be Aichigun &iil PORTS 0 April 14, 2003 SECTION B -------------- 'M' nine salvage weekend ue capitalie on late-inning error for victory Daily Sports Writer A ninth inning rally allowed Michigan to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of Illinois. A disappoint- ing series ended with an incredible 4-3 victory for the Michigan baseball team (4-6 Big Ten, 14-15 overall). With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a man in scoring position, sophomore outfielder Chris Burhans pinch hit for sophomore Matt But- ler. It was a moment that many young athletes dream of - a chance to win the game for their team. MICHIGAN 4 Illinois' dominant closer, Dave Mazurek, forced the count to 0-2. With a tough task in front of him, Burhans hit a grounder to Illinois shortstop Eric Eymann. Senior outfielder Gino Lollio shielded Eymann from seeing the ball and forced him to commit an error. "It wasn't as much as I was trying to screen him," Lollio said. "The ball was going there, and if I get hit by the ball the game is over. For any infielder, it's hard enough to make a play to end the game. I just shocked him, and you didn't know what was going to happen." Lollio continued to run hard through third base en route to home plate. He safely slid into home to beat the throw from the outfield. The crowd went ballistic as Michigan won an enormous game against the Illini. "I was thinking to do anything you can to possibly score and win the game, Lollio said. "I reacted right off the bat. Actually what happened was that the ball and me met, and I slowed down to let it go by. Then I just took off and the coach was yelling to me that I got to go. Thankfully we pulled it out." Michigan played Illinois this weekend in its third Big Ten series of the season. Illinois (6-6, 18-11) won the first three games of the weekend between the two. But yesterday's game was a different story. Michigan entered The Fish down three games and THE COACHING FRATERNITY What dreams may come The master of the MAC, Rich Maloney is in his first season at the helm for the 'M' nine. The former minor leaguer with the Braves has compiled more than 250 wins during his career, including seven 30-plus win seasons while at Ball State University. Page 4B Leading with his heart A long time member of the National Development community and also the high school water polo scene, Matt Anderson opens his career as Michigan's water polo coach this season. He moved fast through the ranks, hold- ing several assistant coaching jobs before com- ing to Ann Arbor. Anderson, who holds a minor in literature from San Jose State, hopes to take the Michigan program to the next level by play- ing for a national championship. Page 4B Softball racksupfu k UK SETH LOWER/Daily Michigan hurler Bobby Garza lets it fly against an Illinois hitter Friday afternoon at the Fish. Garza went 5.2 innings, giving up three runs. lacking any momentum. However, the final game was a success for the Wolverines. "We made plays, which we haven't been doing of late," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "We found a way to get it done. It's hard because when a team wins with three games in a row, all of the momentum is theirs. Our guys never folded. They kept at it, they kept believing, and they found a way to get this one done. This was a very big win for us right now." Although Michigan's pitchers continue to have inconsistent outings, sophomore pitcher Drew Taylor wvins on rodf By Steven Shears Daily Sports Writer Ten days slowly passed and Alumni Field remained empty and covered with tarp. There certain- ly was a void in HG the heart of Marissa Young - she just want- ed the opportunity to play some com- petitive softball. The opportunity came this weekend, as the Wolverines (7-1 Big Ten, 25-8 overall) were able to escape Ann Arbor's erratic climate and win four games in Wisconsin and Minnesota. "We were just happy to get on the field and play," Young said. "We had really nice weather, and we're just happy to play whether home or away." ad swing Young was certainly inspired to make up for the week-and-a-half inter- mission, belting a grand slam in the first inning to knock in the only runs of the game. "I was just really glad that my team- mates got on base ahead of me and that I can do my job," Young said. Pouncing on opponents early has been key to the Wolverines' success, as they have scored seven runs in the first inning in the last five games. "I definitely think that (scoring early) is important," Young explained. "We get things going before the other team gets a chance to get some momentum. They try to get settled, and we take them out of their game." Sophomore Nicole Motycka sus- tained the lead as she pitched a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning against See GOPHERS, Page 3B pitched a brilliant game. "What a lift that gave us," Maloney said. "This was a game where we really needed to find a way to win, and we needed a pitcher to go out there and really shut them down. Drew did just that. He was marvelous." Taylor pitched his first.complete game of the year by striking out five batters in nine innings and pitch- ing the strongest late-inning performance for the Wolverines this season. "He pitched 119 pitches, which not many of my See ILLINI, Page 5B QBs look sharp in final spring tuneup By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Editor Senior John Navarre knows that his job as starting quarterback is safe, but even he had to be happy with what he saw from fifth-year senior Spencer Brinton and redshirt freshman Matt Gutierrez on the last day of spring practices. In the final drill of the season, each quarterback had a chance to run a two- minute drill. Brinton's group had problems moving the ball at first, but with an across-the- body 25-yard completion to wide receiver Tyrece Butler, the senior had his team moving. Brinton connected with Butler twice more, including hit- ting the fifth-year senior in stride into the endzone. In fact, Brinton was solid