Sports Page 16 Tuesday, May 19, 1981 The Michigan Daily SECOND STRAIGHT Batsmen clinch title, 10-6 By JOHN KERR Before the 1981 Wolverine baseball season had begun, Michigan coach Bud Middaugh said that the "toughest thing in athletics is to repeat as champions." With yesterday's 10-6 victory over Minnesota in the championship game of the Big Ten baseball tournament at Fisher Field, Michigan managed to ac- complish "the toughest thing in athletics," clinching its second straight Big Ten championship. The title puts Michigan in the NCAA Mideast Regional, which will be held at Fisher Stadium next weekend. The Wolverines open the tournament at 1:00 p.m. against the University of New Orleans. There Middaugh's crew will make a bid for its second straignt trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. MICHIGAN advanced to the cham- pionship game versus Minnesota by defeating Illinois, 4-3, on Saturday and Purdue, 7-6, on Sunday. Minnesota arrived at the title game when, after losing, 9-0 to Purdue, it beat Illinois, 2-0, and gained revenge on the Boiler- makers, 8-3, eliminating those two squads from the tournament. Since. Michigan was undefeated, Minnesota would have had to defeat the Wolverines twice yesterday to win the title, but the Wolverines refused to falter. "The adrenalin starts flowing around tournament time," said an elated Mid- daugh. "We put it all together offen- sively. We had offense and pitching working for us. Defensively I wasn't happy, but we played well enough to win.'' Although playing on its home diamond, Michigan was the visiting team on the scoreboard for the final game and- wasted no time in pounding Gopher starter Doug Fregin. Right- fielder Jim Paciorek lashed a triple up the alley in right-center and tour- nament Most Valuable Player Gerry Hool followed with a double to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead after the first in- ning. SENIOR Wolverine starter Mark Clinton was having troubles of his own, however, as Minnesota nicked him for two runs in its half of the second. Clin- ton found himself in trouble in almost every inning that he pitched before he was relieved by Rich Stoll in the fifth. Hool's home run in the fourth inning tied the game at 2-2, and the Wolverines took the lead in the top of the fifth when Jeff Jacobsen scored from third on Randy Wroten's fielder's choice. The slim one-run lead didn't last long, though, as the Gophers knocked Clinton out of the game with three runs in the bottom of the next frame. Minnesota second baseman Gary Jost led off with a double, and catcher Greg Olson was awarded first base after being hit by a pitch. In an attempt to pick Jost off second base, Clinton threw the ball into center field, and both runners moved up. Tom Steinbach's single scored both runners, and Middaugh brought on freshman Stoll to relieve Clinton. Stoll retired the next three Gopher batters, but Steinbach scored from third on a fielder's choice to make the score 5-3. IN THE TOP of the seventh, with two outs and two men on, freshman Chris Sabo got his third hit of the game, a triple to right-center which scored two runs and tied the game up. Sabo came home when Tim Miller singled to left. Once again the lead was short-lived as the Gophers answered Michigan with a run in their half of the inning. Jost walked and Steinbach doubled him home to even the score at 8-6. Michigan came up with the winning runs in the eighth on only one hit. Two fielding miscues by Minnesota shor- tstop Bill Piwnica sealed the Gophers' defeat. With two outs and men on first and second, Randy Wroten singled home the winning run. Jim Paciorek and Hool both followed Wroten with grounders to Piwnica, but the Min- nesota shortstop was unable to make either play and Michigan scored three more runs. SUPERB PITCHING in the eight and ninth innings by Stoll wrapped up the victory and the Big Ten title for Michigan. Wolverine coach Middaugh was very pleased with Stoll's perfor- - mance. "I think his coming in yesterday (against Purdue on Sunday) helped him a great deal today," he said. "For him to pitch this well in the biggest game of the year is remarkable." The Wolverines landed six men on the Big Ten All-Tournament team. In the ClGub Sports Roundup RUGBY Michigan's rugby teams played against the Detroit Tradesmen last Satur- day at Fuller Field and came away with a sweep. The Wolverines' 'A' team won its encounter by a 28-15 count. John Har- tman paced Michigan with three tries worth 12 points. Kevin Cunningham came through with a versatile performance, adding one try, one conversion and one penalty goal. The Wolverines' other try was scored by Dave Weber. Rounding out the scoring for Michigan was Jack Goodman, who notched two conversions. The victory boosted the 'A' team's record to an impressive 11-1-2. As impressive as the 'A' outfit overall season mark was the 'B' team's per- formance against the Tradesmen. Although the 'A' squad's 13-point victory margin would seem to be a fairly comfortable one, it was a nail-biter com- pared to the 'B's' encounter with the Detroit team. Michigan's 'B' unit an- nihilated the Tradesmen, 44-4. ROWING The men's rowing team remained in the Midwest again this weekend, although the results were not the same as those of the previous one. Two weekends ago, the men's crew traveled to Chicago for the Chicago Sprint Regatta, where it finished first in the four-team field. Then last weekend the Wolverines competed in the Midwestern In- vitational Sprints held at East Lansing. Entered in four races, Michigan could finish no better than third in any of these sprints. Five teams participated in the tournament: Michigan, Michigan State, Grand Valley State, Notre Dame and the Ecorse Boat Club.- The sole third-place finish for Michigan belonged to the men's lightweight four. In the men's novice four, the Wolverines placed fourth. The men's var- sity eight came in fifth place. The only women members of the crew to compete did so in the mixed eight (four women and four men) in which the Wolverines rowed to a fourth-place finish. The Wolverines met their antithesis in their rivals from East Lansing, as the host Spartans dominated the meet. The Rowing Team's next meet takes place Saturday when the men's squad competes with Grand Valley State. The Club Sports Roundup relutes brie fly the actirities of the Miichigan elub sports teams during the prerious wreek. This neek's information u-as compiled by Daily sportswriter Ron Pollack. received honors. During the tour- nament, Paciorek batted .357, while Schulte hit at a .273 pace. SABO WAS tabbed at third base, as he hit .462 with two doubles, a triple and five RBI's. He was the hero in Sunday's victory over Purdue, as with two out and two men on in the ninth inning and the score 6-5 in favor of the Boiler- makers, he stroked a double up the alley in right-center to score the tying and winning runs. The All-Tournament designated hit- ter was Michigan's John Young who had a double, a homer, and two RBI's while batting .333. Steve Ontiveros was one of two pit- chers named to 'the squad. Ontiveros was the pitching star in Michigan's win over Purdue, coming on in the fifth in- ning and allowing only two hits while fanning seven of the last 10 Purdue bat- ters. HOOL WAS not only named the All- Tournament catcher, but he was selec- ted as the Most Valuable Player, as well. Hool had an outstanding tourney, collecting 10 hits in 14 at bats for a .714 batting average. He also chalked up three doubles, a home run, and five RBI's. Besides Michigan and New Orleans, next weekend's Mideast Regional com- petition at Fisher Stadium will include Eastern Michigan and a team yet to be announced. The regional will be of the same double-elimination format as the Big Ten Tournament. The winner ad- vances to the World Series. Hool-a-gain 123 456 789 R H E MICHIGAN ..................150 110 340 10 3 MINNESOTA ................020 030 f00 6 7 3 Clinton,S stoll (5) and Hool Fregin, Klein (6) and Olson WP-Stoll, LP-Klein nmaa p, h.AUL NcsT ROM 4 4 4 h MICHIGAN STARTER Mark Clinton hurls a pitch during action yesterday in the finals of the Big Ten Tournament. He was taken out in the fifth inning but the Wolverines won the game and the title, 14-6.