2B - Monday, February 24, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Two benches, two coaches: one loud, one quiet

So Tom Izzo is tall
about injuries
has a
lot recently
- when the
lights go
out. This is
in the press
room after
the Michigan
men's
basketball ZACI
team has HEL]
beaten Izzo's
Spartans,
who are crippled by inj
Well, actually, one injuo
inflicted broken-hand s
by their fourth-leading
So Izzo is talking ab
injuries, and the lights
and Michigan has just1
Michigan State, 79-70,
torrid, two-man effort
second half, and JohnI
is beaming. it's a few n
after the game. Beilein
out of the tunnel leadir
the locker room.
The University's Pre
elect, Mark Schlissel,n
him there with a smile
handshake. Then Beile
to his own press confer
past the few fans that r
in the arena, where he,
mention any injury tha
hampering his own tea
as the likely season-en
injury to his
preseason
All-American 4
forward,
Mitch
McGary, for be
instance.
"It's a great
win because
of who we
just beat,"
Beilein says.
But now Izzo is in th
After 10 minutes, he sa
Michigan State got bea
better team, "but I've n
been through anything
this. I mean when you,

king
and he
0:
H
FAND

the number of people that have
missed practices...
"I understand there's gonna
be some points - things aren't
gonna go real smooth," he
continues.
And that's when the place
goes dark.
"That's perfect," he says.
Yes, Coach, it was.

But, yes, about the game.
There was 18:42 remaining,
uries. Michigan down two. Jordan
ry: a self- Morgan tried to take a charge in
uffered the backcourt. His feet were set.
scorer. The referees called ita block.
out Beilein pounded the floor
go out, and - read his lips - yelled "No
beaten f------ way! No way!" And the
with a referees knew they flubbed it
in the and so did Izzo because on that
Beilein same Spartan possession, Gavin
noments Schilling was whistled for not
emerges doing much of anything, really.
ng from Make-up call.
Izzo smiled and clapped and
sident- pointed at Beilein as if to say,
meets "You got it back." He signaled to
and a the referees, and, still laughing,
in walks said, "Even!"
rence, Actually, the two have not
-emain been even, recently. Since 2010,
doesn't Beilein's teams have played
t may be Izzo's better than perhaps
im. Such anyone in the nation. The win
ding improves Beilein record to
6-2 against
Izzo over that
period.
s a great win In that time,
Beilein has
cause of who established
himself as
we beat. perhaps one
of the best
coaches in the
conference. For
years, Izzo has been among the
se room. best in the nation.
ys Each seems to respect
t by a the other, and each seems to
ever be a decent person. But the
like differences are stark.
add up Izzo is demonstrative and

Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo has built a perennial powerhouse in East Lansing, but his Spartans have struggled to succeed against Michigan.

loud on the sideline. Beilein,
at least as far as basketball
coaches are concerned, is more
subdued.
Izzo speaks his mind. It's
refreshing. Ask him a question;
he'll answer it. Beilein is more
calculated. Ask him a question,
and sometimes he'll answer
it, and sometimes that answer
won't mean anything.
So, when hit by a truly
terrible string of injuries this
year - notably to Adreian
Payne, Keith Appling and
Branden Dawson - Izzo
reacted thusly: He told Sports
Illustrated he didn't want to
make excuses, but there had
just been so many darn injuries.
After Michigan beat Michigan
State in January, he said, "I
played guys that hadn't played in

a month." Two days later, during
an eventual overtime win over
Iowa, he told a sideline reporter,
"I've got some weird guys in
there right now."
Beilein has lost guys too.
But Mitch McGary has become
something of an afterthought.
The cavalry isn't coming.
It's two different approaches
to coaching, or a small part of it,
anyway.
That approach has behooved
Beilein. He has gone on that
6-2 run against Michigan
State using, mostly, very young
teams.
Trey Burke replaced Darius
Morris who replaced Manny
Harris.
For Izzo, the past is cause
for complaint, and the groans
aren't unjustified.

For Beilein, the past doesn't
exist. The show goes on.

