The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, April 19, 2013 -7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 19,2013 - 7 Streaking Wolverines ready for Wrigley Field An empty jersey in the dugout has inspired Michigan on run By ALEX TAYLOR Daily Sports Writer The winds of change are blow- inginthe BigTen. Not only will the Michigan baseball team (7-2 Big Ten, 21-14 overall) be looking to extend their 10-game win streak this weekend when it takes on Northwestern (4-8, 15-13), the Wolverines will also play Saturday's game at his- toric Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. "We're going to be excited to be in a major- league park, Michigan at especially a Northwestem park that has as much nos- Matchup: talgia and Michigan 21-14; tradition as Northwest- Wrigley Field," ern 15-13 said Michi- When: Friday gan coach 3 p.m. CDT, Erik Bakich. Saturday 6 pm., "To think of Sunday p.m. all the players Where: Rocky that have come Miller Park, through there Wrigley Field and 100 years Video: of baseball is BigTenNetwork. pretty neat." com Michigan is currently tied with Minnesota atop the Big Ten standings thanks to back-to-back series sweeps against Michigan State and Penn State. The Wolverines also got some help when the conference frontrunner, Indiana, was swept by Michigan State last weekend. In the Big Ten preseason coaches poll, Michigan wasn't listed in the top six teams in the conference. The pitchingstaffhas played an important role in the Wolverines' recent run. Since the beginning of Big Ten play four weeks and 13 games ago, Michigan's pitch- ing staff has held opponents to two runs or fewer in every game, except for three games in which it allowed three. "Our pitching coach (Sean Junior outfielder Michael O'Neill is one of a quintet of hitters powering Michigan. Kenny) is one of the best in the countuy at what he does," Bakich said. "The players have all bought into the philosophy. It's nothing different than we've been preach- ing all year, which is quick tempo and forcingcontact." Besides executing this strat- egy, the pitchers are also get- ting support from the defense. In the 10-game winning streak, the defense has committed just 10 errors while producingsome web- gem moments. "The (pitchers) are just pound- ing the strike zone and letting the defense make plays," Bakich said. "The pitching staff has a ton of confidence right now, knowing they can attack the strike zone." As the pitching staff has recieved much of the attention, the offense has flown under the radar. During the winning streak, the Wolverines have outscored opposing teams 54-13. A quintet of hitters has led the charge, com- prising outfielders senior Patrick Biondi, junior Michel O'Neill and sophomore Zach Zott, as well as freshmen infielders Travis Maez- es and Jacob Cronenworth. With the exception of Maezes, who is hitting .297, all have a batting average north of.300. A strong Northwestern pitch- ing staff will test the hitters this weekend. As a team, the Wildcats have a paltry 3.14 earned-run aver- age. Northwestern is carried by sophbmore Brandon Magallones, fifth-year senior Zach Morton and senior Luke Farrell. Farrell - the son of Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell - is the projected starter for the Saturday game. Longtime baseball expert Peter Gammonstweeted aboutthe matchup between him and O'Neill earlier this week. Besides having connections to the major leagues (O'Neill is the nephew of former New York Yankee Paul O'Neill), both of these players are projected to be drafted in the early rounds of this year's MLB First-Year Player draft. Besides boasting a solid pitch- ing staff, Northwestern also has several strong hitters in junior Kyle Ruchim and senior Jack Havey. Ruchim carries a .418 bat- ting average into the weekend while Havey has a.389 average. "They are a team that has been a little bit of up and down," Bakich said. "When they play well, they can certainly sneak up on you." it B WhE Mo ankle gan s Ballan He kn over al in an first t Bowli What much his pr Dur the n board Ind. pared right-I as if s season of him and J feelini mate "I g his io alway bus, s hangit bus if] On the pi when Instea his no No. 7 his s the tv "#ball lying tine'si top of "Th thing regain being Honoring said. When the team arrived in ajured pitcher South Bend, Jasman hung the jersey in the dugout, where it allantine even remained throughout the team's 4-1 win over Notre Dame, the en he's not there sixth win in the team's cur- rent 10-game winning streak. By MAX COHEN Jasman wanted the jersey to Daily Sports Writer be visible during games when Ballantine couldn't be there to ments after awaking from embody the traits Ballantine, a surgery on April 9, Michi- member of the team's new lead- tenior right-hander Ben ership council, exhibited when tine checked his Twitter. he played. ew his baseball career was "Ben's always been a guy that fter he shattered his ankle has led by example," Jasman aborted attempt to cover said. "Even though he may not base in a game against be there for a particular game, ng Green a week earlier. you can see Ben's work ethic in he didn't know was 'how everybody else." his teammates would miss As