10 - Tuesday, March 31, 2009 0 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Small-ball necessary 5-on-3 mishap doomed 'M' for Blue's success 4 The Michiganhbaseball team is in flux. Its defense has started to come around, but its usually-dominant starting pitching has latelybeen inconsistent, and its offense has scored runs in clusters. But that offensive production can't always bail out the Wolver- ines. TIM Michigan ROHAN needs to manu- _ facture runs by On baseball using the "small- ball" strategy, an offensive method that involves getting runners on base, advancing them and sac- rificing outs to advance or score runners. Small-ball combines the impor- tance of solid pitching with an emphasis on scoring runs through a systematic, analytical approach. Michigan has often relied on over- powering teams with a hot inning. But in what could be a tight race to the Big Ten title, the Wolverines should shy away from that strategy. Michigan needs to find con- sistent scoringto win games. Its last two losses came against Iowa and Eastern Michigan. The Wol- verines' pitchers delivered on the mound duringboth games, but their offense sputtered - play- ing small-ball could have helped manufacture runs and pull out those games. Players with high on-base per- centages (OBS) and those who can steal bases are valuable when it comes to scoring without big extra-base hits. But this season, the Wolverines have seen its stolen bases decline and the OBS remain around the same. On Sunday, Michigan dabbled in small-ball as fifth-year senior left fielder Kenny Fellows stolea career-best fourbases in Michi- gan's 7-5 win over Iowa. The effort led to six total stolen bases, and the Wolverines are now 33-of-52 on stolen base attempts. Michigan was caught stealing only 22 times last season on its way to 78 stolen bases, right around the pace of the current team. But last year's team had the power to go along with its speed, and this team probably doesn't. Coming into the season, Michi- gan coach Rich Maloney expected the pitching and defense to carry the team and the offense to strug- gle. But the offense, while incon- sistent, has been a surprise, and it's the other areas that have had speed bumps. And there will be games, like in Michigan's last two losses, when the offense isn't scoring to cover other problem areas. Small-ball's emphasis on get- ting players on base and advancing them any way possible is some- thing Maloney saw as necessary before the season began - it just hasn't yet translated consistently. "I think we're going to have less power," Maloney said at the "Meet the Wolverines" night Feb. 16. "So we're goingto have to be more creative in producing runs. But you can do itboth ways." Maloney also talked about the importance of the speedy corner outfielders, Fellows and redshirt junior Nick Urban. Senior tri- captain Kevin Cislo's game is also perfect for the small-ball philoso- phy. Cislo leads the team with a .482 OBS and is tied with Fellows for a team-high eight stolenbases. Urban isn't far behind with a.390 OBS and five stolen bases. The Wolverines have the pieces to do it, but they just need to perfect the art of manufacturing runs effectively. The power surge can and will run flat at times, and small-ball is the perfect remedy for any team. While the Wolverines could attempt to recreate last year's power squad, they have been inconsistent with the bats thus far. But with small-ball to rely on, Michigan would be tough to beat. After beatingIowa on Sunday, Maloney said baserunning gave the Wolverines momentum, and he saw the effort his team put into trying to manufacture runs in its first Big Ten series of the season. "We have to be a scrappy team to havea success this year," Malo- ney said. "We lost a lot of good players last year ... so we can never take a day off mentally." And only when the Wolverines play scrappier will they see that small-ball will help this year's team find the same success as last year's power squad. 1 ARIEL BOND/Daily Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening saved all43 shots he faced in the Falcons' 2-0 win over Michigan on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Seldom is the momentum of a game decided so early. But in the Michigan hockey team's 2-0 loss to Air Force in the first round of the NCAA Tourna- ment on Friday, the Falcons had the advantage from the very beginning. After Air Force picked up con- NOTEBOOK tact-to-the-head elbowing and cross-checking calls four minutes into the game, Michi- gan had a two-man advantage for one minute and 19 seconds. The Wolverines got three Grade- A scoring chances in the slot - a deflection by sophomore Louie Caporusso and two shots by senior Brandon Naurato, one directly in front of the crease. But Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening was more than up for the test on each occa- sion. "I think the momentum shift of the game was when we didn't score on the 5-on-3," sophomore for- ward Matt Rust. "If we would have scored there, we would have buried them." Michigan failed to score at all. The Wolverines went 0-for-7 with the man advantage against Air Force. "When you look back at that game, Michigan needed to score on that 5-on-3," Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. "How many times have you seen in hockey (that) you get a 5-on-3, you don't score, and you lose? And we weathered the storm, after that our guys were like, 'OK, we used our mulligan, and now we have to start playing.' I think we responded pretty well after that." The failure to convert on the two-man advantage set the tempo for the rest of the game. Michigan dominated the early going with seven scoring opportu- nities in the first eight minutes. The Wolverines also had a near-goal from junior Brian Lebler that was deflected awaybythe Falcon defense before reaching the goal line. But after failingto convert on the power play, Air Force had more top- notch scoring chances and scored the two goals that proved to be the difference in the game. NOT ENOUGH WORK: Sopho- more goalie Bryan Hogan has said many times this season that he would rather face many shots than just a few. Stopping more shots gets a goalie into a rhythm, because he's used 0 to the game speed and isn't just an observer in the crease. The numbers back him up. Hogan has just a .899 save percent- age in games where he faces fewer than 20 shots. He's posted a .919 save percentage when facing more than 20 shots ina game. And while limiting Air Force to just 13 shots on goal can be a testa- ment to the team's defense, Beren- son was less than happy with the pair of goals given up. "I don't think it's a game of blam- ing anyone," Berenson said. "I didn't like the first goal and I didn't like the second goal. As a goalie, you're the last line of resort. But as a goalie, you've got to make those saves." FLUKEY FOUR: From a fan's perspective, Air Force's win over Michigan was an upset. But the Wolverines weren't alone in a wacky weekend in the NCAA Tour- nament. Three No.1 seeds - Michi- gan, Notre Dame and Denver - all lost to No. 4 seeds in the tourna- ment's first round. The teams in this year's Frozen Four are No. 4 seeds Bemidji State and Miami (Ohio), No.1 seed Boston University and No. 3 seed Vermont. AL ADVANCE SCREENING I 0 0 . , Wondering if you're making the right career decisions? Get your questions answered with 30-Minute Mentors, brought to you by the Alumni Association. Meet one-on-one with a U-M alum in a casual setting and find out what his or her job is like. This is your chance to get your questions answered from someone who knows. 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