But, briefly
to the past.
Izzo had po
and given a lau
"Even!" Nik St
otherwise.
Stauskas did
minutes in the
10 minutes, he
combined for 2
for Michigan.1
them. LeVert w
the pair's only:
Michigan w
They finished1
McGary wa
sideline in a su

These two teams, these
**** two coaches, will meet again.
Quite possibly in the Big Ten
now, let's return Tournament. Maybe even after
that.
inted at Beilein And the Spartans will remain
ugh and declared, one of the best teams in the
auskas said nation.
But now, after this game,
In't miss for15 Izzo says, "It's not going to be
second half For back to normal. Normality is
and Caris LeVert not going to hit our team."
3 straight points But for Michigan, another
Stauskas had 15 of game against Michigan State
vas responsible for has ended in a win. That, for
miss in that span. Beilein and Izzo, has been the
'as down five. new normal.

that span up 10.
tched from the
sit.

Helfand can be reached
at zhelfand@umich.edu or
on Twitter @zhelfand

'M' falls in one-run games
By BEN FIDELMAN scoring position in the sixth, third base.
Daily Sports Writer seventh and eighth innings, but The hit ended Lemoine's
failed to knock one home, and the four-hit, eight-strikeout outing.
Michigan baseball coach Erik final score rested at 2-1 in favor of The Houston reliever retired
Bakich knew his team was going the Cougars. the next Wolverine hitter to
to be in some tight games early "Those were all what we call extinguish the threat.
in the season, and this weekend's two-out RBI, and they're worth Junior right-handed pitcher
series against Houston proved their weight in gold," Bakich said. James Bourque came from the
that thought to be true. "Unfortunately we didn't get bullpen to throw the tail end of
The Wolverines (1-5-1) lost all them this weekend." the game for Michigan, and was
three of the weekend's games by The second game of the very solid, allowing one earned
one run each. weekendwas anotherlow-scoring run off of three hits and two
The series opened Friday affair. No runs crossed the plate walks. That earned run came
night, and it started with plenty in regulation, and the Wolverines in the bottom of the 10th when
of action through the first four headed to extra innings for the the Cougars got runners on the
innings of play. Michigan jumped third time in their first six games corners and brought the winning
to a quick 1-0 lead courtesy of of the season. Saturday evening's run of the game home on a safety-
back-to-back hits, followed by a result fell in line with the other squeeze bunt play.
sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly to two extra-inning outings - a Sunday, redshirt junior
bringhome the run. walk-off loss. first basemen Kendall Patrick
Scoring went dormant for a Sophomore left-handed pitcher provided all of Michigan's run
few innings, as both teams got Evan Hill rebounded after a support in the 4-3 loss with a
into a rhythm of lettingone or two shaky firststart last weekend, and second-inning solo home run and
runners to reach base and then came through with seven shutout a two-run single in the fourth.
working their way out of the jam. innings for the Wolverines. Despite the results, starting
Junior left-handed pitcher Trent But Houston right-hander Jake pitching for the Wolverines was
Szkutnik navigated through the Lemoine gave an outing that outstanding all weekend, and
openinginnings ofthegame with tamed the hot Michiganbats. fifth-year senior pitcher Ben
the backing of some outstanding The Texas native dominated Ballantine wasn't going to break
team defense - a stressed Michigan. Not only did he fail to that trend. After giving up a
component of Bakich's gameplan. allow a hit through 5.2 innings, first-inning run to the Cougars,
Houston (7-0) caused trouble but the Wolverine bats had Ballantine settled into a nice
for the Wolverines in the bottom trouble even getting ahead in the groove through the middle part
of the fourth inning. Two singles count until Lemoine began to of the contest, retiring seven
and a sacrifice bunt put a pair of fatigue in the seventh. Houston hitters in a row.
Cougars in scoring position with After freshman right fielder "Our pitching coach lit a fire
only one out. An infield hit plated Johnny Slater was caught under my ass (after the first
the firstrun ofthegame, followed stealing in the middle of the inning)," Ballentine said. "That
by a fielder's choice that allowed next at bat, junior center fielder got me pounding the zone the
Houston to take a 2-1 advantage. Jackson Glines ripped a deep way I should have and put us in a
Michigan put runners in shot to center that landed him on good chance to win."
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Potent hitting, lights-out
pitching highlight sweep

