The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

April 9, 2012 - 3B

Michigan scores season-high, places second

By ALEX BONDY where the Wolverines ranked
Daily Sports Writer third nationally going into the
meet. Freshman Stacey Ervin
The No. 8 Michigan men's scored a 15.20 to come in third,
gymnastics team placed second followed by De los Angeles in
in the Big Ten Championships, fourth (15.10). On the pom-
overtaking No. 1 Penn State mel horse, the Wolverines set
but falling to No. 4 Illinois. The a season-high total score with
Wolverines (7-6) finished with a a 56.800, led by De los Angeles
season-high score of 351.850, led and sophomores Dylan James
by sophomore Sam Mikulak, who and Michael Myler. Michigan
placed second overall, and fresh- kept up with the competition on
man Adrian de los Angeles, who still rings and scored a team-high
placed fifth. 59.800. The Wolverines were
"We did set a season-high for paced by Ervin (15.20) and Miku-
our team, which was real nice," lak (15.15), who had second and
Mikulak said. "But we still didn't third place finishes, respectively.
get on top, so we were a little dis- Before the final event, paral-
appointed by that, but we really lel bars, Michigan was in a close
enjoyed the meet." third behind Penn State and Illi-
With the team looking to top nois. The Wolverines dug deep
last year's second-place finish at and scored a team-high 59.450
the Big Ten Championships and above all the competition, which
Mikulak looking to repeat his vaulted them into second-place
all-around win, the Wolverines overall. Mikulak took first with
were coming in as the hopeful a 15.45, followed by solid perfor-
underdog. Michigan was facing mances from freshman Michael
many of the top-ranked teams in Strathern (14.75) and Ervin
the nation, including No. 1 Penn (14.70).
State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Minne- "We have had quite a bit of
sota and No. 6 Ohio State. trouble on parallel bars and pom-
The Wolverines began the mel horse this year," said Michi-
tournament on high bar, where gan coach Kurt Golder. "And I
Mikulak placed first in the event think our best event was the par-
with a 14.85. De los Angeles tal- allel bars. The pressure was real-
lied a 14.60 to tie for fourth, ly on us, and we just rocked it."
and freshman Taylor Harrower By the end of Friday's compe-
added his career-best, 14.30. tition, Mikulak finished second
Michigan scored a second- in the all-around.
place 59.450 on the floor event, Mikulak, De los Angeles,

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Sophomore Sam Mikulak placed first on the high bar at the Big Ten Championships over the weekend.

Ervin, James, Myler and Strath-
ern all advanced to the individu-
al-event finals on Saturday.
In that event, Mikulak placed
first in parallel bars and high
bars, making him the first Wol-
verine to win two conference
titles since 2000. He also tied for
third in the floor round.
"(Mikulak) wasn't on top of
his game this weekend and didn't
repeat as all-around champion,"
Golder said. "However, when

you can be off and still win two
Big Ten titles, it says a lot for his
ability. He was a finalist in four
events after a rough weekend,
and I'm sure he will be on top of
his game when it comes to the
NCAA Championships."
Ervin placed in the event
finals for all three of the events
he participated in on Friday. As
he was all season, he continued
to be a spark for the team, plac-
ing third with a 15.25 on his vault

NOTEBOOK
From Page 1B
fell, 10-8, after four extra
frames.
"I don't think we were as
sharp (Sunday)," Maloney said.
But the Wolverines played on
and nearly swept the series. The
pitchers all made positive con-
tributions, especially some of
the newer players on the team.
The high run count on Sun-
day was inflated by five errors,
which Maloney attributed to a
combination of sunny skies and
high winds.
"They're a young team, and
I'm liking the growth that I'm
seeing," Maloney said.
SINNERY SHINES: A stand-
ing ovation and roaring cheers
marked the end of Sinnery's per-
formance in Friday's baseball
game against Michigan State.
Recording all but two outs, he
allowed no runs and picked up
the win for Michigan.
Sinnery has won two games

