The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com March 9,2009- 3B Cislo unable to spark Blue 'M'finds hythm By FELIX CARREON Daily Sports Writer aft earl loss The Michigan baseball team took a break from its busy col- legiate schedule to play the New York Mets in an exhibition game yesterday afternoon at the Tradi- tion Field Complex in Port Saint Lucie, Fla. After sweeping Siena in a three- game series, the Wolverines found themselves on the other side of the ball. The Wolverines were blown out 18-7 by the Mets in a stark depar- ture from last year's game. Last February, the Wolver- ines battled to a 4-4 tie with the Mets and received attention from national media outlets for all the wrong reasons. Then-junior second baseman Kevin Cislo attempted a bunt in the fourth inning, trying to advance a runner on second with just one out. The play drew the ire of then-Mets' closer Billy Wagner. "If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy," Wagner said after the game. "Play to win against Villanova." This time the Mets exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second for an early 8-0 lead. But Michigan quickly respond- ed, turning to no other than Cislo, now a tri-captain, to pro- vide the offense. And this time, the senior wasn't looking to bunt. Cislo knocked in a single down the middle to lead the attack. Junior first baseman Mike Dufek sent a ball over right field for a two-run homer, triggering a five-run inning to cut the lead to three. But that would be as close as it got. The Wolverines' pitching was no match for the big bats of the major leaguers, and the Mets scored seven more runs in the next two innings. "Everyone was looking forward to the game," Cislo said. "It was a fun game last year and a fun game . i v Senior Kevin Cislo was the source of controversy in last season's exhibition against the New York Mets after bunting in a 4-4 tie. this year." But all was not lost for the Wol- verines on the weekend, with a sweep of Siena (1-11) in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Senior pitcher Chris Fetter col- lected his 200th career strikeout with an 11-strikeout performance on Friday in the first game against the Saints. Michigan's defensive play stifled the Siena offense, allowing just three runs off eight hits. "It shows that I've been able to pitch quite a bit in these last four years," Fetter said of the milestone. "I credit my teammates around me and the teams I've been on that have allowed me to pitch that much." Despite strong pitching by Fet- ter in the first game of the series, the Wolverines found themselves down 1-0 to the Saints after the first inning. A two-run homer in the sec- ond inning by freshman shortstop John Lorenz sparked the offensive attack and gave Michigan a one- run lead. Junior second baseman Nick Urban continued the offen- sive production with a three-run homer in the fifth inning, and another three-run performance in the eighth-inning sealed the 11-3 victory over Siena. The strong defensive play in the first game against the Saints was a sign of things to come. Last weekend, Michigan was plagued by inconsistent pitching and poor defense. But in this series, the Wol- verines' defense stepped up when pitching wasn't there. Michigan gave up a total of 12 hits to Siena in the second game, the first in Saturday's doublehead- er, but it allowed the Saints offense just three runs. The Wolverines' offensive out- put came from an unexpected source. Freshman Coley Crank earned his first collegiate RBI to put Michigan on the scoreboard first. And he wasn't done for the Michigan earns two provision Tauro Taylor : excel in final tuneup s before NCAA Indoor U w night. Crank went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the winning effort. "He was making good contact and was able to find holes," Michi- gan coach Rich Maloney said. "I think he's a really good hitter and he has a chance tobe a good really player for us. He gave our team a good lift." The second game of Saturday's doubleheader and the last game of the series was more of the same. The Wolverines lit up the score- board with 19 runs to overpower the Saints. This time, the offense came from sophomore outfielder Ryan LaMarre, who pulled in a three- run homer to extend his hitting streak to eight. And again, Crank went 3-for-3 with an RBI single to help Michi- gan in its 19-6 win over Siena. "We're trying to win and gain experience at the same time, which isn't easy to do," Maloney said. "But so far, the kids have been able to do it." al marks guaranteed spots in the champion- ships. Senior co-captain Tiffany Ofili has the nation's best time in the 60-meter hurdles, and seniors Geena Gall (800-meter run) and Bettie Wade (pentathlon) are sec- ond in the nation in their respective events. If Tauro and Taylor don't get in, the highest the Wolverines