SPORTS Friday, June 1, 1984 The Michigan Daily Page 17 Wolverines to clash with Titans By ROB POLLARD Anything can happen. It's a cliche most coaches pull out when asked how their team will do in the College World Series. Michigan head coach Bud Middaugh is no exception. Neither is Cal-St. Fullerton skipper Augie Garrido. "WHAT HAS gone on up to now doesn't matter," said Garrido. "The stats add up to zero." "Any team that is out there has a chance," added Middaugh. The experts are giving the Titans more of a chance than the Wolverines. Fullerton is ranked third, while Michigan is ranked eighth - the lowest ranking of any tournament team. THE TWO teams square off at 8:10 p.m. tonight. Lefty Gary Wayne (8-2, 3.86) will oppose southpaw Jack Reinholtz (12-2, 3.34). The Titans set a school record for wins this year with 61. They have won the most games of any tournament team. They have also played the most (80). Offensively the Titans are led by junior catcher Bob Cafferty. Cafferty has 27 homers and 83 RBI, but according to Garrido, "the strikeouts to go along with MICHIGAN (43-18) vs Cal-State Fullerton (61-19) Rosenblatt Stadium Omaha, Neb. Televised live on ESPN Tonight at 8:10 EDT those numbers." OTHER LEADERS are outfielder John Fishel (.365, 14 and 78) and second baseman Jose Mota, who is hitting .366. Mota is the son of Dodger first base coach Manny Mota. The mound corps is led by Reinholtz, who.has won ten straight games, and righty Todd Simmons. Sim- mons is 14-2 with a 3.18 ERA. Junior Scott Wright set the recognized NCAA record for saves in a season this year with 20. Because the NCAA does not keep of- ficial baseball statistics records must carry the label "recognized record." The Titans are making their fourth CWS appearan- ce in the last 10 years. In 1979 Cal St. Fullerton left Omaha as national champs. Garrido thinks this year's team may be better than his '79 squad. "WE HAVE MORE balance in hitting and better pitching," said Garrido, whose team has made 10 consecutive NCAA regional appearances. "But there is one major difference. In '79 we got the job done. We have yet to do that this year." Garrido emphasizes that just because he believes this team is better than the '79 team, that doesn't mean they'll repeat as champions. "We've been beaten so many ways here. In 1982 we were swinging the bats well going in. We beat Arizona State, the defending champions, and then got shut out by Maine and Wichita State. We went 18 innings without scoring a run and then we got our little butts on the plane and went home." MIDDAUGH IS another one who feels that having the most talent, doesn't necessarily mean you will be around to accept the trophy. "This year I feel that Oklahoma State has the best team, but last year I also thought that man-for-man they had the better team." The Cowboys from Oklahoma City won only one game before being eliminated. Middaugh added that regardless of their perfor- mance at Omaha, the Wolverines will have had a successful season. "We could lose our first two games and have a great year, or we could win the national championship and havea great year." Associated Press Michigan first baseman Ken Hayward takes a pickoff throw in Wednesday's 4-3 Wolverine win over Central Michigan. Michigan took the Mideast regional in three straight games to earn its fourth trip to the College World Series in five years. RAIN SENDS WOLVERINES TO VIDEO ARCADE BEFORE FINAL TRIUMPH 'M' batsmen cash in Chips, 4-3 w By ROB POLLARD In between playing video games and going to movies, the Michigan Wolverines did what they went to Mt. Pleasant to do. They won the Mideast regional. It took them only three games to do it, but because of the seemingly endless rain in Mt. Pleasant the tournament was in its sixth day when Michigan top- ped Central Michigan 4-3 on Wednesday to capture the title. "WE WERE ANXIOUS to see what would happen in the tournament, but we couldn't do anything about it," said Michigan shortstop Barry Larkin, referring to the three days of rain-outs. "It was very frustrating." The Wolverines passed most of the free time created by rain-outs by drop- ping quarters into slots rather than bunts down the third-base line. "We played video games at Seven- Eleven," said Larkin. "Myself, Jeff Minick, we even had a couple of the coaches in there. Come to think of it, we had pretty much the whole team in there." CONSIDERING his team's perfor- Scott Kamieniecki went all nine innings mance in the regional, the first thing to raise his record to 7-3, despite giving head coach Bud Middaugh might want up three home runs. to do on arrival in Omaha is locate the Sunday's game against Indiana State nearest video arcade and give each was quite a different story. Michigan's player a roll of quarters. Gary Wayne and Indiana State's Andy Michigan opened the tournament last Chelfi hooked up ina pitching duel. Friday by outslugging Temple, 13-9. WAYNE went into the eighth inning with a one-hitter and a 2-0 lead thanks to a third inning RBI double by Minick and Larkin's fourth inning RBI single. But in the eighth the Sycamores rallied for two runs with the benefit of only one hit and sent Wayne to the showers. But Michigan would have the last say. Ken Hayward's two-out, two-run double to left center knocked in the tie- breaking runs and the Wolverines got four more in the inning for an 8-2 win. Hayward also got the win in relief, raising his record to8-2. On Wednesday against Central Michigan the Wolverines found them- selves trailing after eight innings, 3-2. Starter Kamieniecki was hurt by the longball; two of the Chippewas three runs came on solo blasts by rightfielder Greg Lotzar and catcher Rob Herzog. But with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, CMU second baseman Bill Morway threw Larkin's grounder past Doug Fisher at first allowing the tying and winning runs to score, and emptying the Wolverines dugout onto the field in a state of ecstasy.