The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
March 2, 2009 - 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom March 2, 2009 - 3B
Uneven play characterizes
weekend for Wolverines
Maloney earns
500th career victory
with win over Akron
on Sunday
By FELIX CARREON
Daily Sports Writer
When Michigan baseball coach
Rich Maloney stepped onto the
field at Sessions Stadium yester-
day before his team's game against
Akron, he was just one win away
from 500 career wins.
But with the threat of rain show-
ers looming, earning the milestone
didn't look probable.
After an 90-minute rain delay,
Michigan (7-2) found itself down 7-2
heading into the sixth inning. Malo-
ney's 500th win seemed even more
unlikely.
But the Wolverines rallied after
senior Nick Urban was bagged by a
pitch and knocked out of the game.
The play helped set up a two-run
bomb by fifth-year senior and tri-
captain Tim Kalczynski that cut the
Zips' lead to three. Sophomore Ryan
LaMarre continued the offensive
production with an RBI single to
move Michigan within two.
The next inning, Wolverines
knocked in five runs to complete
the comeback. LaMarre knocked in
a two-run single to give Michigan
a 10-7 lead and secure Maloney's
500th career victory as the game
was called short after eight innings
due to rain.
"I didn't know about it until after
the game when one of the assistant
coaches brought it up, which I think
speaks highly of Coach," LaMarre
said. "He didn't mention it at all
which means he's putting our team
first."
But inconsistency plagued Mich-
igan this weekend as it dropped its
first two losses of the season at the
Jacksonville Tournament.
The Wolverines went 3-2 at the
tournament and took longer than
expected to give Maloney his land-
mark victory.
Maloney said he used the trip to
get a better idea of his lineup after
LINCOLN
From page 1B
Despite its small size, Michi-
gan played grittier than it has all
season, diving for loose balls, box-
ing out despite a 20-to-30 pound
disadvantage in certain positions
and chipping away at Wisconsin's
nine-point lead.
Take that same mentality to
Minnesota, and Michigan has a
really good shot.
BULLDOGS
From page 1B
pretty good the rest of the game."
Mitera turned the puck over in
his own zone on his second shift
Friday, which resulted in the Bull-
dogs' only goal of the weekend.
But as Friday's game wore on, his
skating seemed more fluid and he
grew less tentative with the puck.
Mitera finished with a rating of
plus-two on the weekend.
"He got off to a little bit of a
rough start," senior Tim Miller
said. "I know he was minus-one
right away. But you could tell
after a couple of shifts, he got into
a groove and played really well
at the end. He was making solid
touches and quick passes."
The sweep of the Bulldogs (9-14-
5-2 CCHA, 12-17-7,overall) was the
Wolverines' eighth of the season.
BADGERS
From page 1B
Every time Michigan pulled with-
in a possession down the stretch,
the Badgers used their superior
size to grab an offensive rebound
or force a turnover.
Sims and Harris led Michigan
with 17 and 15 points, respective-
ly, and collected a combined iS
rebounds. But the duo didn't even
come close to matching its com-
bined 56-point explosion against
Purdue on Thursday.
"You've got to find a way at the
end to gut out a win, and that's
basically what it is," Harris said.
"We need to be poised and find a
way at the end to gut it out."
Michigan has just two road vic-
tories in10awaygames.Withabye
thisweek,theWolverineshaveone
more opportunity to earn a quality
road win.WhenMichiganheads to
Minnesota (8-8,20-8), it will again
be a battle of the bubble teams.
SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Senior Mark Mitera scored a goal in his second game back after an ACL injury.
Mite-ra -s 1retu-rn
wll rovide
pla yoff spark
a
Sophomore Ryan LaMarre is hitting .421 this season, with three homeruns.
losing a majority of his starters to
graduation or Major League Base-
ball.
