A ReTSdcganOak michigandaiily.eom sportsdesk@umich.edu WEDNESDAY MARCH 20,2002 10 A Lollio hits homer to win M' opener Hot corner gives Fox trouble early By Jim Weber Daily Sports Writer The Michigan baseball team finally got a break. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Gino Lollio hit a two-out, two-run home run off the top of the outfield wall, which lifted Michigan to a 4-3 opening day victory over Bowling , BOWLING GREEN 3 Green at The Fish. MICHIGAN 4 "I saw it bounce up (off the fence), and I couldn't see the depth. So I honestly thought it was going to bounce back into the field," Lol- io said. "But when it disappeared behind the wall, I was just ecstatic." The win came after a 12-game road trip to start the season, in which the Wolverines won just twice. "I think any win for us right now is going to help us improve and get our confidence going," second baseman Jordan Cantalamessa said. The Falcons were able to get a man on base in the final inning after Jake Fox's second error of the game at third base. But Fox redeemed himself by starting the game-ending double play. Tim Leveque started the game for the Wolverines but lasted just four innings, allow- ing seven hits and two earned runs. Rich Hill, Jim Brauer and Bobby Korecky - each of whom will be in the starting rotation this sea- son - pitched in relief for the Wolverines. The three allowed just two hits and one run, which was unearned. Hill had three strikeouts in two innings of work, and Brauer (1-2) picked up his first win of the season. Korecky, Michigan's ace, pitched the ninth inning. He recorded his seventh career save, and his first in almost two seasons. The relief performances by these starters made a good impression on Michigan interim coach Chris Harrison. "We made good pitches when we needed to," Harrison said. "I thought our kids threw the ball pretty well. It's tough for them to throw knowing they are only going two or three innings (because) they are all starters. But I thought they did well today." The scoring started early, as Michigan (3- 10) and Bowling Green (6-10) each tallied a run in the second inning. After the Falcons scored on a sacrifice fly, Michigan's Brandon Roberts led off the bottom of the second inning with a home run to right-center field that caromed off Oosterbaan Field House. Roberts now has a team-high three homers this season. In the fourth inning, one of Leveque's pitches got past catcher Jason Wuerfel with a man on third base. Wuerfel had a chance to catch the runner at home plate, but the throw was off line. A Mike Sokol double with two outs in the fifth inning drove in catcher Alex Coleman, who replaced Wuerfel in the fifth inning, to tie the score at two. Sokol now leads the team, along with Roberts, with 10 RBIs. Fox committed his first error of the day after he was unable to get a handle on a hard shot to third base. The miscue allowed Bowl- ing Green's Nick Elrod to score from third, giving the Falcons the lead until Lollio's homer in the bottom of the frame. Fox, who played catcher last season, has played at third base for the last three weeks. Harrison wants to keep both Fox and last year's third baseman Brock Koman in the line- up every day because they are arguably the team's two best hitters. Koman is currently playing shortstop. "We are seeing how it works before we get into the Big Ten and trying to settle on a lineup we are going to use," Harrison said. "We are giving (Fox) a lot of repetitions everyday. Every ball hit to him is probably something new for him." YESTERDAY'S GAME Michigan 4, Bowling Green 3 Bowling Green (6.10) Michigan (3-10) Player AB R H Bl Player AB R H BI Barkholz cf 5 1 3 0 Korecky dh/p 4 0 0 0 Newell c 5 0 0 0 Sokoli1b 4 0 1 1 Elias rf 3 0 1 0 Rudden 2b 0 0 0 0 Hunt 1b 3 0 1 0 Koman ss 4 0 1 0 Elrodss 3 1 1 0 RobertsIf 3 2 2 1 Loomis 2b 4 1 20 Fox 3b 4 01 0 Henschen dh 3 0 0 0 Lollio rf 2 1 2 2 Lipari 3b 3 0 0 1 Cantalamessa2b3 0 0 0 Warnock If 4 0 1 0 Wright ph/lb 1 0 0 0 Badenhop p 0 0 0 0 Wuerfei c 1 0 0 0 Lindquist p 0 0 0 0 Coleman c 1 1 0 0 Rutkowski cf 3 0 1 0 Leveque p 0 0 0 0 Hilp 0 0 00 Brauer p 0 0 0 0 Total 33 3 91 Total 30 4 84 E- Bowling Green 1: Loomis (4); Michigan 2: Fox 2(3). DP- Bowling Green 1; Michigan 2. LOB - Bowling Green 8; Michigan 6. 2B - Bowling Green 4: Barkholz (2), Hunt (6), Elrod (3), Loomis (4); Michigan 1: Sokol (4). HR Michigan 2: Roberts (3), Lollio (1). BB- Bowling Green 4: Elias, Hunt, Elrod, Hen- schen; Michigan 3: Roberts, Lolilo, Coleman HBP - Michigan 1: Lollo. SB - Bowling Green 2: Barkholz 2 (7); Michigan 1: Rutkowski (2). CS - Bowling Green 2: Henschen (1), Lipari (1); Michigan 1: Koman (3). DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan outfielder Gino Lollo (center) Is greeted by his teammates after hitting the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth inning yesterday. Brandon Roberts (left) also scored on the play. The Wolverines defeated Bowling Green 4-3 in their first game of the season at The Fish. Bunting blunders didn't h By Dan Rosen Daily Sports Writer In a close game, every baserunner becomes more important. Had Gino Lollio's clutch, eighth-inning home run not bailed out Michigan in yesterday's home opener BASEBALL against Bowling Green, Notebook the Wolverines might have learned that lesson the hard way. On two occasions, in the second and the fifth innings, Michigan had a chance to move up a runner but failed to put down a good bunt. In the bottom of the second, with the game tied 1-1 and one out, Lollio was hit by a pitch from Bowling Green starter Burke Badenhop. Michigan's next hitter, second baseman Jor- dan Cantalamessa, saw a good opportunity to try to move the runner along by pushing a bunt down the first-base line. But he