6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 29, 2004 'M' home opener glorious despite small crowd By Megan Kolodgy Daily Sports Writer What do splintered blue benches, a rickety press box and songs such as Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" have in common? They're all part of the rich his- tory of Michigan baseball. Although it occurred a day late - due to inclement weather, this $ past weekend ushered in another season at The Fish. The 81-year-old stadium has likely seen better days, but its dilapidation adds to its old-fashioned charm. The small crowd by no means overflowed the stadium's 4,000-person capacity, but Michigan head coach Rich Maloney insists that ringing in the new year by tackling intrastate rivals Oakland and Detroit, and boost- ing his team's confidence with four wins and cheers from a supportive audience is what Open- ing Day is all about. "It's always fun to be at Fisher stadium and play in front of our family and friends," Maloney said. Despite the rain:out of game one, Maloney was pleased with the fact that Mother Nature gave the Wolverines two overcast days to complete all four of their scheduled games this past weekend. "We were able to play four nine-inning games, and that was real important to us," Maloney said. "We wanted a lot of our pitchers to get some work, so that was nice. We pretty much accom- plished what we needed to accomplish in these four games." BRAUER POWER: Redshirt junior Jim Brauer was having a rough season until Saturday afternoon's game against Detroit. Prior to that contest, the pitcher had an ERA of 11.02, and no wins under his belt. But last weekend, Brauer may have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. He struck out a career-best 13 batters en route to his critical first JORDAN SI CKLOFF/Daily Jim Brauer struck out 13 batters during Saturday's contest with Detroit. The total marked a career high for the Wolverine righty, who is now 1-2 on the season. win of the season, and his eighth in his time as a Wolverine. Maloney was pleased with the progress Brauer made in the Michigan Classic. "(Brauer) struggled at the beginning of the sea- son," Maloney said. "And for him to come out and do what he did they other day - it's what people have been expecting of him. We just hadn't seen it." The coach hopes that Brauer will be able to continue this positive trend into conference play. "Hopefully, he can repeat it and get on a roll here," Maloney said. "Because he's got quality stuff - he's got number-one stuff, he just needs the confidence." The pitcher's 13 strikeouts in seven innings are the most for Michigan since 2002, when Bobby Korecky had 13 in a complete-game shutout at Texas-San Antonio. a Hammond returns to mound at the Fish By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer Redshirt sophomore Paul Ham- mond's return to the pitcher's mound at the Fish was reward for two years of hard work in rehab following Tommy John surgery. Yesterday, he made his fifth appearance on the sea- son, his first at home since his comeback began. In April 2002, Hammond was looking to be one of a handful of talented new arms in the Wolverines' arsenal. Interim coach Chris Har- rison had named Hammond him the team's closer and the fresh- man was rolling along. When he came in to pitch against Illinois on April 13, 2002, something felt wrong in his elbow. His fastball still had its usual velocity, so Hammond stayed in and kept pitching. Then Illinois' Dusty Bensko stepped into the box with a 3- 1 count. "I, threw a fastball. It was a strike, but I couldn't feel it," Hammond said. "I couldn't feel my arm" He told Harrison that he needed to be taken out. It would be two years from when Hammond left the mound at Illinois until he would find himself in a game again. Hammond spent most of the following two seasons as the Michigan baseball team's biggest cheerleader while rehabbing his elbow. He was at practice everyday, and in uniform when the team played at The Fish -just not out on the field. "I don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to be around all the guys," Hammond said. "That's probably 90 percent of the great thing about being on the team: your teammates." Yesterday marked his return to the mound at The Fish, a place where he had pitched a mere three times. Bubba Sparxxx's "Deliverance," the song that Hammond chose to be played every time he enters a game, stopped blasting out of The Fish loudspeaker. After throwing his warm-up pitches, he came set to deliver his first official pitch in Ann Arbor in two years. But before he began his wind up, he stepped off the rubber to take a moment to shake the butterflies. "I came set and felt my back leg shak- ing" Hammond said. "I had to step off." That's when sophomore third base- man A.J. Scheidt chimed in to help calm Hammond down. But Scheidt didn't offer the usual "just playing catch" or "we are behind you" piece of advice. "We all had this big turmoil over what our mound/plate songs were going to be," Hammond said. "So when mine came on, (A.J.) goes 'great choice, great decision."' That did the trick. Hammond re- toed the rubber and began to show the home crowd what he could do. Using his hard curveball, Hammond froze the first two Detroit batters and sent them back to the dugout for excessive window shopping. When his day was done, and fresh- man Dan Lentz came in to replace him, Hammond had finished with a pair of scoreless innings, having yielded only one baserunner. "I was very pleased with Paul's per- formance this weekend," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "He's showing signs. His consistency still needs to improve, but the last few times he's gone out have been better." Pitching for Michigan again was an opportunity that Hammond didn't know if he would get again. As his rehab was entering full swing and his sophomore year was starting, Ham- mond was faced with a new coach, one who had never seen him pitch before. "I was so nervous," Hammond said. "(Maloney and I) didn't get a chance to talk that whole summer. When we came back (to school, Maloney) told me 'Hey, I know you're good, we are going to work your butt off ... and then come back next fall and be ready to play."' Yesterday's showing is slowly becoming the norm for Hammond. After struggling in his first three appearances this year, he has begun to start throwing strikes more consistent- ly. Last weekend, he set a career high in strikeouts with five. "He's finding his rhythm and get- ting better and better each time out," Michigan pitching coach John Lowery said. "If he's going to be a guy we are going to count on, he's going to have to throw those pitches for strikes." Whether he returns to the closer role he seemed destined for as a freshman or becomes a long reliever is still in question. But what's not in question to Hammond is that the baseball diamond is where he wants to be. "I always thought that baseball wasn't everything to me, which it still isn't, but it's a lot," Hammond said. "To have that away from me for a year alone was miserable. I don't ever want to go through that again." M' NINE Continued from Page 113 was hard to keep it up," Maloney said. "It's a concern, but I still consider fielding to be a strength of the team." While the defense was not particu- larly stellar, the offense was solid again against the Grizzlies, as it was all weekend. Right fielder Matt Butler capped off a great weekend by going 2-for-4 with two RBI's. Butler's week- end included a line-drive grand slam homerun down the right field line, a crowd pleaser during Michigan's 17-2 win over Detroit on Saturday. First basemen Kyle Bohm also contributed, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and one RBI. Both of Bohm's doubles were line drive shots that came a few feet from clearing the fences. "(This weekend) I just saw the ball really well, and I was able to relax and get some good hacks in," Bohm said. While Bohm and Butler provided some power, small-ball tactics pro- duced many of the Wolverines' runs. "Small ball has been a part of our philosophy all year long, since we don't have a whole lot of power," Mal- oney said. "We want to take advantage of the speed we recruited." While Penn closed the series with sound pitching, the whole weekend showcased good pitching by the Wolverines. Redshirt junior Jim Brauer struck out a career-best 13 in the victory over Detroit on Saturday. Also on Saturday, sophomore pitcher Derek Feldkamp tossed seven shutout innings in the Wolverines' 6-2 victory over Oakland. "It was nice to see that we pitched much better this weekend in preparation for the Big Ten season," Maloney said. With the home opener behind them, the Wolverines must now con- centrate on the Big Ten, opener against Minnesota at The Fish next weekend. The Gophers are the pre- season favorite to win the Big Ten so the Wolverines must show consis- tent pitching like they did this past weekend. al 40 The Most Important Exam You'll Ever Take At U of M s