Page 20-Wednesday, May 14, 1980-The Michigan Daily
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Lucky 13! eters romp
Leach leads Blue to pinnacle
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I
By DREW SHARP
It was a lucky 13 for the Michigan
men's tennis team as coach Brian
Eisner's forces nailed down their 13th
consecutive Big Ten Championship in
Minneapolis Saturday. If that was not
enough the Blue netters put the icing on
the cake by taking six of nine individual
championships Sunday.
The Wolverines had an easy time
taking the team crown with a resoun-
ding total of 68 points. The Wildcats of
Northwestern finished far behind in
second place with 33 points.
AFTER TAKING team honors Satur-
day, Michigan did not have much time
to rejoice in their moment of triumph
for they had to prepare for their next
performance of the season, the Big Ten
individual championships. Their per-
formance was in aword-magnificent.
Senior co-captain Jack Neinken
easily put away Northwestern's Steve
Quamme 6-4, 6-2 to capture the No. 5
singles. Freshman phenom Mark Mees
of Zanesville, Ohio defeated highly-
rated Mike Dickinson of Indiana 6-3, 6-0
to reign as king of the No. 3 category.
Junior Matt Horwitch took -the No. 2
singles championship for the second
straight year by doing away with Ted
Kauffman of Minnesota 6-3, 6-2.
This set the stage for one of the most
thrilling matches ever witnessed in Big
Ten competition. All of the talk Sunday
centered around the match between
Michigan's prize sophomore Michael
Leach and the defending No. 1 singles
champion Ernie Fernandez of Ohio
State.
WHAT FOLLOWED was a true
grudge match in the tradition of past
Jimmy Connors-Bjorn Borg battles.
The two tugged back and forth with
each player giving nothing away to the
other and in the end a tiebreaker was
needed to decide the champion.
Leach won the tiebreaker 5-0 to cap-
ture the title 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.
"He (Fernandez) has the most shots
of anyone I've seen aside from my own
teammate, Matt Horwitch," said the
new champion Leach.
"HE CAN DO many things. He can
come at you with finesse or with power.
This match was not decided until the
tiebreaker, it was that close."
"I think the point of the tiebreaker
was the most crucial point," Leach con-
tinued. "I missed my first serve for the
first time in a long time. I was trying
hard to put the pressure on him. When I
got the point I gained that much needed
Mother's Day."
COA -I EISNER was undoubtedly
pleased with his group's stunning
display.
"I don't think anyone can believe how
proud I am of this team," said Eisner.
"This is the best team that I've had in
the last five years. The competition was
probably the best ever and we doubled
our score from last year."
"Anytime you have six teams playing
in the finals and all six win, it was a
great day; however, I must admit, it's
amazing to see one team dominate a
league the way Michigan has in ten-
nis."
THOSE WEREN'T the only cham-
pionships that Michigan could boast of.
Leach and Horwitch defeated North-
western's Paul Wei and Mike Balkin 6-
4, 7-6 at No. 1 doubles and Neiken and
freshman Tom Haney of Ann Arbor
took the No. 3 doubles title by whipping
Northwestern's Bill Shaefer and Mike
O'Flynn 6-3, 6-3.
The Wolverines now travel down to
Athens, Ga. to compete in the NCAA
Tennis Tournament to determine the
overall champion May 19-25. For
trivia's sake, the last Big Ten team to
win the NCAA crown was Michigan
back in 1957.
0
0
Leach
...reigning singles champ
confidence. In a tiebreaker, it's power
against power."
"For me to win both the number one
singles and number one doubles cham-
pionship is almost unbelieveable. My
mother and grandmother both flew up
to Minneapolis to watch me and I was
very happy to win the championships in
front of my mother since it was
I
Tiger streak hits 4;
defeat A's, 4-3
By JON MORELAND
specialtotheDaily
DETROIT-The Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to four games
with a 4-3 victory over Oakland last night at Tiger Stadium. Jack Morris pitched
seven strong innings for the Tigers, but needed relief help from Pat Underwood
an4 Aurelio Lopez to secure the win and even the starter's record at 4-4.