Ballantine recovered from esence. his surgery into the weekend, ing Ballantine's surgery, the managers placed his jersey Michigan baseball team into Jasman's locker before each ed a bus to South Bend, game of the home series against As the Wolverines pre- Penn State. to leave, fifth-year senior About 20 minutes prior to hander Chad Jasman felt each game, Jasman hung up omething was wrong. All Ballantine's jersey in the dug- n, Ballantine sat in front out. Whether the team won or on the bus on road trips, lost, Ballantine would be there asman couldn't bear the with them, even if he physically g of not having his team- couldn't. with him. "We always want Ben-there grabbed (his jersey) from with us," Jasman said. "If he cker," Jasman said. "He can't physically be there, then s sits in front of me on the (his jersey) will help us get sI wanted to see hisjersey through each game." ng in front of me on the The Wolverines did more he couldn't be there." than get through the first five the bus, Jasman tweeted games in which Ballantine's jer- cture for Ballantine to see sey hung in the dugout, they won he awoke from surgery. them all. In fact, Ballantine's id of Ballantine sitting in devastating injury coincided rmal spot on the bus, his with the start of Michigan's cur- jersey was hanging over rent 10-game winning streak. eat. Jasman pledged in That's not to say Ballantine's veet that the team would absence has been a boon. Before 4bally," creating the ral- his injury, Ballantine had been cry in the wake of Ballan- a consistent contributor on the injury that's written at the pitching staff, maintaining a Ballantine's cast. 2.62 earned-run average in five at was a pretty emotional starts and two relief appear- to see right when I was ances. But Michigan coach Erik ing consciousness after Bakich believes Ballantine's operated on," Ballantine injury inspired the Wolverines MAXCOHEN/Daily Senior pitcher Ben Ballantine has been a rallying point for Michigan. on a different level. "The team is going to con- tinue to play extremely hard because, as they found out, you never know which play could be your last play in a college uni- form," Bakich said. Jasman and his teammates have continued to ensure that Ballantine's jersey is in the dugout before each game, even when Ballantine is present. Before Wednesday's rain-sus- pended game against Eastern Michigan, Jasman wouldn't let Ballantine put on his jersey in the locker room before the game. Instead, Jasman made Ballantine wait to put the jersey on until after it was placed in the dugout, per ritual. "We've definitely got some superstitions, some routines we're going through," Jasman said. "We like to call them rou- tines." Ballantine's jersey will hang in the dugout before each game as long as Michigan's winning streak continues, and maybe longer. For no*, each Michi- gan player plans to continue to "#ball4bally" with a No. 7jersey hanging in the background, a reminder that each game could be their very last. Team spells out 'The Victors' to prepare for NCAA Championships Troublesome Iowa team could test 'M' By CINDY YU Daily Sports Writer For the 20th time in program history, the No. 7 Michigan wom- en's gymnastics team, invigorat- ed after vindicating themselves at Regionals on April 6, has qual- ified for the NCAA Champion- ships. The Wolverines (12-2 Big Ten, 23-2 overall) wrap up their NCAA Cham- season this weekend at poships Pauley Pavil- When: Friday ion in Los 6 p.m. PST, Angeles. They Saturday 4 p.m., will take on Sunday 1 p.m. Oklahoma, Where: Pau- Alabama, ley Pavilion UCLA, Utah Video: and Arkansas NCAA.com in the eve- ning semifinal session on Friday, when the all-around champion will be determined. Their rota- tion order will advance from uneven bars to balance beam, a bye, floor exercise, vault and a second bye. If Michigan places among the top three teams in its session, it will advance to the Super Six to vie for the national team title on Saturday. Individu- ally, the top four competitors on each event from each semifinal - ties included - will be invited to the event finals on Sunday. With a long weekend ahead, the team simulated back-to-back mock meets in practice to mir- ror the short amount of rest time between the semifinals and the Super Six. Because sticking the landing can decide who wins a national championship, Michigan coach Bev Plocki assigned a task which the team successfully accom- plished; each time a gymnast stuck a dismount or landing, she put her name on a letter to spell out both of the verses of "The Victors." "Let's try to put up the whole By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Writer Even with ominous clouds looming over Ann Arbor, the Michigan softball team is shining bright and clear. The Wolverines will hope for better weather this weekend when they host Iowa in a three- game series at Alumni Field. Iowa at A game against Michiga Michigan State was postponed Matchup: last weekend Iowa 24-16; due to inclem- Michigan 36-7 ent weather, and When: Friday on Tuesday, the 6 p.m., Sat- second game in urday 2 p.m., a doubleheader Sunday 3 p.m. with Indiana Where: Wil- was rained out. pon Complex Riding 18 TV/Radio: consecutive Big Ten Net- wins, No. 10 