2B - Monday, March 3, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Hot bats fall short
against Sun Devils
College athletes deserve better
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SUN DEVILS, From page 1B
innings is the result of early-season
rust. When pitchers finally get into
a regular rhythm, Maloney said,
the Wolverines will be difficult to
beat.
For now, Michigan's offense
must continue its pace to keep the
team competitive.
The Wolverines are averaging
nearly seven runs per game and
have a team batting average of .331.
Against Arizona State, the bats
were hot. But to beat the top-
ranked team a little luck helps, and
was nowhere to be found Saturday
night.
In the third and fourth innings,
four straight batters were robbed of
hits by jumping or diving catches.
Sun Devils' first baseman Ike Davis
made the most - impressive play
when he made a feet-first sliding.
catch in foul territory just in front
of Arizona State's dugout.
The batter, junior Zach Putnam,
could do nothing more than throw
his hands up in disbelief.
"They played so well tonight,"
Mahler said. "There's nothing you
can do about hitting line drives and
balls to the wall that they're mak-
ing outstanding plays."
Michigan finished the trip to
Arizona with a 1-3 record. The Wol-
verines lost to the Sun Devils, 14-5,
Thursday and followed that up
with a tough, 4-3 loss in 10 innings
to Portland Friday.
The lone win came Saturday
afternoon against Hawaii (11-5).
But despite the less-than-stellar
record, Maloney isn't worried. He
believes his team played solid base-
ball all weekend and that once the
pitching problems sort themselves
out, the Wolverines will be a force
again.
Then, maybe he'll chuckle and
smile for an entirely different rea-
son.
ou didn't have to be in Ann Arbor to
hear about Michigan sports over Spring
Break.
No, the Michigan men's basketball team
didn't magically become
an NCAA Tournament
contender, nor did the
hockey team suddenly get
the national attention it
deserves.
But if you flipped
through the channels to
ESPN during your week-
longhiatus from classes, SCOTT
odds are you probably came BELL
across something Michi-
gan-related.
Whether it was video of women's basketball
coach Kevin Borseth's now-infamous post-
game tirade or Jim Rome's rant on Kevin Cislo
and the Michigan baseball team, the Wolver-
ines got plenty of airtime on the Worldwide
Leader.
But what the casual fan just shrugs off asa
coach blowing his lid or a team taking a game
too seriously means much more to me.
Now, don't get me wrong. On the surface;
outsiders had reason to believe the media driv-
el being spoon-fed to them.
Borseth's Mike Gundy-esque tirade was
indeed funny. And Michigan clearly cared more
about its exhibition game than the Mets did.
Still, Borseth's actions certainly didn't war-
rant his firing as some ESPN analysts (Tony
Kornheiser, I'm looking at you) may have sug-
gested. Even though it makes the school look
silly when Borseth hits the podium more times
than his team collected offensive rebounds, his
comments weren't malicious and didn't single
anybody out. It was just a showing of passion
and competitiveness that frankly doesn't exist
as much as it should in today's sports world.
But, Kornheiser's suggestion wasn't even the
week's most ignorant statement that dealt with
Michigan athletics.
Billy Wagner's comment followingthe
Mets' 4-4 tie with Michigan in an exhibition
game was even worse. When talking about an
attempted bunt by Cislo, Wagner had this to
say:
"If he got that bunt down, I would have
drilled the next guy. Play to win against Vil-
lanova."
Threatening to hita college athlete in an
exhibition game because he was trying to win?
Classy.
If that wasn't enough, Rome's backing of
Wagner was the cherry on top of this ridicu-
lous sundae.
"The last thing Billy Wagner wants to do
is bust it off the mound to fielda bunt against
a college player who happens to think it's
the ninth inning of game seven of the World
Series," Rome said on his television show.
"Kevin, exactly what were you thinking?!"
Maybe he was thinking he should do his
job? Maybe he wasn't worried about contracts
or endorsements and was simply playing base-
ball? Crazy concept, I know.
It's too bad, because both the baseball and
women's basketball programs are on the rise.
But outsiders will never have the opportunity
to learn that, because the space to recognize
these athletes is being occupied by ESPN try-
ing to find the ultimate highlight or stories
about professionals looking for the most money
in free agency.
An outsider doesn't geta chance to grasp
just how amazing of a job Borseth has done
taking over a program in absolute shambles.
To turn things around so quickly is incredible,
especially considering how little the team he
inherited accomplished under former coach
Cheryl Burnett.
a
I
Michigan Coach Kevin Borseth may be remembered
more for his tirade last Thursday than for his accom-
plishments in his first year with the Wolverines.
An outsider wouldn't know thatthe Mets
bunted a couple times during that game, too.
Must have slipped Rome's mind when he was
bashing a college athlete who has no medium
to defend himself. What were you thinking,
Romey? Are you just mailing it in? Is it not a
contractyear for you?
For many, these two stories were about
entertainment. But really, they're perfect dis-
plays of the difference between amateur and
professional athletics.
One man complained because there wasn't
enough intensity. The other was upset that
there was too much. That says it all.
I've always liked college sports better than
professional ones. Thanks, Jim and Tony, for
reminding me why.
BULLDOGS
From page lB
And they took advantage of
those chances, notching three
goals in the second period. Michi-
gan might have put the game out
of reach had it not been for Fer-
ris State's surprisingly efficient
power-play unit.
Coming into the series, the Bull-
dogs were convertingjust 15.5 per-
cent of their power-play chances.
On Friday night, they went 3-for-7
with the man advantage, answer-
ing each of Michigan's first two
goals with a power-play tally.
"They were moving the puck
around quickly, and it was get-
ting our guys out of position and
they were getting shots through,"
senior Kevin Porter said. "Billy
can't see everything, so when they
were getting them through and
banging the rebounds, I think we
were having problems."
The Wolverines' penalty-killing
woes carried over to Saturday. In
the first five minutes of the game,
some of Michigan's most lacklus-
ter and uninspired of the season,
Ferris State (12-12-4, 15-14-5)
notched two man-advantage goals.
on backup goalie Bryan Hogan.
Although Hogan's nerves may
have had something to do with the
less-than-stellar start - the fresh-
man was playing in his first-ever
road game - the penalty-kill unit
showed the same lack of rotation
and shot blocking, which didn't
give Hogan time to get comfort-
able in the crease.
"I think I could count the num-
ber of blocked shots this weekend
on one hand," junior Mark Mitera
said. "We just weren't clearing
Il can be reached at scotteb@umich.edu.
pucks. We weren't giving our goal-
ie a chance."
The Wolverines have two weeks
to work outtheir kinks with a first-
round bye in the CCHA Tourna-
ment. In addition to the penalty
kill, freshman Max Pacioretty said
Michiganwillhave tostayinshape
and focus on "the little things" to
get ready for the tournament.
"We're not ready for the play-
offs, yet," Pacioretty said. "We
have two weeks to work on every-
thing we need to work on, so I
think it's good that we have the
weekend off."
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