can score at the championships is 30 points. And if Ofili, Wade and Gall turn in performances consistent with their current national rank- ings, the three will pick up 26points for Michigan. Last year, the Wolverines sent four athletes to the championships and came in third place with 39 points, the highest score in Michi- gan history in the NCAA Indoor Championships. Arizona State won the with 51 points.' "We have three athletes in a position to win individual national titles," McGuire said. "So maybe all three of them will win and maybe none of them will win. We recog- nize they're ina position to win, but there are other outstanding athletes in their events and that was why it's the national championships. Obvi- ously, you can't score without bod- ies in there." By AMY SCARANO Daily Sports Writer Somewhere between the Michi- gan softball team's first game of the weekend and its last, things started to click. The Wolverines started this weekend's tournament with an extra-inning, 3-2 loss to Louisville and ended with a a 13-0, five-inning, mercy-rule shutout of Tennessee Tech. "A team that plays with confi- dence plays twice as good as asteam without confidence," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "In the Tennessee Tech game, they played like they practice. It was very pleas- ing to watch." Michigan finished 3-1 at the two- day University of Louisville Tourna- ment in Louisville, Ky. After a close loss Saturday morning to Louisville, the Wolverines finished the day by pulling out a 3-0 shutout with acom- plete-team effort against Bradley. Not only did junior pitcher Nikki Nemitz strike out 11 against the Braves, but the entire defensive field played with increased confidence. Nemitz's performance boosted her to fifth place for career strikeouts at Michigan. After an 11-hour, two-game day, with the Wolverines arrived at their hotel with just enough time for a good night's sleep before Sunday's back-to-back games. While playing four games in a BIG TENS From page 1B through and that is what I ended up doing." But Russell almost didn't make it to the finals. It took him two over- times to beat third-ranked Alex Tsirtsis from Iowa. Luke also defended his title by beating Penn State freshman Quen- ton Wright. The final score read 12-, but Luke willingly gave up many of those points only to score more takedowns. "That's the second time I wres- tled the Penn State kid," Luke said. "So I knew his style and knew what he liked. He liked the under-hook to the single, and I just made sure to stay low and keep good position." Luke has spent the entire season at No. 1 in the 174-pound weight class. He extended his undefeated streak to 27 matches Sunday. "I was real proud of the way he wrestled," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said of Luke. "I can hon- estly say that is probably one of the best performances I've ever seen. To win his third Big Ten title the way he did it, it was nonstop attack, it was really fun to watch and it was fun to be in the corner." Despite all of his successes, Luke still has something to prove at the NCAA tournament. He lost by just two points in last year's champion- ship final. Luke's co-captain counterpart, fifth-year senior Tyrel Todd, took home the 197-pound Big Ten Cham- pionship in his first season at the +LAT weekend is both physically and mentally taxing, it is useful for the team to prepare for the demanding tournament schedules. "It's what we were trained to do," Hutchins said. "It is as hard as they make it. They are all very capable. We often play five games in a week- end, so these kids need to get a lot of credit for the amount of time they put into the sport." On Sunday, the Wolverines' confidence continued to build and Hutchins said the players began to trust themselves and their team- mates. Michigan won the day's first game 3-2 against Ohio, and scored a season-high 13 run against Tennes- see Tech. Sophomore pitcher Jordan Taylor threw her second-career no-hitter against Tennessee Tech, a result of a shared team effort. Junior right fielder Angela Find- lay had a season-high three hits and junior centerfielder Molly Bausher had three RBL "We needed our confidence and demeanor to get better, and I think it did," Hutchins said. "Their attitude and their approach to the game - how they approach each pitch. We are look- ing to be a team that approaches each pitch with confidence, and we got a little better at being confident. There is a certain air and swagger by the team that trusts that they can do that." weight class. After tearing his ACL in the beginning of the year, he put off sur- gery until after this season to put himself in the best position for suc- cess. He didn't disappoint. "It's really been a blessing that I'm able to compete and that my knee's been strong enough to really to be able to wrestle my