In both of their losses, the Wol-
verines lacked consistent pitching,
and the offense sputtered against
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and host
Jacksonville. With leads in both
games, Michigan couldn't capitalize
once its bats cooled off and its pitch-
ing gave upa fury of runs.
"Yeah, we played them tough in
a building we haven't won in, but
we needed that victory, and we
didn't get it, so it's disappointing,"
fifth-year senior guard C.J. Lee
said. "There are no moral victo-
ries at this point in the season."
Lee's right. It's do or die time..
But that's exactly when this team
has seemed to thrive.
The Wolverines have played
their best basketball with their
backs against the wall. When
everyone had written off an
After an 9-7 start that included
losses to two teams with losing
records, Michigan has won 16 of
its past 20 games and has scored
four or more goals in 14 of those 20
contests.
Michigan coach Red Berenson
couldn't help putting his team's
second-half tear in perspective
Saturday.
Entering December, Michigan
found itself in seventh place in the
conference standings. The causes
of the Wolverines' inconsisten-
cies ranged from a Jekyll & Hyde
offense to an undermanned defen-
sive corps that went without three
regular blueliners for an eight-
game stretch.
"Nobody thought we would've
gotten off to that slow of a start,"
Miller said Friday. "It was really
frustrating. But we got that Christ-,
mas break and we thought about
what we needed to do. We real-
The Wolverines responded to
their first loss of the season with a
dominating victory over Jackson-
ville, winning 21-3.
Senior pitcher Chris Fetter, who
threw seven strikeouts and allowed
just four hits in six innings to over-
power Jacksonville in the first
game, was the star of the weekend
on the mound. Despite the struggles
the offense had in previous games,
NCAA Tournament bid, they
handily beat then-No. 16 Purdue
87-78 at Crisler Arena.
When they weren't even expect-
ed to stay within 20 points, they
nearly upset then-No. 1 Connecti-
cut, losing by just eight points.
And outsized in one of the
toughest Big Ten venues, they
found ways to come close to a win
yesterday.
Michigan has come up short a
lot this season, but after yester-
day's disappointment, the Wolver-
ized that if we didn't pick it up, we
weren't going to make the (NCAA)
Tournament."
Just three months later, the
Wolverines (20-8-0-0, 26-10) are
now seeded second in the CCHA
Tournament, which means a first-
round bye and home-ice advan-
tage in the quarterfinals March
13-15.
When reflecting on the regular-
season finale, Berenson pointed
out that Michigan's 20 conference
victories matched that of last
year's Frozen Four team.
That was a squad that featured
two 30-goal scorers, including the
program's second Hobey Baker
Award winner, and arguably the
best season by a goalie in school
history - from none other than
Sauer.
What's more surprising, con-
sidering the puzzling first half, is
that the Wolverines' 26 victories
FILt PHOTO
the Wolverine batters lit up the
scoreboard against the Dolphins.
Led by LaMarre, they overpowered
Jacksonville with a fury of runs
throughout the game.
"This weekend, I think it was our
offense's turn to show what we can
do if our pitchers happen to give a
few runs," LaMarre said. "We have
no problem answering and putting
some runs of our own."
ines should be very eager to win
in Minneapolis.
"(Focusing) is the least of our
concerns right now," Lee said.
"We're playing for something
right'now. Everybody's going to be
focusing, and if there not, some-
thing's wrong with them."
A lot is on the line next week.
The Wolverines should be hungry
enough to deliver.
- Lincoln can be reached
at lincolnr@umich.edu.
this season is just one short of last
year's regular-season total.
"one reason we get better dur-
ing the season is that we're a
young team, and I play the young
players," Berenson said. "And then
they learn and they get better. And
they get more confident as the
year goes on. I've always said the
first semester takes forever for a
freshman. Then the next thing you
know, you're graduating. That's
how quick it goes."
The Wolverines seem to have
finally gotten over their problems
with inconsistent scoring: The
offense generated goals from three
different lines in five of its past
eight games.