for Michigan this season and
lost three.
Last Friday's game against
Minnesota was one of those
losses, and it did not end with
applause for Sinnery.
In six innings of work, Sin-
nery allowed a total ofsix earned
runs and nine hits.
Sinnery was later replaced by
junior right-hander Kyle Clark,
a hurler who didn't allow a
run in his two innings of relief
pitching.
Michigan coach Rich Malo-
ney was discouraged with Sin-
nery's performance last week,
so the fact that he let Sinnery
start off the Michigan State
series on the mound proves his
confidence in Sinnery's skill.
Sinnery has pitched 52.1
innings, 10 more than junior
right-hander Ben Ballantine,
who follows in highest number
of innings pitched.
But Sinnery's earned-run
average, 4.30, is one of the worst
on the team - much higher
than those of Michigan's other

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ag pitchers Ballantine and the rest of the weekend.
ahan. "It was a great atmosphere,"
wever, this number does Sinnery said on Friday.
flect the outstanding per- "We got a lot of fans to come
nce that he had on Friday. out which is awesome, and I
y threw 8.1 innings of think winning in front of these
at baseball, struck out five, fans is really going to help us
ily walked one. carry momentum."
NOT STOPPIN' SHORT:
Some of the younger Michi-
gan baseball players proved
"He took their strength to the team this
weekend, especially freshman
the bull by infielder Dylan Delaney.
Michigan coach Rich Malo-
he horns by ney recently said that he sees a
lot of budding talent in Delasney
himself" and is looking forward to fur-
ther growth.
Delaney started off Friday's
game against Michigan State
andon Sinnery was out- with a slam, getting the first run
ng," Maloney said. "That's of the game and his second home
n leadership right there. run of the season.
k the bull by the horns by "To give us that one-run lead
if and he ran with it. I did right off the bat was really nice
ant to take him out." to see," Maloney said.
lay's shutout gave the Delaney picked up one RBI
rines the confidence boost and two hits in Friday's game.
eeded to excel throughout "I'm just trying to get hits, get

routine. Myler also finished third
on the pommel horse.
"(Ervin) is definitely the most
energetic on the team," Mikulak
said. "He was the enthusiastic
one that was putting forth the
effort, so I would definitely say
he was the highlight of the week-
end."
Michigan will attend its final
competition beginning April 19
in the NCAA Championships at
Oklahoma.
on base, move guys over," Del-
aney said. "I just try to focus on
what I can do for the team and
be the best I can."
Delaney also looked good in
Saturday's game, knocking in
two runs for the day on two hits.
"I tried to step up a little bit
more this weekend since (sopho-
more outfielder Michael O'Neill)
was out," Delaney said.
Delaney has steadily
improved throughout the sea-
son.
Despite his 0.198 average, his
name is beginning to creep up
the charts, toward the big hit-
ters in the lineup like freshman
outfielder Will Drake, junior
outfielder Patrick Biondi and
O'Neill.
"I struggled a little bit at the
beginning, but I've been work-
ing really hard and I feel like I'm
a lot more confident," Delaney
said.
"Hopefully we'll get a couple
more mid-week games this week
and then take the end of the
series."

