Thursday
April 13, 2006
sports. michigandaily. com
sports@michigandaily.com

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TOLEDO 10, Michigan 9 (10)

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Rainy day
and poor
play lead
to defea
By Chris Herring
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team's play yesterday
resembled young children being forced to stay
inside on a rainy day.
~When the sun hid behind the dark clouds, the
Wolverines went through the motions, failing to
put up much of a fight.
But when the sun finally did come out and the
weather cleared, the team went out and played, just
like a kid would.
jUnfortunately for Michigan, it was overcast
again by the time the game ended.
Down 6-1 to Toledo and looking lifeless after
5 1/2 innings, the team fought its way back in the
seventh and eighth innings to take an 8-6 lead. But
just two outs from victory, Michigan couldn't close
Cout the game and eventually lost in 10 innings, 10-
9, at the Fish.
The defeat was frustrating, because it marked
the second time in four games for the Wolverines
that they entered the final inning with the lead and
failed to hold it.
"We had the opportunity again to close the door,
but we couldn't do it," Michigan coach Rich Malo-
ney said. "Someone has to be able to close up shop.
That's frustrating. You have to give Toledo credit
for battling, but we let our lead slip away. It was a
game we let get away from us ."
After putting together two runs to take a 6-1
advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth,
Toledo (5-4 Mid-American, 16-12 overall) went
scoreless until the ninth inning.
Meanwhile, while the Rockets slumped at the
plate, Michigan (4-4 Big Ten, 16-12) began its
comeback. In the bottom of the sixth, follow-
ing singles by sophomore Derek VanBuskirk and
senior A.J. Scheidt, freshman Adam Abraham hit a
towering home run over the leftfield fence to make
the score 6-4. Freshman Kevin Cislo followed with
a single and scored later on senior Jeff Kunkel's
W single up the middle to cut the Rocket lead to just
one.
"We got some big hits," Maloney said. "We were
down, and we came back from 6-1. We came back
a few different times, and that's encouraging."
The Wolverines scored two more in the sev-
enth. Sophomore Doug Pickens tripled and scored
soon after, following a Van~uskirk single. Junior
Leif Mahler knocked a pinch-hit single to score
Scheidt, giving Michigan its first lead of the game,
7-6. In the eighth. Scheidt knocked a double to
score Kunkel and take an 8-6 advantage going into
the top of the ninth.
Just two outs away from the win, the team col-
lapsed. Freshman Ben Jenzen, who had pitched
two hitless innings prior to the ninth, gave up a
single and a double. With baserunners on second

Lessons learned
in our years as
a fan and writer
roommate of mine once suggested
very seriously that college sports
should not exist. I'm not sure if
she was just trying to pick a fight, or if
she truly believed her statement, but there
it was. I quickly dismissed it as a heinous
proposition.
Funny thing is, if she had said the same
thing on our first day at Michigan, I might
have agreed. The campus obsession with
football was baffling to someone who MEGAN
had spent the last four years immersed in KOLODGY
the estrogen-fest that is an all-girls high Megology
school. It never made sense to me why 101
people who could make it across a pool
faster than the anyone else, or could accurately throw a ball into
a net, were entitled to money for college or extra attention once
they got there. Indeed, a University without sports would keep the
school's priorities in order - with academics up front.
Then, through a series of events and thought processes that would
take too long to explain here, I ended up on the Daily's sports staff.
And suddenly, it began to make sense - at least, it did to me.
Although athletes' strength and speed set them apart, it was our
fascination with the notion that when those people emerged from
their respective locker rooms, they went back to their dorm rooms
and did their homework just like every other kid at the University,
that kept us interested. Understanding what compelled these people
to return to their sports day after day made the action on the field,
course or court all the more interesting.
For the first time in my career as a spectator, I actually felt like
cheering - which, ironically, the Daily's requirements of objectiv-
ity prevented me from doing. But with this newfound idealism came
frequent jolts back into the world of cynicism. Of course, there were
the ambivalent fans, stories of assault and surfacing evidence of
meddling boosters, which were always troubling. The emphasis on
the revenue sports, when often the so-called small sports were the
most impressive was equally frustrating, and, occasionally, made me
rethink my side of the argument between my roommate and I.
But for every unimpressive aspect of the Michigan athletic pro-
gram, there is a redeeming quality.
Just when you think the women's sports teams get ignored by fans,
you attend a volleyball game and witness the ridiculousness that is
the M-Zone - a remarkably dedicated fan group that has numerous
choreographed numbers that make more casual spectators look as if
they missed a few dance practices.
Or when you think that no team is going to pull off a national
championship in your four years at the University, and you get to
watch the softball team's historic trek to the title.
Or when you are pretty certain that basketball players can speak
only in cliches and find out that each one has a distinct personality
if you just get past the droning edifice. You discover that everyone
has a story, and that story is always more complex than it initially
appears.
The point is, although college athletics are riddled with imperfec-
tions and are far from the ideal institutions some make them out to
be, they are still more than worthwhile. And even though the Alamo
Bowl loss and NIT berths are almost enough to make you want to
throw in the towel, the pride in being associated with one of the
nation's sports powerhouses keeps you coming back for more. Sports
often function as a microcosm of society and give a face to important
issues - good or bad.
Not only has the opportunity to chronicle Michigan sports actually
required me to wrestle with these questions, it's also given me the
chance to meet incredible athletes, coaches and even better friends.
Sports staffers taught me the essentials of college - football,
drinking, writing and how to operate as both a fan and a cynic. And
any time I had trouble giving myself to the Maize and Blue cause,
I could always find comfort in being part of The Michigan Daily's
cause.
I walked in to this dilapidated, asbestos-laden building four years
ago unsure of what I was looking for. I'll walk out even less certain.
But I will always be grateful for my time here and I can be confident
in knowing that I have been fully indoctrinated into the tumultuous
existence that is being a Michigan fan - for better or worse.
- Megan Kolodgy is being awfully dramatic about graduating,
considering she's staying at Michigan for grad school. For about
three more years, you can reach her at megkolo@umich.edu.