A three-run rally in the bottom of the first inning provided them with the lead
that they never relinquished. After one out, back-to-back singles by Alan Tram-
mell and Steve Kemp put runners on first and second base. Richie Hebner followed
with a triple to left-center, scoring the two runners. Hebner later scored on a wild
pitch, giving the Tigers their 3-0 lead..
OAKLAND SCORED a single run in the top of the fourth inning, but Kirk Gib-
son countered with his fifth home run of the season off Oakland starter and loser
Matt Keough,.giving the Tigers a4-1 lead, and providing them with their eventual
winning run.
Oakland scored another run on a solo home run by first baseman Dave
Revering to narrow the lead to 4-2.
Morris coasted through the seventh inning with no problem, but he encoun-
tered trouble in the top of the eighth. Center fielder Dwayne Murphy led off the in-
ning with a single to center field. This prompted Tiger manager Sparky Anderson
to bring in relief pitcher Pat Underwood to pitch to Oakland designated hitter Mit-
chell Page. Not to be outdone, Oakland manager Billy Martin retaliated by
bringing in Jeff Newman to pinch hit for Page.
NEWMAN AND REVERING came through with back-to-back singles scoring,
Murphy and putting runners on first and third with nobody out. Underwood,
however, came through with a big strikeout by fanning Oakland third baseman
Wayne Gross.
At this point, Anderson opted to go with relief pitcher Lopez to pitch to Oakland.
right fielder Tony Armas. Lopez got Armas out on a soft line drive to second base,
and the following batter, Mike Heath, on a fly to left field to put an end to the
Oakland threat.
AFTER THE TIGERS went out one, two, three in the bottom of the eighth,
Oakland mounted yet another threat in the top of the ninth inning. After Lopez suc-
cessfully retired the first two batters, Oakland center fielder Ricky Henerson
followed with a single to center field. With Murphy at the plate, Henderson
proceeded to steal ground and go to third on a throwing error by Tiger catcher
Lance Parrish. At this point, with the crowd of 13,332 on their feet, Lopez got Mur-
phy to go down swinging, ending the Oakland threat, andsending the Tigers home
with a hard-fought victory.
BLUE ONE GAME UP
Minnesota takes two
I
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)-The Minne-
sota Gophers hit five home runs, two in
the first game and three in the second,
to defeat Wisconsin 9-1 and 10-5 in Big
Ten baseball yesterday.
The victories ended the regular
season for Minnesota, guaranteeing the
Gophers second place in the conferen-
ce.
IN THE FIRST game, Gonn Van
Krevelen hita double and two singles to
drive in four runs. Tom Schnell blasted
his <first homer of the season in the
second inning, with one man on base.
Tom Steinbach homered in the fourth
inning, and again in the fifth inning of
the second game.
Mike Lauesen whapped two homers
in the second game, a three-run in-the-
park blast in the third inning and a two-
run homer in the fifth inning.
WISCONSIN TOOK a 3-0 lead in the
first inning of the second game. Joe
Scime drove in the first run with a
sacrifice fly and David Verkuilen
plated the next two with a double to
right.
Lauesen's double in the second made
it 3-1. He scored on a single by Mark
Carlson to make it 3-2.
Minnesota took a 4-3 lead in the third
on Lauesen's homer.
THE BADGERS assumed the lead
again in the fourth, 5-4, getting two runs
on two singles and a Gopher error.
But Minnesota blew the game open in
the fifth with five runs.
With Minnesota's regular season
completed, the first-place Michigan
Wolverines will be able to control their
own destiny and possibly clinch the Big
Ten title this weekend.
The situation is as follows: The
Wolverines are in the top spot with a 13-
1 record. They have a one game lead
over Minnesota, whose regular season
record is 14-4. The Wolverines are on
- the road this weekend to play two
games with Iowa Saturday and two
games against Northwestern Sunday;
Bud Middaugh's boys must take at least
two of the four games in order to clinch
the Big Ten Conference title and earn a
spot in the NCAA College World Series.
SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit 4, Oakland 3
Baltimore 4, Texas 2
Kansas City 4, New York 1
Seattle at Toronto, ppd. rain
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 3
Cincinnati 15, New York 4
NHL HOCKEY
Stanley Cup Finals Game1
N.Y. Islanders 3, Philadelphia 3 (ot)
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A
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