The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 22, 1984 - Page 15
ZIMMERMAN'S BIG WEEKEND POWERS WOLVERINES
'M'reserve takes tourney MVP
By ROB POLLARD
It's the kind of stuff dreams are made
of.
Before last weekend's Big Ten tour-
nament in Minneapolis, Michigan out-
fielder Kurt Zimmerman had been to
bat 53 times with 10 base hits, eight
RBIs and an anemic .189 batting
average, hardly intimidating numbers.
BUT AFTER the Wolverines had
clinched the Big Ten title on Sunday,
Zimmerman had a season's worth of
glory.
The left-handed hitting Zimmerman
had eight hits in thirteen at bats in the
tournament, and set a new tournament
record with nine runs batted in.
Zimmerman hit a pinch-hit grand
slam in the eighth inning of Friday's
game against Northwestern, and his
two-run homer in Sunday's second
game was the final nail in the Wildcat's
coffin.
TO TOP IT off, after Sunday's final
game victory over Northwestern,
Zimmerman was named the tour-
nament MVP.
"Kurt Zimmerman is just a great
guy," said teammate Chuck Froning.
"He doesn't have all the talent in the
world, but he got a lot of good pitches to
hit, and I think being unconscious
helped him a little bit," added Froning
with a touch of sarcasm.
Zimmerman had no special ex-
planation for his post-season explosion.
When asked what he was doing dif-
ferently he replied, "I have no idea. I
wish I knew."
THE WOLVERINES were fortunate
to have Zimmerman's bat in the lineup.
Tigers top
Reds in
exhibition,
3-2
DETROIT (AP) - Seldom used Rod
Allen doubled and scored the game
winning run on Howard Johnson's
single in the sixth inning, as the Detroit
Tigers claimed a 3-2 exhibition victory
over the Cincinnati Reds last night.
Cincinnati went ahead 1-0 in the four-
th when Dan Driessen singled, moved
to third on two ground outs and scored
on Dave Concepcion's dribbler in front
of the plate. The Tigers tied the game in
the bottom of the inning as John Grubb
singled home Barbaro Garbey.
DETROIT WENT ahead 2-1 in the fif-
th when Dave Bergman scored from
first base on a throwing error by Reds
third baseman Nick Esasky.
After Johnson's RBI single, the Reds
cut the margin to one run in the eighth
when former Tiger Wayne Krenchicki
scored on a throwing error by Garbey.
A crowd of 22,221 turned out at Tiger
Stadium to watch the annual benefit for
sandlot baseball.
The Tigers, who have the best record
in the major leagues at 32-5, left im-
mediately after the game for Califor-
nia, where they open a nine game West
Coast trip Tuesday against the Angels.
However, it was fortunate for Michigan
that he got to play at all on Saturday.
Zimmerman was a last-second
replacement for leftfielder Chuck
Froning for Saturday's game against
Minnesota.
"I had Froning in the lineup and
made a change because he (Zimmer-
Series, and still is not on scholarship,
although that may soon change.
"I saw him play during the summer
(1982)," said Middaugh. "He ran well,
he did not throw well and he was just a
so-so hitter, but he showed enough for
us to takea good look at him.
"He was always hustling, but he
'I wasn't recruited. I
just walked into coach
Middaugh's office and
asked for an oppor-
tunity.'
- Kurt Zimmerman
Zimmerman said he was "just happy to
help the team."
"I know his feelings were hurt (last
year when he did not travel with the
team much), but not once did he com-
plain," said Middaugh. "You have to
like a kid like that. If you could take a
kid like that cut him open and find out
what he has inside of him, this world
would be so much further ahead, at
least in this profession.
ZIMMERMAN, who wasn't recruited
by any school must now put his glorious
weekend behind him and look towards
the mideast regional. It will be hard to
match last weekend's performance.
"This weekend (Kurt) was just on,"
said Froning. Next weekend it may
have to be someone else for us."
"Tournaments are funny. You always
find a story in the tournament," said
Middaugh, "and it's usually the team
that won it that the kid comes from."
Next weekend Michigan will look for
heroics from another person, or maybe
Zimmerman again. But regardless of
what he does in any future series, the
1984 Big Ten tournament will be a
weekend that he will always remem-
ber.
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man) swung well yesterday (Friday)
and in batting practice today he was
unbelieveable," said Michigan coach
Bud Middaugh. "I was glad to give the
kid an opportunity. I was a little con-
cerned about him defensively, but I
thought he deserved it."
WHEN Zimmerman came to
Michigan, one thing Bud Middaugh felt
he didn't deserve was a scholarship.
The Bloomfield Hills resident was a
walk-on his freshman year, and saw
limited action. He did not make the trip
to Omaha for last year's College World
would not have been a kid I would have
recruited. I didn't see enough that I
would have recruited him."
"I TOLD him and his parents: 'You
don't have to worry about him being cut
his first year. We're going to keep him,
but don't be disappointed if we go to
tournaments and he's not one of the
guys," added Middaugh.
Although Zimmerman was upset with
not being selected to travel to tour-
naments last season, he put the team
ahead of himself. After hitting the
grand slam against Northwestern,
0
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