Daily forum Who do you think the next Michigan men's basketball coach should be? Are you disappointed by the coverage of the change? Stop yelling from the sidelines. Speak your mind at michigandaily.com/forum. We'll see you there. michigandaily.com /sports ge Sidfigau &DaIQ OR S WEDNESDAY MARCH 28, 2001 11 '.Kosick proves clutch once again in NCAAs Wright extends homer streak in win for Blue By Joe Smith Daily Sports Editor replied with But if on is no guar The instant the red light flashed on would corn Sunday, senior Mark Kosick raised his the CCHA arms gallantly in the air. He then started tans, instea pumping his fists and legs simultane- Kosick was ously like a piston - with an ear-to-ear instead of gin spanning across his face. labeled a " His second goal in as many nights ond time th had given Michigan the ever-important With Kos first goal in its 4-3 victory over St. class being Cloud, propelling the Wolverines back day one, th into the Frozen Four. winger hasn JKosick's performance the night before "When h, could've been represented by the Four that's my j Tops big hit, "It's the Same Old Song." ter," Beren With Michigan down 3-2 to Mercyhurst, moving hin and his own career hanging in the bal- to try to g ance, Kosick came through in the clutch him the vid once again. He sent a rocket wrist shot "But l'vec past previously stellar Peter Aubry - And w[ who set aside 47 of Michigan's 51 shots the current to tie the game and shift the momen- points with tum in one fell swoop. his freshma This shouldn't come as a surprise to al title ga anyone, for when the playoffs come scored two around it always seems to be "Mark named to th Kosick time." "Everyb * "He's had 3 history of playing well in Kosick sai the playoffs," Michigan coach Red phere. "It's Berenson said. "And he's doing it again." the playoffs So it's wasn't shocking when fellow of the year senior Josh Langfeld was asked before best in thep the weekend who would come up big nate enough with some goals for Michigan, he Kosick f Softball hopes two words: Mark Kosick. e asked the senior himself, it antee that the same answer .e up. Just a week earlier in title game against the Spar- ad of competing on the ice, s told he'd be wearing a suit f his usual blue sweater, healthy scratch" for the see- is season. sick and the rest of the senior expected to produce from he confidence of the senior n't always been sky high. e is not playing hard or well, ob to help the kid play bet- ison said. "Sometimes it's m around, or sitting him out et his attention or showing eotapes. never given up on the kid." iy should he? Kosick leads Wolverines in career playoff 29, and is remembered for in year heroics in the nation- me in 1998, in which he goals on his way to being he All-Tournament Team. ody wants to win so much," d about the playoff atmos- just a team atmosphere in s. It's the most exciting time and you want to play your playoffs, and I've been fortu- h to do that in my career." ollowed his fairy-tale fresh- __ s - :. x' = :fin? :: ;; . .. , ; ' . . _ _.. : : + ;.5,. w .',ewZ :aR it . ?: il_ .. .sw 's'k fA d ' i 7' r . : i .. z: . , .. t ~ t S By Steve Jackson Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN -- There's an old saying in baseball, "Hit 'em where they ain't." For Michigan's Nate Wright that means over the fence, "I have been hitting a lot of balls hard," Wright said after extending his homer streak to three consecutive games. "It just seems like they've been right at someone, unless I hit it out of the park" Four separate homeruns helped pro- pel the Wolverines (9-8) to a 7-4 win last night against Bowling Green (11-5). After falling behind 2-0, M ichigan got on the board in the third inning when the Falcons' Keith Laughlin walked Jordan French to force in Scott Tousa, who had reached base on one of his patented bunt singles. But the Wolverines' offense really found its stride in the sixth. It started when designated hitter C.. Ghannam sent Laughlin to the showers with a solo shot. His replacement fared no better. Brandon Henry was on the receiving end of two more Michigan long balls during his three innings on the mound. But Bowling Green fought back in the eighth to tie the score at four. A bubbled ball at short trickled into cen- ter, allowing the Falcons' Lee Morrison to advance to second on the error T1a: enabled Scott Dukate to knot the sorc with a two-out blast over lhe Ic eldk wall. Michigan was quick to respond, Brock Koman led off the ninth with a huge bomb to left. Once again Bowling Green coach Danny Schmitz called to the bullpen but even closer Clayton Booth was not immune to the homerur bug. Wright's team-leading fourth round tripper of the season gate Michigan al' the scoring it would need. The Wolverines may have done even more damage if howling Green's Lci: Elias hadn't made a terrific catcl at the wall to end the rally "1 was really pleased with the way we responded in the ninth," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "We got somtc clutch hitting there when we needed it: Jeff Trzos pitched the ninth to earn the save. He took advantage of ar expanded strike zone created by tV increasing levels of cold and dark by striking out the side - all looking. "Jeff has a high ERA (10.80 enterin last night) but he is throwing the ball great," Michigan pitching coach Steve Foster said. -lini Brauer (1-0) secured his firs. win in relief of No. 2 starter Nich Alexander. "All of our guys ditched we . tonight." Zahn said. Senior Mark Kosick has turned his season man performance