SOFTBALL
From Page 1B
baseman Amanda Chidester hit a
bases-clearing double to give the
Wolverines a 5-2 lead. The fol-
lowing batter, Lane, then singled
Chidester in to put Michigan up,
6-2.
Sophomore left fielder Nicole
Sappingfield's first of four hits on
the game enabled her to score the
tie-breaking and ultimate game-
winning run.
"It takes all of us to win,"
Hutchins said. "We're not a super-
star team."
The Wolverines' patience at the
plate led seven different players to
collect at least one hit.
"You really need to wait for
your pitch rather than swinging at
the pitcher's pitch," Sappingfield
said. "You can definitely tell when
we we're beingpatient."
In Saturday's second game
- the final game of the series -
Michigan continued what they
had done all weekend: force the
Buckeyes (5-4, 23-14) to throw a
lot of pitches.
The Wolverines jumped out to
an early lead by scoring four runs
in the first inning. Driesenga drew
the fourth walk of the inning to
put the Wolverines up 1-0 without
registering a hit.
The first hit finally came when
junior shortstop Amy Knapp laced
abases-clearing double to the wall
to make the score 4-0. By the end
of the first, Endicott had thrown
60 pitches. She finished the game
with 144.
Michigan's lead would not last
long, though. Ohio State got its
first three batters on base before
sophomore first baseman Evelyn
Carrillo connected a grand slam to
right field to tie the game up, 4-4.
The Wolverines quickly struck
back, scoring a run in the second
and third innings to make the
score 6-4.
"It really showed with our
team that when we get down, no
one stresses because we're used
to coming back every day," said
senior third baseman Stephanie
Kirkpatrick.
After Michigan gave a run back
due to two errors in the fifth, Ohio
State seemed to gain momentum
going into the sixth. But with two
runners on and two outs, sopho-
more left fielder Nicole Sapping-
field made a diving catch to record
the final out of the inning and keep
the lead intact.
Wagner then finished the job by
retiring the Buckeyes 1-2-3 to earn
her 19th win of the season - on
her 19th birthday, no less.
Facing a tie or deficit at the
beginning of the game turned out
to be a common theme throughout
the weekend for the Wolverines.
"We play one inning at a time,"
Hutchins said. "We keep moving
forward."
With the sweep of the Buck-
eyes, Michigan now stands alone
atop of the Big Ten standings after
coming into the weekend tied for
second with Ohio State.
"We just needed to come back
and come back strong," Kirkpat-
rick said. "Sweeping a team with a
similar record is only going to help
us in the long run."


DELAWARE
From Page 1B
The Blue Hens struck twice
in the first quarter before Yealy
capitalized on a man-up oppor-
tunity after a Delaware penalty.
The first quarter ended with
Michigan trailing 3-1. The sec-
ond quarter saw Delaware net
three goals, but they were coun-
tered by freshman attackman
David McCormack's two goals
and another from Yealy.
Coming out of halftime down
6-4, the Wolverines allowed two
more Blue Hen goals before Yealy
tallied another goal to make the
score 8-5 at the end of the third

quarter. Freshman defenseman
Jack Eisenreich and fifth-year
senior faceoff man Brian Greiner
both found theback of the net late
in the fourth quarter, but only
after the Wolverines allowed
three more Blue Hen goals.
Michigan's lack of experience
playing at the Division I level
has been a plague, which again
showed with its shortcomings
against Delaware.
"We have a lot of freshmen
playing on the field right now,"
Paul said. "They are being asked
to play at a very high level pretty
early in their careers. No ques-
tion, that (inexperience) is part
of today's loss."
With the high amount of pres-

sure put on his defense, Paul will
look for his defensemen to take
advantage of more opportunities
to clear the ball from the Michi-
gan zone in the future.
"The defense played a great
game, other than they needed to
do a better job on ground balls,"
Paul said. "We needed to clear
the ball better, and that is on the
defense."
Despite seeing more pressure
than he's accustomed to, fresh-
man goalie Emil Weiss had a
career-high 17 saves and gained
his coaches' praises for stopping
34 of the 45 shots Delaware tried
to put past him.
"Emil played very well in cage
today," Paul said. "He did a great

job with stopping the ball. Emil
was huge for us today in keeping
the game close."
The loss was another tough
one for Michigan, which hasn't
experienced very much success
this season, but the team isn't
focused on what's behind them.
Instead, it's focused on next Sat-
urday's game against Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (5-6) will be play-
ing lacrosse for the first time in
Michigan Stadium, and the Wol-

verines are looking to give them a
warm welcome.
The event will be held after
the Michigan football team's
spring game.
"We are really excited," Paul
said. "The setting is going to be
incredible. It is something we
have been talking about all year.
I hope this will be a great oppor-
tunity for us to showcase this
program as we build a new tradi-
tion."

L ECTURE SERIES

Trip Van Noppen
President,
Earth] ustice
San Francisco, CA
"Greenhouse Gas
Emissions:Where
Law and Politics
Intersect"

TUESDAY
APRIL 10,2012
4:00 P.M. LECTURE
University of Michigan
Law School
Hutchins Hall 250
625 South State Street
Free and Open to
the Public, Reception
Immediately Following

Michigan Law
I T 'rsrs Fr 5,1 CleIGAsN lGsw SsCHo'sL