4 SPORTS Sunday, June 3, 1984 Page 12 The Michigan Daily New Orleans next for 'M' batsmen By ROB POLLARD Special to the Daily OMAHA, Neb. - Having exhausted one of their two lives, the Michigan baseball team will try to prolong its stay at the College World Series when it takes on New Orleans today at 5:10 p.m. E.D.T. The game can be seen live on ESPN. Scott Kamieniecki (8-3, 3.43 ERA) will start for Michigan. New Orleans skipper Ron Maesteri has hinted he'll use lefty David Lynch (5-2, 4.46). THE PRIVATEERS have a record of 45-25 on the year and were ranked sixth going into the tour- naient. New Orleans, champions of the South II regional were beaten by defending World Series champions Texas, 6-3, on Friday. The loser of today's game will have their second loss and a trip home. Michigan outfielder Chuck Froning believes the Wolverines are in the right frame of mind for today's contest. "We have a good feeling going into the New Orleans game," said Froning, who had a key double in Friday's game- "We came into the Series ranked eighth and a lot of people were questioning our capabilities.ButI think that by our performance (on Friday) we proved that we are a high caliber team that deserves to be in Omaha." BOTH MAESTERI and Michigan head coach Bud' Middaugh believe both teams will be able to bounce.*'Associated Pres back from their opening defeats. Michigan's Ken Hayward is about to be tagged out at second base by Cal State-Fullerton's Shane Turner "Sure we've got our backs to the wall, but we can in the second inning of the Wolverines' 8-4 loss in the opener of the College World Series Friday night at put it together," said Maesteri, whose Privateers are Omaha. making their first-ever CWS appearance. "I've got average with 23 homers and 83 RBI. New Orleans has nament, Michigan was able to rebound from a second confidence in the kids. I'm not just blowing smoke." a total of 75 round trippers, whereas Michigan has game 6-5 loss to Alabama. If the club can show the "The New Orleans ball club is a fine ball club and I just 48. resilience of last year's team, it will play again Wed- think we're a fine club also," said Middaugh. That may mean trouble for Kamieniecki. In his nesday at 7:10 p.m. If it can't it will have a seventh- "You'll see us fighting out there and I'm sure New previous two starts in the Mideast regional at Mt. place finish and about nine months until it's next Orleans will do the same thing." Pleasant, Kamieniecki has yielded a total of five game. THE PRIVATEERS are statistically very similar homers. The hard-throwing righty last pitched on In 1979, Cal State-Fullerton rebounded from an to the Wolverines. New Orleans has a team batting Wednesday, going all nine innings in Michigan's opening game loss to win five striaght and capture average of .298 and a combined ERA of 4.93. The regional-clinching 4-3 win over Central Michigan. the Series championship. The Wolverines must now respective Michigan marks are .300 and 5.17. IN TACKLING New Orleans, the Wolverines are do the same in order to win their third national Slugger Mark Higgins leads New Orleans in most attempting to bounce back from perhaps their most championship. hitting categories. The junior first baseman has a .386 disheartening loss of the season. In last year's tour- 0 01 By Douglas B. Levy Catcher Bair's muffs costly .. . .. .But he's still a winner OMAHA, Neb. Sadly, great athletes and great teams have off- days - those rare performances that are so awful they distinguish themselves and assume identities all their own. Great quarterbacks throw interceptions, basketball stars inexplicably miss clutch free throws and great NHL goaltenders let some slip through their pads. The athlete's dreadful performance is magnified when it occurs in THE game or on THE play. Rich Bair, Michigan's leader from behind the plate, suffered such an experience in Friday night's opening-game 8-4 loss to Cal-State Fullerton in the 1984 College World Series. "The guy is entitled to a bad game," said Michigan skipper Bud Middaugh, "just as he's entitled to have a great game. It's just unfor- tunate that the bad game had to come now in such a pressure situation where Rich wanted so badly to excel." "I feel like I let down the team," explained Bair, 22, and a tri-captain for the Wolverines. "Sure it's important what I do off the field, helping other guys out and always keeping a bright, positive outlook. But basically it all boils down to how you perform on the field, and I failed." For the record, let it show that against the Titans Bair went hitless in four attempts, hit into a double play, failed on two sacrifice bunt at- tempts and made two costly throwing errors that led to Fullerton runs. Against Cal State, Bair's poor performance hurt the Wolverines, but such outings are a rarity for the Dayton native. "I just feel that without him we couldn't have won the Big Ten championship," said Middaugh, who has led Michigan to four such titles in his five years as coach. "He's very much of a leader. Last night he had a bad game but he kept bat- tling, kept trying." Bair has been battling for Middaugh, a coach whom he admires deeply, for four full seasons. Bair ranks third in Michigan history, having played 187 games. As a junior co-captain in 1983 Bair collected 64 hits and led the Wolverines in hitting from the eighth spot in the lineup with .393 average. He was also first-team All Big Ten. With great modesty he admits, "If Sabo (former Wolverine third baseman Chris Sabo) were here he'd also tell you that last year I set the all-time record for cheap hits." This past season, batting higher in the order, his numbers slipped, but he still batted .310 through the Mideast regional, collecting 53 hits, four home runs, 11 doubles and 38 RBI. He also made the Big Ten all-tournament team. But to remember Bair solely for his fine hitting would be incorrect. In '83 his fielding percentage was a phenomenal .989, as he commited only three miscues in 57 games. In 61 games before Friday night's contest, Bair was fielding an ex- cellent .965 with nine errors. Speaking about Friday's defeat Bair said: "Well, of course we're all very disappointed. But my disappointment is amplified more than anyone else's because I'm a leader." The fact is, Bair is a winner. The loss to Cal State has been quickly put into the books as the team prepares to fight for its life against New Orleans today. But beyond New Orleans and this 1984 World Series, Bair will carry with him cherished memories of his Michigan experience. "I came to Michigan because of coach Mid- daugh and what a great coach and person he is. My choice of Michigan is one of the best I ever made," said Bair, whose father played football at Ohio State under Woody Hayes. "I can't see how my college career could have been any bet- ter. I feel like I've been the recipient of everything. My feelings for Michigan may sound corny, but that's the way it's been for me." Graduating from Michigan with a BA in English, Bair would like a shot at pro ball, but is prepared to take advantage of the doors baseball has opened and is interested ina career in sales. Already Friday night's heartbreaking loss is being forgotten. Rich Bair has learned Mid- daugh's lessons well. "Don't be down," Bair stresses, "We'll be back Sunday with all we've got." 01