with an equally stun- ning sequel in his sophomore cam- paign. In the CCHA Tournament, Kosick earned MVP honors by racking up three goals and four assists to lead Michigan to the conference crown. And in an attempt to save his best for last, Kosick has tallied three points in two NCAA games so far, and Michi- gan's opponent in the Frozen Four leaves a promising omen for things to come. The Wolverines face Boston TOM FELDKAMP/0a0) around in the playoffs. College, the same team Kosick lit up for two goals in 1998. "Mark's playing so well," Berenson said. "He's playing the best hockey he's played all year. The momentum and confidence he has now compared to what he had two weeks ago is like night and day. "And I'll be the first one to hug him when he scores the winning goal in the next game." to raise intensity for opener By Jeff Phillips - I've been here a long time." Daily Sports Writer In preparing for the upcoming games, Hutchins has tried to raise the team's level of intensity. She has used As No. 24 Michigan (11-9 overall) prepares for its various practice devices to try and simulate a game home opener against Western Michigan (6-11), coach Carol Hutchins is focused on the game at hand - even when she is on the verge of a milestone. The first game against the Broncos will mark Hutchins' 1,000th game of her coaching career - 965 of which have come in her 16-and-a-half seasons as coach of the Wolverines. The milestone was supposed to come this past week- end, but Michigan's game against Loyola was cancelled due to inclement weather. ALUMNI FIELD Who: Michigan (11-9) vs. Western Michigan (611) When: 3:30 p.m. Latest: Michigan hopes keep up its two-game win streak with a sweep in its home opener. Melissa Tay- lort comes into the games hitting .456. environment. "We are trying to create a more pres- sured atmosphere," Hutchins said. "It is hard to create game (pressure) in a prac- tice setting." In order to create consequences for losing. Hutchins has given punishments to the losing team, such as forcing it to run or buy milkshakes for the winners. Hutchins believes that this type of pres- sure has produced the results that she wants to see. week we (gave consequences) and we saw a games, Taylor is hitting .456 with an on-base percent- age of .479. Taylor's averages are well above those for her career -.317 and .360, respectively. "She has gone back to her short game," Hutchins said. "Her on-base percentage is right where it needs to be (when hitting second)" This past weekend, Taylor hit six-for-nine with three RBI, in two games. "She has been a sparkplug and we need other to fol- low," Hutchins said. Western Michigan is also hoping find some consis- tency under first-year coach Kathy Leitke. After win- ning three consecutive games, the Broncos have dropped three of their last four. Despite the struggles, Hutchins knows it is early in the season and has a lot of respect for Leitke. Leitke "is an excellent coach." Hutchins said. West- ern Michigan is a "program on the ups." Michigan last played the Broncos in a doubleheader in 1998. The Wolverines won both games, 10-0 and 9-1. Hutchins didn't even know that the game was her "Last I,000th until she someone told her. greater consistenc' "I just think about the game at hand;" Hutchins said. A very consiste "I don't think of much of (coaching the 1,000th game) play of senior co-( .Steeple hurdles no y level," HIutchins said. nt aspect for Michigan has been the captain Melissa Taylor. Through 20 rro RAQLh 0i Senior co-captain Melissa Taylor is leading Michigan in hitting and on base per- centage this season at .456 and .479 respectively. ' . _ .. __ [,J t lt 1~dttLt.1~y.~At~ L barrier for freshman By Shawn Kemp Daily Sports Writer In his first outdoor track meet this weekend for Michigan, freshman Dave Sage will not only encounter a new, * heightened field of collegiate competi- tion, but a new event. Well, not completely. The 3,000- meter steeplechase is only run in out- door track, and is not an event in high school track. Which makes it surprising that Sage -- a cross country and distance runner - has already run the event once. "I ran it once at a camp at Princeton * between my sophomore and junior years in high school," Sage said. "I practiced hurdles for a day before, and I did pretty well." Sage's prior camp experience, cou- pled with his two weeks of hurdle prac- tice, gives the freshman a small base of experience leading up to this weekend's Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N. C. But it's under the same circumstances that Michigan coach Ron Warhurst used to convince 1984 Olympic steeplechase bronze medallist and former Wolverine Brian Diemer to try out the event. "When he was a freshman, I said to him, 'Hey, do you want to do the steeplechase?' He said, 'What's that?' and I told him, 'Come here, let me show you,"' Warhurst said. Diemer went on to win the national outdoor championship in 1983, and fin- ished third in the Los Angeles Games in 8:14.06, just three seconds behind Kenyan winner Julius Korir's 8:11.8. While Sage does not anticipate quali- fying for national or international com- petition any time soon, he did express some concern about the different event. "Two miles are hard enough - put hurdles in the way, and it makes it a lit- tle harder," Sage said. Along with Sage, 27 other Wolver- ines will travel south. "We're just looking to see who's fit and who isn't," Warhurst said. "We're using this meet to see where we're at, so hopefully we'll have some good perfor- mances." ..- ' w .