By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan softball team
had already shown flashes of
greatness, with mercy-rule
victories and strong pitching
performances highlighting
the first two weekends of
the season. But what the
Wolverines hadn't yet done
was put together a weekend of
complete dominance.
That changed this weekend.
The sixth-ranked Wolverines
went 5-0 in three days at the
FAU Kickoff tournament
in Boca Raton, Fla., picking
up wins over Kent State,
Pittsburgh, Florida Atlantic and
No. 5 Kentucky and showing off
their versatility in the process.
Friday, Michigan's bats were
overpowering. Sophomore
shortstop Sierra Romero got the
action started with a one-out
RBI single in
the first inning
against Kent t ,
State, and her W e've g
teammates 4
didn't let off great p
the gas pedal and tha
for the rest of
the day. The pushe
Wolverines
posted seven
runs against
the Golden
Flashes (6-4) and nine more
against Pittsburgh inthe second
half of the double header.
Sophomore left fielder Sierra
Lawrence went 3-for-4 against
Kent State with three RBI, and
Romero went 1-for-l after being
pitched around for most of the
game, drawing two walks and
adding a sacrifice fly.
Later in the day, against the
Panthers (7-7), senior right
fielder Nicole Sappingfield took
her turn as sparkplug.
Up by two with two outs in
the second inning, Sappingfield
stepped to the plate with
runners at second and third and
knocked one over the right-field

fence. The home run ignited a
seven-run inning, all her team
needed to cruise to a 9-0victory.
"We definitely got in a
rhythm," Sappingfield said.
"We kind of realized what we
can do and what potential we
have. We just really relaxed and
played our game."
The hitting clinic put on
by Michigan (12-2) on Friday
overshadowed dominant
pitching performances by
freshman right-handed pitcher
Megan Betsa and junior lefty
Haylie Wagner, but the pitchers
quickly became the team's focal
point Saturday.
That morning, Michigan
sent Wagner back into the
circle in its matchup with No. 5
Kentucky.
The southpaw was nearly
flawless in the outing, giving
up just two hits and striking
out five with no walks in a 3-0
victory.
"(Wagner)
has been
got three one-pitch
itchers, focused,"
Hutchins
t really said. "She's
throwing
"s us." relaxed and
not trying too
hard. She's
pitching with
confidence
and got better from Friday to
Saturday."
But the Wolverines' pitching
prowess didn't stop with
just Wagner. Junior right-
handed pitcher Sara Driesenga
bounced back from a pair of
uncharacteristic outings the
week before - she gave up six
runs to Louisiana Lafayette
and five to Boston College - to
throw the first seven innings
of an extra-innings rematch
against the Golden Flashes
Saturday afternoon.
After trading zeros on the
scoreboard all afternoon,
Michigan finally broke through
in the bottom of the ninth.

With Sierra Romero placed
on second to start the inning
- an extra-innings rule in
college softball - Lawrence
walked before junior catcher
Lauren Sweet grounded out
to advance the runners with
Sappingfield coming up. The
senior delivered once again,
lacing a walk-off single down
the right-field line.
Driesenga held Kent State
to four hits and no walks
before yielding to Wagner, who
ultimately came away with the
win after pitching the game's
final two innings. Between
the two games, Driesenga and
Wagner combined to pitch 16
scoreless innings, giving up just
six hits while striking out 12.
"We feed off of each others'
games," Wagner said. "We just
trust each other and believe we
can get the job done. We've got
three great pitchers, and that
really pushes us forward."
Against Florida Atlantic
(7-7) on Sunday, the narrative
was much the same. Betsa got
the nod in the circle and didn't
disappoint, striking out 11 in a
complete-game shutout - the
Wolverines'- fourth in a row.
Any other result would've likely
meant a loss, as the Michigan
offense mustered just three
hits and scored its lone run on a
bases-loaded walk by Sweet.
"The pitchers really did
their part," Hutchins said.
"They didn't get caught up
in the circumstances they
didn't control, which was our
offensive production.
"They can only keep us in
the game with our defense and
their pitching. And I thought all
three did a nice job with that."
Most games, the Wolverines
won't need their pitchers to post
straight zeroes. Still, the type
of poise Michigan displayed
in the circle this weekend is a
coveted commodity - one that
separates teams that are just
talented from those that are
truly dominant.