order.
"We went to the hospital and total-
ly surprised him," Carras said. "It
was wonderful. Brent was really
happy.
"The guys are really a bunch of
great kids. They aren't just success-
ful at the game of golf, they are suc-
cessful at being good friends."
The Wolverines competed last
weekend at the Falcon-Cross Creel
Invitational, a 24-team tournament
held in Colorado Springs.
They tied for third place, along
with Grand Canyon and New
Mexico State. Notre Dame won top
honors, beating the competition by
eight strokes.
"There was no way to win with
what Notre Dame shot in the first
round," Carras said. "I have never
seen anything like it. They burie*
everyone,
The only other Big Ten school,
Illinois, didn't finish in the top 10.
"A third-place finish isn't bad, I
didn't think we played as well as we
could," Carras said. "The success of
the team will be based on everyone
contributing, not just one or two
See ROADTRIP, Page 14
By Andy Latack
Daily Sports Writer
Ian Gold has always been a little undersized
for his position. At 6-foot-l, 220 pounds, the
Michigan inside linebacker's frame seems
more suited for playing running back - the
position at which he began his Michigan
career.
But Gold makes up for his lack of size with
fierce intensity and an uncanny nose for the
ball. And while he may be on the small side,
Gold hasn't been seriously outweighed by any
opposing ballcarriers.
Until now.
On Saturday, Gold and the rest of the
Michigan defense will be faced with the task
of bringing down the Badgers' Ron Dayne,
one of the largest running backs in the coun-
try. Tipping the scales at 252 pounds, the 5-10
Dayne is a bruising back that runs through
opponents as often as he runs around them.
So an arm tackle is out of the question.
"He's got about 30 pounds on me, so I've
got to take out his legs," Gold said. "That's the
name of the game."
And if Gold and the rest of the defense are
going to stop Dayne, they are going to have to
do it before the Badger bowling ball gets a full
head of steam.
"We're going to have to come up and hit
him before he gets downfield," Gold said.
"Once he gets going, he's a struggle to bring
down. "
The Michigan defense never let Dayne get
going in last year's meeting between the two
schools, holding him to a season-low 53 yards
on 16 carries in Michigan's 27-10 victory in
Michigan Stadium. Dayne was held to under
100 yards just one other time last season, gain-
ing 93 against Penn State.
"It was a tough loss last year," Dayne said.
"We are focusing on doing what we can do
this week to play well Saturday. We know
what we have to do against Michigan."
One of the things Wisconsin has to do is use
its mammoth offensive line fo open some
holes for Dayne to run through. Although they
lost mammoth tackle Aaron Gibson, the
Badgers return four other starters on the line,
giving them one of the conference's best units.
"They've always had a big offensive line,
and our front seven has to step up and stop the
run against them," Michigan defensive line-
man Eric Wilson said. "We like the challenge
that they want to run the ball down our
throats "
And Dayne is the perfect back to do just
that. Although he is nimble for a back his size,
Dayne is most effective when he is running
between the tackles. Of his 2,109 yards last
season, over half of them were gained after
contact. The fact that Wisconsin even keeps
track of this statistic is a testament to Dayne's
punishing running style.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr uses a fairly big
back himself in 225-pound Anthony Thomas.
But Thomas is nowhere near the size of 'The
Great Dayne.'
See DAYNE, Page 14
Lessons That
Will Last
F~A Lifetime.
McGwire hits No. 59 to close gap. on Sosa
Slugger breaks up pitcher's perfect game in head-to-head match-up of home run giants
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CHICAGO (AP) - Mark
McGwire's 59th homer was the perfect
way to end a perfect game last night.
Big Mac broke up Jon Lieber's bid
with two outs in the seventh inning,
moving McGwire within two home
runs of Sammy Sosa for the major
league lead and sparking the St. Louis
Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the
Chicago Cubs.
Sosa flied out to the wall in the first,
walked, singled and struck out to stay
at 61 homers. McGwire finished 1-for-
4 in the opener of a three-game series
at Wrigley Field.
Lieber struck out'nine of the first 17
batters, including McGwire in his first
two at-bats, and had retired 20 straight
on a chilly 61-degree night.
The game was scoreless when
McGwire cranked an 0-1 pitch over
the center-field fence into a 16 mph
wind. After that, Lieber - winless in
13 starts since July 10 - fell apart.
In an ensuing span of six pitches,
Lieber gave up two singles and two-
run homers to Thomas Howard and
J.D. Drew. After a single by Marcus
Jensen, Lieber (8-11) was lifted and St.
Louis scored two more on an RBI sin-
gle by Eduardo Perez and run-scoring
double by Edgar Renteria for a 7-0
lead.
McGwire, who hit 70 homers last
season to beat Sosa by four, broke his
own record of 128 for most homers in
two seasons. He now has 129, combin-
ing this season and last.
He has homered four times in his
last four games.
Mark Thompson (1-2) allowed just
four hits in six scoreless innings to get
his first victory since April 4, 1998,
when he was with Colorado.
Shane Andrews hit a two-run homer
in the Cubs ninth off Ricky Bottalico.
The closest the Cardinals came to a
hit before McGwire's shot was with
two outs in the sixth when Thompson
hit a liner that Cubs first baseman
Mark Grace jumped high to catch.
Grace had dropped Renteria's foul
pop for an error leading off the game,
but Lieber came back and retired him
on a grounder. Then the right-hander
took off, working quickly and getting
help from home plate umpire Ian
Lamplugh's liberal strike zone.
With flashbulbs popping all over,
McGwire struck out on three pitches in
the first. Sosa sent the crowd to its feet
in the bottom half, backing Howard to
the wall in right center.
McGwire fanned again in the third,
while Sosa drew a walk in the fourth
and singled to right in the sixth.
McGwire ran out of the Cardinals'
dugout during batting practice and
jogged out to right field to chat with
Sosa. He'd planned to congratulate
Sosa on becoming the first player
reach 60 homers twice.
"People think getting to 50 now is a
piece of cake," McGwire said before
last night's game. "You can't name the
people on one hand who have hit 50
homers consistently. You can't."
And he said Sosa's latest accom-
plishment deserved more attention
than it got.
"I personally thought when he hit
60, it should have been the top story on
every sports television network, wb.
it wasn't. He deserved it."
NOTES: McGwire has 16 homers in
22 career games against the Cubs....
He and Sosa have homered in the same
game just three times over the last
three seasons. ... McGwire has five
homers against the Cubs this season
and Sosa four against St. Louis. ...
McGwire now leads Sosa by one RBI
136-135. ... Lieber has lost eigt
straight decisions. ... The crowd
38,085 was about 2,000 short of a se -
out.
Mo os eAW.C. m
The best equipment and outerwear in the
world...and some nonsense.
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