all day, completing a high percentage of short and that long passes. This was a good sign given a shoulder injury from last year had thrown off his accuracy going into this spring - the senior had prob- lems with touch passes into the flats on the first day of spring practices, but was near perfect on Saturday. "Mentally, I would make the right reads, but when I'd go to throw it, the ball would sail," Brinton said. Gutierrez picked up right where Brinton left off, hitting all his receivers - his only incompletion on the touch- down drive was when one of his receivers caught the ball out of the back of the endzone. Gutierrez threw a strike for a score on the next play to senior Calvin Bell. And while Brinton was using the red-hot Butler to his advan- tage, Gutierrez spread the ball around to his group of receivers - including two straight completions to tight end Tim Massaquoi. "The way our system works, it's pret- ty much equal opportunity for every- body," Gutierrez said. "We (the quarterbacks) just go through our pro- gressions and hit the first guy that's open." The only main flaw - and it's tough to call it a flaw - in Gutierrez's game is his use of his legs over his pocket presence. While the freshman's mobility may become his most powerful attrib- ute, similar to a Michael.Vick-type quarterback, in drills he was much quicker to abort the play than Navarre or Brinton. "That's something I'm going to have to learn as a young guy - I try to make the play all the time," Gutierrez said. "If I can't do it with my arm, then I try to do it with my feet. Sometimes, that's not possible, and it gets you into trouble, so I need to work and mature in that way. But I think eventually down the line, it could be a big factor in my game." One thing that may help improve Gutierrez's pocket presence is to fill out his 6-foot-4 frame, as he's 10 pounds lighter than his two older counterparts. "He's got a ways to go physically, but the thing about Matt is that he's a student of the game," Navarre said. "He's going the right places with the ball, making good decisions - and that's the positive thing. The physical thing's going to come, he's See SPRING, Page 7B I TONY DING/Daily Michigan senior quarterback John Navarre gets loose with his trusty center, senior Dave Pearson (57), at Saturday's final spring practice outside Schembechler Hall. .'AW Gymnasts hit on beam to win NCAA regionals DiGiore sticks vault to become NCAA champion By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer There's a saying in life that you have to work hardest for the things that mean the most. This statement could not be more true this year for the Michigan women's gymnastics team. The Wolverines captured the NCAA Northeast Regional championship on Saturday, holding off five other teams, including No. 3 Arizona State, with a score of 196.825. The Sun Devils fin- ished second with a 196.725. "I think it's really important for the team, especially since our team is very young," junior Calli Ryals said. "There's only a few of us that have a lot of experi- ence, so for us to go out and hit provides a good foundation for them to build off of and to build their confidence off of." Michigan coach Bev Plocki also was pleased with the performance. "It's exciting to see this group of ath- letes putting it together when they need were capable of doing it, but we have a lot of technically inexperienced athletes at this level. Really Calli and Janessa (Grieco) are the only two that have com- peted at a national championship caliber type competition." The key moment in the meet came in the fifth rotation (Michigan's fourth) on the beam. Because of a low score of 49.025 on bars, the Wolverines had their backs to the wall. To add to the tension, Iowa State was also making a charge, to the point that the Hawkeyes were practi- cally breathing down the Wolverines' necks. The Wolverines did not just respond to the pressure by hitting on beam. All six routines (five of which count) were above 9.80, including a 9.9 from fresh- man Becca Clauson. "It was funny because Bev kind of grouped us together and gave us kind of a pep talk, and it's always the same in a situation like that," Ryals said. "Beam is one of our best events, so there is no rea- Pik 4 I By Julie Master Daily Sports Writer Michigan has another national champion on its hands, and this time it's men's gymnastics freshman Drew DiGiore. Previously, DiGiore broke the vault record at the prelims and finals of the Big Ten Championships. Yesterday, the Buffalo, N.Y. native broke the record once again while sticking his best vault of the season, a two-and-a- half twisting vault, at the Individual Event Finals of the NCAA Champi- onships in Philadelphia. "It felt amazing," DiGiore said. "I never really thought it would happen. But as the year went by, I started get- ting more and more confidence and having Big Tens under my belt defi- nitely helped." With this confidence, the No. 5 Wolverines clinched a fourth-place fin- ish for the third straight year on their three-day quest for the NCAA Cham- season high two best team scores by more than 2.5 points; a 217.950 the first day and a 217.850 the second. . "This is what we were gearing for, a peak performance," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "To have a season high is a big jump in our sport and to come back the next day and be within a tenth of that score is great." On Friday, the Wolverines competed in the National Qualifier, which con- sisted of two groups of six teams that needed to finish in the top three of their respective groups to move on to the final. Fifth-year senior and captain Scott Vetere led the Wolverines by placing in the top 10 in three events on the way to his runner-up all-around finish. On pommel horse, Vetere raked in the highest score of the night and a Michigan season best with a 9.500. He also had a top individual performance for the season with a 9.175 on the par- allel bars. "I was happy about my perform- ". a REBECCA SAHN/Daily I i