4 SPORTS Page 20 Thursday, May 19, 1983 The Michigan Daily Pla offs pit 'M'Iowa... 4 By PAUL HELGREN Bud Middaugh does not cherish his team's role as the favorite to win this weekend's Big Ten tournament at Fisher Stadium. In fact he denies it. Nonetheless, fourth-ranked Michigan is clearly the class of the four-team, double-elimination playoff. The Wolverines are 42-7 and have won 15 of their last 16 games. None of the other three teams have the credentials to match the Maize and Blue. Still Mid- daugh is not convinced of Michigan's superiority. "THERE ARE NO favorites in a situation like this," Middaugh argued. "All a tournament like this can tell you is who is the best team on that par- ticular weekend." You can't blame the Wolverine coach for denying Michigan's favorite position. Last year's Michigan team came into the playoffs sporting a 13-3 Big Ten record (43-8 overall), good enough for a share of the East crown. After downing Illinois in the first round, Michigan fell 7-2 to East co-champ Ohio State and then was eliminated by Min- nesota, 5-4. Another reason Middaugh is leary of lofty pre-tourney appraisals is that Michigan will have to beat some fine clubs to win the Big Ten, starting with Iowa tomorrow. The Hawkeyes come in- to the playoffs with a 7-7 Big Ten West record, 30-19-1 overall. Iowa lost its last two games of the season to West champ Minnesota, but claimed the fourth spot in the tournament when Northwestern Ist three timen tn Illinnis. Never- theless, Iowa should be a worthy first- game opponent for Michigan. THE HAWKEYES do not have any big home run hitters (junior shortstop Jim Drahozal leads the team with five) but have an offensive attack that is well-suited for spacious Fisher Stadium. Iowa is basically made up of hitters who spray singles around the park and then steal bases. As a team, the Hawkeyes have stolen 109 bases in 133 attempts this year. That amounts to more than two steals per game. Outfielder Tim Gassman leads the squad with 12 thefts, followed by Drahozal with 11, and outfielder Rob Eddie with 10. Even catcher Brian Charipar has eight swipes this season. Drahozal leads the Hawkeye hitters with a .377 average and 25 RBI's. Third baseman Nick Fegen has made his hits count this year as he has 28 RBI's with only a .237 batting mark. Eddie, Charipar, and Gassman are all hitting well over .300. IOWA COACH Duane Banks also has some fine pitchers he can rely on. The ace of the staff, Jeff Ott, has been a "hard luck" pitcher, winning only three of 10 decisions, including a 1-0 game a couple of weeks back. Ott has a solid 3.00 ERA and will probably face the Wolverines tomorrow. Sophomore Mike Darby leads Iowa in wins with six against only one defeat. Freshman Mike Tschida, who is also likely to see action this weekend, is 3-1 with a 3.90 ERA. If there is a bullpen ace on the staff it is Mike Hoge, who in eight games this year is 2-0, with one save and a 2.66 ERA. Middaugh will counter with a staff that has been impressive this year. He will open with either freshman Scott Kamieniecki (4-0, 2.52 ERA) or junior lefthander Gary Wayne (7-2, 1.85). Junior Dave Kopf, who has won all eight of his decisions this year, is still nuestionable due to a sore arm which forced him to miss his last start. If any of the starters falter, Mid- daugh has the luxury of calling on bullpen ace Tim Karazim. Karazim is 3-1 with six saves to his credit this year. In the last two years the senior righthander has won 11 out of his 12 { Michigan second baseman Jeff Jacobson didn't close his eyes on many more groundballs than this. The senior's fine fielding helped lead the Wolverines to this weekend's Big Ten playoffs. ... Spartans-Minnesota at Fisher 4 By PAUL HELGREN "On paper we're facing a Mission Impossible task this weekend," Michigan State Coach Tom Smith said about his team's chances in the Big Ten Tour- nament at Fisher Stadium. "One thing we got going for us is we know Minnesota came in a similar .situation last year and won it." Alas, the Golden Gophers, (12-2 Big Ten, 25-19 overall) are underdogs no more. The Spartans (8-6, 22-30) take on the power laden Minnesota at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow and it is no enviable task, though not an "impossible" one. MINNESOTA is a powerful club that simply bulled its way to the West title behind a ton of hitting and not much pitching. The Gopher hitters are led by the Steinbach brothers, Tom and Terry. Outfielder Tom hit a Minnesota-record 14 homers, as well as a Big Ten record nine four-baggers. Infielder Terry hit .379 with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs. Smith is hopeful that the fact that Fisher Stadium yields relatively few home runs will give the Spartans a good chance of upsetting the powerful Gophers. The first-year Spartan mentor is also hoping for a stellar pitching performance from senior Mike Pat- terson (5-5, 4.56 ERA) to stop Minnesota. Patterson is coming off-of a 9-1 victory over Cleveland State last weekend. RELIEVER Bill Archer (four saves, 3.70) will be counted on to boil out the rest of the staff, which has varied between mediocre and awful this season. Minnesota is not exactly deep in pitching itself. In fact, the statistics reveal an apparent weakness in Gopher pitching. Minnesota's top hurlers are Bob Meyers (5-2, 5.39), Bill Thompson (3-3, 4.47) and Bill Kutshall (4-4, 8.79). It is hard to tell the exact significance of these ballooned earned run averages, however, because Minnesota plays in a great hitters park. On the other hand, Minnesota's hitters have such impressive statistics they are worth further mention. The Steinbachs are not the only sluggers on this club. Others include shortstop Bill Piwnica (.397, 39 runs scored) outfielder Bill Lentsch (.385, six homers, 30 RBIs), outfielder Jack Schlichting (.381, 47 RBIs), Scott Schuvailler (.365, six homers), and first baseman Alex Bauer (.351). STATE'S MOST consistent hitter this year has been sophomore Andy Krause. The Spartan right fielder is currently hitting .358 with seven.HRs and 28 RBIs. First baseman Bob Goodhart is also having a fine year, hitting .345 with nine round-trippers and 33 RBIs. The winner of the MSU-Minnesota game faces the winner of the Michigan-Iowa game at 1:00 on Satur- day. The losers play at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning. - The winner of the Saturday morning contest faces the loser of the 1:00 p.m. contest at 4:00 p.m. for the right to play the winner of the 1:00 p.m. contest on Sunday. Got it? Good, 'cause I'm confused. 4 4