best, Todd said. "I feel like I'm really on top of my game right now." Todd won 5-4, in his Big Ten swan song against Wisconsin's Dal- las Herbst. He controlled the pace of the match throughout until he gave up a last-second takedown, making the final score appear a lot closer than the match indicated. "I didn't feel threatened by his offense at any point in the match," Todd said. "Being able to ride him and control the tempo on my feet was really key." The three champions were not the only ones scoring points for the Wolverines. Michigan has at least six wrestlers who have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and the young team may pick up more when wildcard selections are announced Wednesday. "We hope we can get at least one more, ifnot two more guys," McFar- land said. "How realistic is that? I don't know." But the celebrations won't last long with the NCAA Tournament just two weeks away. "Our main focus is going to be to put this behind us," McFarland said. "We're going to celebrate, and then tomorrow we'll start focusing on the NCAAs." Championships By AMY SCARANO Daily Sports Writer one hundred and fifty meters before the finish line of her mile race, sophomore Danielle Tauro realized her last chance to capture an indoor NCAA automatic quali- fying time this year was quickly slipping away. Tauro had started the race strong but lost momentum on her fourth of five laps at Saturday's Alex Wilson Invitational, in which six Wolver- ines participated in an attempt to get NCAA qualifying times before the Indoor Championships Mar. 13. Then, 1,450 meters into the race, Tauro saw Michigan assistant coach Mike McGuire on the upcom- ing curve. He was pointing to a girl far ahead of her and shouting, "This is 4:39 right here! Go get her!" When she heard her coach yell- ing, the sophomore realized that she might be able to finish with an automatic time and, with her sec- ond wind, passed five girls in the last lap to finish fifth (4.38.7). The time was a personal best for Tauro, beating her Mar. 1 Big Ten Cham- pionships, time (4:44.47) by nearly seven seconds. But the provisional qualify- ing time she turned in was seven tenths of a second slower than the automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Indoor Championships. That means Tauro's spot is con- tingent on how many mile runners nationwide have an automatic qual- ifying time. Each event is capped at a certain number of participants. Once all the automatic qualifiers have a spot, the nextfastestrunners get spots in the championships. co Is DZOMBAK/Daily Sophomore Danielle Tauro ran a personal-best 4:38.7 in the mile Saturday. Last year, her 4:38.7 would have been fast enough to snag a spot in the championship meet. But the field of participants is deeper and the mile has become much more competitive. once the results from the rest of the country's final meets come in this week, Tauro will know if she will be running in her first NCAA Indoor Championships. "I am biting my fingers waiting for the results of the other meets to come out," Tauro said. "But either way, it's exciting to start running these times and knowing that I am in the field now that I can compete with the best in the nation." Tauro isn't the only Wolverine hoping for a little bit of luck. Senior Casey Taylor jumped 13.07 feet in the triple jump to notch an NCAA provisional mark and win the event at the same meet. The automatic qualifying mark for the event is 13.30 feet. "Casey has been tremendously consistent all year," McGuire said. "Jumping two centimeters behind her best jump coming off emotions from the conference meet last week was really impressive. It wouldn't surprise me if she got a bigger mark next week." While Tauro and Taylor await the results that determine if they'll be competing this upcoming week- end, three Wolverines already have University of Michigan Institute forrComplexAdaptiveMatter and Orety of WoM0or iPhysics Public Lecture High - Temperature Superconductivity: From Broken Symmetries to The Power Grid. Laura H. Greene Swanlund Professor of Physics University of Illinois Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 340 West Hall 1085 S University Ave An Arbor Ml 48109 4:00PM - 5:0PM Refreshments prier to the lecture Po oeinfomatonvsit: hpV/ssumitheda! ne Uepartment of Communication Studies and The Howard R. Marsh Center present a lecture by FARA WARNER 2008-2009 Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism THE BLOGOSPHERE. THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM? Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Reception 5:00 pm - Lecture 6:00 pmn H ussey Room in the Michigan League 911 North University AVenue /Anrn Arbor, MI 48109-1265 Please see http://owow.unich.edt/-league/mnsps for directions Contact the Department of Communication Studies (734-764-0423) for more information.