fouled the two-one pitch off of his leg. "It was just a low pitch," Cantalamessa said. "I shouldn't have hit it." And after right fielder Len Elias hauled in Cantalamessa's fly ball, Lollio was stuck at first with two outs. The Wolverines failed to take the lead after catcher Jason Wuerfel grounded out to third in the next at-bat. A similar chance presented itself in the fifth inning. Michigan catcher Alex Coleman, a mid-game replacement for Wuerfel, walked on four pitches to lead off the inning. But Blake Rutkowski missed two bunt attempts before popping out to second. Fortu- nately for Michigan, a two-out double by Mike Sokol scored Coleman to tie the game at two. "We just need to execute (those bunts)," Michigan interim coach Chris Harrison said. "We put a lot of time into it, and it's just a matter of executing." LEVEQUE BATTLES THROUGH: Sometimes a pitcher needs to face a few batters before he finds his rhythm. Michigan starter Tim Lev- eque proved that point perfectly in the Wolverines' home opener by fighting back from a slow first inning. He served up at least irt Michigan three balls to the first three hitters he faced but gave up just two runs in four innings. "We just let him work through it," Harri- son said of Leveque's tough start. "He's pitched a lot for us and he knows what he needs to do." Wuerfel also had confidence in his pitch- er's experience. That's why he hung back and let Leveque work through his, early trouble. "He did what I expected him to (do) in set- tling in and throwing good pitches," Wuerfel said. Despite his first-inning control poblem, Leveque walked just two of the 20 batters he faced in four solid innings. Harrison was pleased with the way the junior battled through some tough spots and threw good pitches when he needed them. THE WHIFF: Junior left-hander Rich Hill surpassed the 150 career strikeout mark in his two innings of work yesterday. He fanned three of the seven batters he faced on the afternoon to reach 151 as a collegian. Hill is Michigan's active leader in that category. Bowling reen Michigan Bowling Green Badenhop Lindquist L, (1-2) Michigan Leveque Hill Brauer W (1-2) Korecky S (1) RH E 010 100 010 -3 9 1 010 010 02X -4 8 2 IP H R ER BB SO 6 5 2 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 0 0 " 4 2 2 1 7 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 3 3 2 0 Umpires - HP: Jim Muhleck, 1B: Rich Randle, 3B: Stuart Hall. At - Ray Fisher Stadium Attendance -193 Time - 2:26 Falcons shot down at Varsity Tennis Center 4N Apple iPod. 1,000 songs J. By Bian Steer. Daily Sports Writer It wasn't pretty, but the win still counts. The Michigan men's tennis team (1-3 Big Ten, 8-4 overall) overcame a lethargic start in doubles last night to defeat Bowling Green 6-1 at the Varsity Tennis Cen- ter. "We weren't very good in the doubles," coach Mark Mees said. "Greg (Novak) and Anthony (Jackson) played real well at No. 3, but we just did not play well at No. 1 and 2. We were lucky to get the point." After Jackson and Novak's 8-2 victory, Henry Beam and Matt Lockin needed an 11-9 tiebreaker win at the No. 2 spot just to secure the point. In the No. 1 match, Chris Rolf and Chris Shaya suf- fered an early service break due to three double faults by Rolf, and they never bounced back, as Vitek Wild and Milos Jirout emerged with an 8-6 victory. Michigan rebounded in its singles play though, posting five straight-set victories. With Ben Cox out of the lineup at No. 2 with mononucleosis, Mees had to move everyone up a spot, allowing freshman Josef Fischer to see action for just the second time this year. Fischer overcame an early break at the No. 6 posi- tion to earn his first collegiate victory 6-4, 6-2. "It was good to get my first win," Fischer said. "I felt a little more comfortable this time around. I thought that as long as I played solid all the way through I would win in straight sets." Competing in his first match since upending 16th- ranked Danny Westerman of Wisconsin two weeks ago, Beam overpowered Wild 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot to improve his record to 9-3 on the season. Lockin and David Anving ended Bowling Green's hope of victory with convincing wins at the No. 3 and 5 positions, respectively. The Falcons' lone triumph came at the No. 4 spot, in which Joel Carey rallied to beat Novak 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. Despite Michigan's rocky performance against Bowling Green, a team that it drilled last year without dropping a set, Shaya revealed it's not always easy playing the role of Goliath. "It's a no-win situation," he said. "You're expected to beat them 7-0, and when you don't, it's like - 'What happened?"' I ,:"+. Vietnam and Vietnam War Studies You are invited to attend a discussion with Yung Krall Author of A Thousand Tears Falling Married to an American Vietnam combat pilot CIA spy FBI spy Daughter of North Vietnam's war-time ambassador to Moscow Yung will address student and Vietnam Veterans, who have also been invited. She will then take questions from the floor. No questions are off limits. Friday, March 22 2:15 - 3:15 PM Kellogg Auditorium in the Dental Building 1011 North University on the corner of North University and Fletcher Street A reception and book signing will follow immediately after the lecture in the Gordon H. Sindecuse Atrium next to the auditorium. Big games have readied team for NCAA action By J. Brady McCoflough Daily Sports Writer With No. 8 St. Cloud looming in the first round of the NCAA West Regional Friday night at Yost Ice Arena, Michi- gan coach Red Berenson isn't spending his time looking over the Huskies' sta- tistics and scouting reports. "If you gave me all the information in the world about St. Cloud, all that does HOC