' ;;; . ? ., «-: 9 ,. ' r 1 4:, y MICHIGAN 9, MICHIGAN STATE 1 Win sends Blue in positive direction By DAN FELDMAN ManagingSports Editor EAST LANSING - The eighth- ranked Michigan softball team is heading south. But the Wolverines' hitting appears to be going north. Michigan heads to Big Ten Tour- nament in Columbus next weekend as the third seed, its worst finish in the conference in a dozen years. The Wolverines will play No. 6 seed Illinois Friday. Michigan (12-4 Big Ten, 42-10 overall) split a two- game set with the Fighting Illini in Champaign three weeks ago, blow- ing a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game. Although the Wolverines lost out on hosting honors, Michigan will at least enter the postseason with some momentum. The Wolverines shook off a 7- 0 loss at Michigan State Saturday - their worst loss in more than four years - with a 9-1 run-rule thump- ing of the Spartans (7-9, 33-25) in five innings. "I think we showed a lot of heart today with the way we bounced back," said senior leftfielder Rebekah Milian, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI yesterday, through the athletic department. "I think that was the best we've played all year. We came back full force and played with a lot more passion than we've previously shown this year," All nine players in Michigan's batting order reached base yester- day, ending their ice cold offensive streak. The Wolverines scored just 11 runs in their previous six games. "I just think that the one thing I want to say is that clearly my team needs to know that I'm support- ing them," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "I'm their leader. And I'm with them. I'm on their side. And that's really the only thing that matters to me from here on out, is that we're just one team together." Hutchins moved freshman Molly Bausher back into the lineup at sec- ond base after benching her last weekend and dropped sophomore shortstop Teddi Ewing down to the ninth spot in the order yester- day. The duo rewarded Hutchins with back-to-back doubles - two of Michigan's five extra-base hits - and scored both runs in the sec- ond inning. Junior centerfielder Alessandra Giampaolo, Milian and Ewing all had multiple hits yesterday. COURTESYOF TONY DING Freshman pitcher Nikki Nemitz allowed just one run against Michigan State yesterday after Michigan allowed the Spartans to explode for seven runs Saturday. BASEBALL Doubleheader proves deadly for 'M'-Nine By ANDY REID series, sweeping the day's two seven- Daily Sports Writer inning games, 7-4 and 6-3. In the opening game, junior Nate The Michigan baseball team had Recknagel blasted a two-run homer a rude awakeninglast weekend. over the batter's eye in centerfield In the rigors of conference play, in the bottom of the seventh to send you can't _________ the game into extra innings. win them ILLINOIS S After the shot, the Wolverines all. MICHIGAN 10 grabbed all of the momentum going The into the eighth inning. Michigan Wolverines won all of their Big coach Rich Maloney sent pitcher Ten series, including three sweeps, Michael Powers in to close out the before Illinois stole two games from game, but he was unable to seal the Michigan to split the series in a four- deal. game split this weekend. Illini pinch runner Nick Stockwell Neither Michigan nor Illinois has advanced to second on Michigan's swept the other in 16 years. sixth wild pitch of the game. Short- The Fighting Illini used the dou- stop Shawn Roof's deep single drove bleheader on Saturday to even the Stockwell in, sparking a three-run inning that put Illinois up for good. Although the bats saved the Illini (11-11 Big Ten, 24-22 overall) in the first game of the doubleheader, Illi- nois coach Dan Hartleb credits his pitching staff for the day's success. "(Sophomores Scott) Shaw and (Mike) Stankiewicz had some tre- mendous adversity over the past two weeks, and to step up against thebest lineup in the conference and control their offense like they did today is an outstanding job," Hartleb said through the Illinois athletic depart- ment. "They made quality pitches that Michigan was only able to hit off the end or the handle of their bats and that allowed us to make a lot of plays in the field." The two losses snappeda10-game winning streak, part of a stretch in which the Wolverines won 27 out of 29 games. Maloney was not upset about the winning streak being snapped, admitting that baseball is not a game thatisconducivetostringingtogeth- er that many straight wins. "It was unfortunate," Maloney said. "But that's baseball.We've been playing at such a high rate and win- ning at such a high rate, but baseball is bound to catch up with you even- tually." On Sunday, Michigan (17-3, 34- 10) used RBI triples from senior Eric Rose and junior Derek VanBuskirk to spark four-run innings in the third and fifth to get back to its win- ning ways. The Wolverines doubled up the Illini, 10-5. The Illinois pitching staff held the explosive Michigan offense in check throughout most of the weekend, but by Sunday the Illini bullpen was too tired to silence the Wolverine bats any longer. The win salvaged the weekend for Michigan, which retained a two- and-a-half game lead atop the Big Ten standings. "You're boundtolose some games, but whenyoulose two in a row, that's a lot of adversity," Maloney said. "In a 32-game conference season, every game counts,and you can't get that one back."