Thursday, May 23, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wolverines fall in Big Ten Tournament opener By JEREMY SUMMITT Daily Sports Writer The Michigan baseball team wasn't supposed to make the Big Ten Tournament this season. After all, it was a rebuilding year. But the Wolverines are in Min- neapolis this week, the site of the double-elimination conference tournament, and even more unex- pected circumstances came to light at Target field Wednesday in Mich- igan's 11-2 loss to Nebraska. It was quite a surprise to watch the Wolverines' offense go ice-cold just four days after posting their highest single-game run total, 19, against the Cornhuskers to clinch a spot in this very tournament. Nebraska jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, and wouldn't concede a run until the ninth. Throughout the game, Michigan struggled to play sound defense and the Wolverine hurlers could hardly find the strike zone. "We didn't take care of the base- ball defensively, we didn't have very many quality at-bats (and) we gave up eight free passes," said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. "We have ourselves to blame today." Senior right-hander James Bourque got the start for Michi- gan, but underperformed in com- parison to his recent successful outings, allowing five earned runs off six hits in 4.1 innings. "For me, I just didn't make the big pitches when I needed to," Bourque said. "That cost me when I put guys on. I think they saw things a little hit better the second and third time through the order." Behind Bourque, the Wolver- ines' defense had one of its worst games this season as it committed four crucial errors. Those errors led to three unearned Nebraska runs, and with the cold bats, it wasn't likely that Michigan could muster a comeback. Meanwhile, Nebraska's sopho- more left-hander Kyle Kubat did quite the opposite of Bourque in his time on the mound. Michigan saw Kubat in the first game of last weekend's series, but the Wolver- ines managed three runs off him that time around. On Wednesday, Kubat completely stymied Michi- gan's bats, giving up only one hit and striking out six in seven shut- out innings. "He's just one of those guys that has really good command down in the zone," Bakich said. "Me spots his fastball. He certainly had a good day." Junior center fielder Michael O'Neill had been on a tear heading into the Big Ten Tournament, but Kubat silenced him. O'Neill bat- ted 0-for-4 Wednesday after going 5-for-14 with 6 RBI last week- end. Senior second baseman Pat- rick Biondi fared the best against Kubat, but still, he couldn't manage a hit while being walked twice. After a paltry offensive and defensive performance, the Wol- verines will need to get back to fundamentals if they hope to last another day in the tournament. Michigan will start either fresh- man left-hander Evan Hill or Ann Arbor. MI ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY THREE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, May 23, 2013 RUBY WALLAU/Daily Junior left-hander Logan McAnallen and the Wolverines look to rebound Thursday. junior left-hander Logan McAnal- plenty of adversity this season and len against Illinois in tomorrow's Bakich hopes that it will translate elimination game. into positive results tomorrow. Behind whomever Bakich gives "Nothing's been easy for this the starting nod to, the defense group. It's been an absolute battle must adjust appropriately to yet for this group. They're battle- another high-pressure situation. tested and they're resilient. And I The Wolverines, with their 21 do feel confident that this group is underclassmen, have been through going to respond to the challenge." inside Transportation UMTRI announces center to study vehicle- infrastructure interaction >> SEE PAGE 3 OPINIO Press Espionage The Daily's take on how the seizure of AP phone records goes too far >>SEE PAGE 4 ARTS Star Trek Review Director J.J. Abrams returns with a thrilling sequel to his remake >>SEE PAGE 8 SPORTS Baseball Loses No. 6 seed 'M' falls 11-2 to Nebraska in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament >SEE PAGE 12 INDEX Vol CXXIIy No12 C-2013 The Michigan Daily NEW S .............................. 2 O PIN IO N ............................4 CLASSIFIEDS.................. 6 CROSSWORD..................6 A R T S .....................................8 SPO RT S.................................10 University officials hold an open meeting for residents to voice concerns at the Kellogg Eye Center on Wednesday. Ann Arbor residents discu-IIss Wall St. garage" d~~~~~~A "%.%W<7-- r! C AM P US LIF E First ever upgrades to 'U' center since 19'71 $1.5 million worth of renovations to increase safety and outward appearance By RACHEL PREMACK Daily Staff Reporter The Power Center for the Per- forming Arts opened during former president Richard Nixon's adminis- tration, and since the performance space raised its curtains 42 years ago, it hasn't had a major renovation since. However, that's about to change as a $1.5 million renovation will update the Power Center's life safety and aesthetic features. Barry LaRue, the senior perfor- mance hall operations manager, said the Power Center was the premier theatrical venue for the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. "There was a general feeling that the theatre had slipped a bit in terms of its finishes," LaRue said. The renovations include an array of safety updates: additional handrails and lighting, back-of- house safety features and increased wheelchair-accessible options. LaRue said there are currently handrails on only one side of the steep aisles in the Power Center. Lighting on the steps in the lobby's spiral staircase, he added, is not as strong as it ought to be. See UPGRADES, Page 7 I 0 u a z Q El m Construction on new structure to begin June 13th By LEWAA BAHMAD For the Daily Residents of Ann Arbor's Wall Street neighborhood met with University officials Wednesday to discuss the controversial con- struction of a new parking struc- ture in the neighborhood. The planned brick and concrete structure aims to add 500 more parking spaces as well as spaces for motorcycles and bicycles to accommodate for the growth of the University Health System. Residents are upset with the project and argue the expansion would pollute the neighborhood, increase traffic and threaten the safety of pedestrians. University Planner Sue Gott, and James Kosteva, the Univer- sity's director of community rela- tions, led the meeting and spoke on behalf of the University at the community meeting held at the Brehm Center on Wall Street. "This is agroup we've met with for a number of years," Gott said before the meeting. "I'm sure it will be constructive." The parkingstructure is meant to serve as a satellite structure to the University Hospital. Hospital employees will have to park in the structure and take a shuttle to the hospital, which requires the construction of a waiting station for the bus service. Con- struction will begin June 13th and the structure will be com- pleted in the spring of 2014. The plans for the parking structure were initially proposed in 2008 but were postponed after the city of Ann Arbor agreed to a joint effort with the University to construct a parking structure on Fuller Road instead. Since then, the University dropped the Fuller Road plans in favor of the Wall Street parking structure as a result of the city's inability to hold up its portion of the fund- ing. While the University has said the construction of the struc- ture is definite, residents are adamant about expressing their contentions with it. The residents expressed positive comments about the increased level of com- munication and claimed the Uni- versity has been more open about the project than it was in 2008. See GARAGE, Page 6