work Michigan holds the longest current streak in the country. It also has 13 consecutive wins against Big Ten opponents - its best streak versus conference foes since 2010. Iowa (4-8 Big Ten, 24-16 over- all) has certainly played better softball than a season ago. It has beaten six ranked opponents this year, including then-No. 15 Stan- ford and No. 24 Oregon, but the Hawkeyes have struggled since Big Ten competition began. When they have lost, it has been because of their inabilityto score runs - in 14 of their losses, they've scored three runs or fewer. When their offense gets going, though, it's largely in partto soph- omore Megan Blank. Blank, who was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, is hitting .440 with 49 RBL In the circle, Michigan will likely see a lot of junior right- hander Kayla Massey. Massey has pitched the bulk of Iowa's innings this season while posting a 2.52 earned-run average and striking out 82. She can hit, too, owning a .322 batting average for the year. The Wolverines have handled opposition.well throughout their current winning streak, though, winning several games in come- from-behind fashion. "This team is all about fight," said senior third baseman Amy Knapp. "We attack, we fight and that's my favorite part about this team." Offensively, Michigan (13-0, 36-7) is putting up some record- breaking numbers. Last Friday in its first game against Michi- gan State, the Wolverines scored 21 runs - setting a new record for most runs scored in a Big Ten game. Senior second baseman Ashley Lane has been a big help in the lineup all year. She crushed her 11th home run of the season on Tuesday against Indiana - her 40th career blast - putting her in a tie for fifth place for most home runs in Michigan history. At this point in the schedule last year, the Wolverines had four more losses in three fewer games and had dropped a game to a Big Ten opponent. This year, freshman shortstop Sierra Romero, who received her fourth consecutive Big Ten Fresh- man of the Week award earlier this week, and freshman left field- er Sierra Lawrence have provided a big boost in the lineup and in the field. The two have hit .412 and .377 this season, respectively, and own a combined 83 runs scored - more than half of what opponents have scored against Michigan all year. Defensively, Romero leads infielders on the team with 103 assists, while Lawrence leads out- fielders with nine. Historically, the Wolverines have had trouble with the Hawk- eyes. Iowa is the only Big Ten team that leads the all-time series against Michigan, 50-54-1. But past records, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins will assure you, mean nothing now, as the Wolverines look to extend their streak to21. Sophomore Sachi Suglyama and the Wolverines have their eyes on the Super Six in Los Angeles this weekend. fight song," Plocki said. "Because if we can do this at nationals, then that's what we're going to be singing when we're up on the podium." After just missing qualifica- tions for the NCAA Champion- ships in 2012, the Wolverines have a renewed focus on the quality of their gymnastics. Col- lectively, the upperclassmen are excited to return to nationals while the freshmen and sopho- mores are ready for the new experience. "This season has really shown me what college gymnastics is about, especially how fun it is and just how exciting it is to compete with a full team that has such a- deep lineup on every event," said sophomore Sachi Sugiyama. "It's definitely put a different kind of pressure on me in comparison to last year, where I was just put in the lineup because I was one of the only ones ready to go." Seniors Natalie Beilstein, Brittnee Martinez and Katie Zurales - three former NCAA All-Americans - lead the squad. Along with junior Joanna Samp- son, the NCAA Northeast Region Gymnast of the Year, Michigan certainly has the talent and abil- ity to reach the Super Six for only the 11th time in history. "We're there, but we still have work to do," Plocki said. "We haven't had our best meet of the season yet. Everyone has to dig a little bit deeper. We're referring, to these days as 'practice oppor- tunities.' During that two-day intrasquad, we did a great job of being focused, paying attention to details and had a much bigger sense of urgency. There's a qual- ity to what we're doing." Michigan has an advantage over some of its competitors, hav- ing already competed at Pauley Pavilion in aquad meet, where it scored its season-best 197.550 on March 10, defeating No. 6 UCLA, California and Iowa State. "You can come into the gym and visualize yourself at the venue," Zurales said. "As you're going through your routines, you know what it feels like." Plocki has a new quote each week. Her final one reads, "Suc- cess is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out." By continuing to do what they've been doing in practice and competition from week to week, the Wolverines, who have been ranked No. 1 in the country twice this season, look to qualify for finals. "They're certainly not over- confident, but they're confident enough to believe that they're going to be competing on Satur- day at four o'clock in the Super Six," Plocki said.