And though it took nearly five
months, Michigan's greatest
strength entering the season -
depth on the blueline - has now
finally manifested itself with Mit-
era back in the fold.
So what does Mark Mitera's
return really mean?
First of all, it means
another 'C' on a Michigan hockey
jersey.
And it created two Wolverine
goals in Saturday night's 4-0 win
over the Bulldogs, too.
But it also directly caused Fer-
ris State's lone tally of the series,
which occurred just three minutes
and 11 seconds into Fridays game
after Mitera
turned over
the puck.
A major
questionn
heading into
Mitera's post-
injury debut
was simple. NICOLE
With other AUERBACH
defense-
men looking
impressive in his absence, is a
less-than-100-percent Mitera still
deserving of a roster spot?
You bet.
And the long-awaited return
of the team's senior captain, isn't
over yet.
His official comeback won't be
complete until he's back to playing
like one of the top defensemen in
collegiate hockey.
And according to Michigan
coach Red Berenson's evaluation of
Mitera's play this weekend, that re-
emergence might notbe too far off.
"You're starting to see the Mark
Miterasthe real Mark Mitera,"
Berenson said. "At the start of
the year, he would have been our
best defenseman, so he's got to
grow (back) into that. But you saw
glimpses of that this weekend."
And those snapshots of Mitera's
talentgrew more frequent as the
series continued.
Mitera tore his anterior cruci-
ate ligament in the first period of
the team's season opener on Oct.
10. He didn't play again until this
weekend, the team's last regular-
season series. During each of this
weekend's periods, he felt like he
was improving.
"It's tough to adjust to situations
and see plays developing," Mitera
said. "As (I) get moreandmore
time on the ice, everything's start-
ing to come back to me a little bit
- where I should be anticipating
plays, stepping up, tryingto read
forechecks - small things like that
are starting to come back."
But even as he returns toform,
Mitera's not just your average
shutdown defenseman. He's a
first-round draft pick for the Ana-
heim Ducks. Last season, Inside
College Hockeynamed Mitera
the Defenseman of the Year, and
Mitera also earned Michigan's Vic
Heyliger Awa'rd as the team's out-
standing defenseman. He posted
career highs in points (23), assists
(21) and plus/minus (plus 30).
He's a smart player, and he's got
three full seasons of experience
under his belt. He's also likely
learned from taking on a captain/
assistant coach-type role this sea-
son, analyzing practice and games
from the bleachers.
Even in his six periods of play
this weekend, his on-ice adjust-
ments were sharp. His turnover on
Friday that led to the Ferris State
goal quickly became alesson, and
Berenson said Mitera had fewer
giveaways than all other Michigan
defensemen in the series overall.
Miteraprovides a big, physical
presence for the Wolverines on
the blueline, even if he's not totally
back in game shape yet.
And just seeing him in uniform
provides a spark for Michigan, an
emotional boost that could carry
into the playoffs.
Mitera's teammates have seen
that in a variety of forms - from
his determination during rehab to
his surprising goal in Saturday's
second period, and most impor-
tantly, his behavior at practice.
"Him being on theice the past
month has been awesome," junior
defenseman Steve Kampfer said.
"Just giving pointers here and
there to the freshmen, the younger
guys and even myself. It's been
great. He's our captain. He's our
leader. He's been showing it these
past few weeks, and he showed
that this weekend."
Kampfer said he expects an
even stronger and more confident
Mitera to emerge after acouple
more weeks of practice.
That works out quite conve-
niently for the Wolverines, who
finished second in the CCHA and
received a first-round bye in the
conference tournament. They
won't play again until March 13.
By then, Mitera still mightnot
be 100 percent..But his impact on
the team isn't simply measuredby
assists or blocked shots.
- Auerbach can be reached
at naauer@umich.edu
r
"We can practice pretty hard,
get guys running ... and get us
ready for this game, because it is
going to be a war," Lee said.
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