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EMAIL: SPORTS @ MICHIGANDAILY.COM

Senior A.J. Scheldt was gunned out at the plate to conclude Michigan's 10-9 loss to Toledo yesterday.

and third, Jenzen balked, allowing each runner to
move up a base to make the score 8-7.
The balk clearly effected Jenzen, forcing Malo-
ney to bring in Abraham to close the game.
"He made a mistake," Maloney said of Jenzen.
"He was doing a good job. I really thought he was
going to be able to close it out."
Abraham then allowed a sacrifice fly, which
tied the game at eight. The game headed to extra
innings after the Wolverines came up empty in
their half of the ninth.
Abraham struggled in the top of the tenth, as six
straight Rockets reached base to start the inning.
They picked up two runs in the inning, taking a
10-8 lead.
"I was riding high going out to the mound," said
Abraham, who went 3-for-5 at the plate. "I felt

good, and my arm felt good. I went out there to
save this game, like I was supposed to, but it just
didn't happen."
The team started a rally in the bottom of the
tenth. Cislo's single with two outs scored redshirt
freshman Clint Tobias, but couldn't score Scheidt,
who was tagged out at home plate to end the game,
10-9.
Although the loss wasn't what the team hoped
for, it won't have any negative effect on the team
going into the weekend series against rival Ohio
State, Maloney said.
"We want to win every game that we play," he
said. "We were very disappointed that we lost. At
the same time, this game doesn't win you the next
game. So whether we lost this game or won this
game doesn't matter.

Three close calls sum up Blue loss

By David Murray
Daily Sports Writer
The end preceded the drama of the last out.
It was only fitting that the game's final out came when Toledo catcher Nick
Lance received a throw from an outfielder and blocked Michigan senior A.J.
Scheidt's attempt to knock the ball from his mitt.
"I thought I got a pretty good jump on (the hit)," Scheidt said. "I thought
(freshman Kevin) Cislo made a really good swing on it, and it was the right
call to send me."
Excitement loomed when Scheidt rounded third base with two outs in the tenth,
but with three other plays at the plate earlier in the game involving the same play-
ers, Michigan could have predicted Scheidt's crack at tying the game.
In the fourth inning, with freshman Adam Abraham on second base, Cislo
stepped into the batter's box with a chance to give the Wolverines a lead. The
freshman thought he did just that. He hit it through the right side of the infield,
and Abraham rounded third base. But a perfect throw - in swirling winds - by
Toledo rightfielder Joel Fisser negated Abraham's attempt to slide around Lance's
tag at home.
Toledo had a similar opportunity in the fifth and ironically, Lance started the
play. With the Toledo catcher up to bat and Drew Hoisington on third base, Lance
hit a fly ball to rightfielder Doug Pickens. The Wolverine sent a laser to the plate
in time to get Hoisington out, but Michigan catcher Nate Recknagel bobbled the
throw, and the Rockets took the 2-1 lead that Michigan failed to capture in the
previous frame.
"The field was playing pretty tough, and it looked like Doug made a good
throw, but the ball might have skipped a little with it being wet out there," senior

signature on it.
Michigan second baseman Cislo was up to bat, and he had two ducks on the
pond waiting to run home and into the 11th inning. The freshman probably
recognized the scene - he shot the ball up the middle of the field, between
the Rocket's second baseman Jake Oester and shortstop Jason Watson. Pinch
runner Clint Tobias scored easily from third, but Scheidt didn't have the same
success. The senior bolted down the third base line while centerfielder Hois-
ington threw a dart to Lance, who blocked Michigan's attempt at a comeback
and ended the game.
"(Plays at the plate) are always huge," Kunkel said. "Especially late in the
game, it is a big play. That was the outcome of the game right there. If he
bobbles it, and A.J. slides in, who knows what happens next. Leif (Mahler)
could have come up and got another hit to win the game. But that is just how
the game is played."

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