THE MICHIGAN DAILY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1956
THE MICHIGAN DAILY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1958
[' Diamondmen Lose 'Close Ones,'
nish in Fourth Place in Conference
Wrestlers Cop Second
Big Ten Crown in Row
e
inning loss to Indiana in the sea- other teams in the league to help
ing the close ones hurts! son's opener hindered the Michi- them.
act can be attested to by gan cause. However, it was still a successful
h place finish of the Wol- Victories Would Have Helped season with a mark of six victor-
aseball squad in Big Ten les against five refeats which was
Victories in any of them might a slight improvement over last
tade some bad mistakes have changed the picture. year's fifth place finish with a
c cost us" commented vet- The Wolverines also had trouble record of 8-7.
oach Ray Fisher. "We with the weatherrman. as double- Needed Another Pitcher
ave been right up there." headers with second place Ohio Coach Fisher was still looking
ing two games to Confer- State and third place Wisconsin for another steady pitcher as the
,mpion Minnesota and one were rained out. Thus, they had no season ended, a basic weakness of
o Purdue, all by the mar- direct way to climb higher in the the team.
ne run, along with an 11- standings, having to rely on the Because of the shortage of hurl-
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T{:'r
ers, outfielder Bruce Fox was
drafted for mound duty and turn-
ed in a very creditable perform-!
ance with a 2-1 r7ecord in Confer-
ence competition and a 2.76 earned
run average.
Don Poloskey and Bill Thurston
also turned in 2-1 pitching records
with a 3.43 and 4.09 earned run
averages, respectively.
Tippery Leads Hitters
Second baseman Ken Tippery
turned in the highest batting av-
erage of the regulars with a .379
mark. He was named to the All-
Conference second team along!
with shortstop Moby Benedict who'
was team captain.
Tippery has been elected cap-
tain for next season.
Howie Tommelein led all Big
Ten outfielders in fielding as he
recorded 36 putouts without an
error.
The season ended on a high note
as the men from Michigan swept
a doubleheader from MSU to take
the weekend series, two games to
one and send the Spartans down
to eighth place.
No Predictions
Although Fisher would make no
predictions as to the strength of
next year's squad because of the
many uncertainties, the outlook
is very encouraging.
Only one regular, two relief
pitchers and a reserve infielder
will be lost by graduation. The loss
of Captain Moby Benedict at short
may leave a hole in the infield
which will probably be covered by
third baseman Steve Boros.
The power of reserve infielder,
Frank Ronan's bat will be lost too.
Ronan hit .400 while filling in at
second and third base. '
Fisher Starts 37th Year
Fisher will start his 37th season
with almost the same team. How-
ever it will have an additional
year's experience hehind it.
His starting pitchers will all be
back, and with one or two men to
bolster it, the staff should prove
more than adequate.
The infield should be strong
with Boros, Tippery, Bob Sealby
and catcher Gene Snider all re-
turning and Tommelein, Fox and
All Sigman back for outfield duty.
All this coupled with some help
from this year's freshman team
make next season's outlook very
bright.
Add to this the experienced
coaching eye of Fisher, and assist-,
ant Matt Patinelli and you have a
combination that, should spell
trouble for Big Ten opponents.,
By ED BERNREUTER
MOBY BENEDICT
** graduated star shortstop
HEN TIPPERY (Fielding)
returning star second baseman
Only NCAA
Title in '53
Michigan's one and only Nation-
al Collegiate Baseball Champion-
ship came in 1953 when the Wol-
verines upset favored Texas in the
final game of the NCAA playoffs,
7-5, to take the title.
Although Illinois had tied Mich-
igan for the Big Ten crown with
a 10-3 record, the Wolverines gain-
ed the chance to represent the
Conference in the national play-
offs because of its two wins in two
encounters with the Illini.
A top-notch mound staff in-
cluding Jack Corbett, Marv Wis-
niewski, Dick Yikorsky and Jack
Ritter was the prime factor in the
Wolverine championship.
It was a great relief joi by Rit-
ter that actually clinched the ti-
tle. With the bases loaded with
Texans in the last of the ninth,
he came in to save the 7-5 tri-
umph by striking out the opposi-
tion's leading hitter and inducing
the next batter to ground out for
the final out.
T,
Compensating for a season of.
disappointing dual meet competi-
tion the 1956 Wolverine wrestling
squad, in spite of being pre-tour-
nament underdogs, batteled to its
second straight Big Ten Cham-
pionship at host Northwestern in
Evanston, Ill.
Once again Iowa was strongly
favored' to take the title. Once
again the Maize and Blue did the
impossible and upset the Hawk-
eyes, 63-59.
"In all my 37 years of wrestling,
I have never seen such a tourna-
ment where the fellows gave them-
selves to the last ounce," com-.
mented veteran head coach Cliff
Keen, "Everyone wrestled better
than he knew how."
Story Behind Story
The story behind the battle to
retain the coveted championship
was one of bitter rivalry, shrewd
movements, mistakes, and possi-
bly a little luck.
Entering the meet, the Hawk-
eyes had a national champion
Dick Govig, at 123 pounds, but he
was eliminated on a referee's de-
cision in his first bout of the
tournament; a Big Ten champion,
John Winder, at 157, but he was
relegated to fourth place; a sure
bet for the 177 pound title was
Gary Kurdelmeier, but he was
beaten in the final bout by Wol-
verine Jack Marchello.
However, Michigan did not find
it necessary to rely solely on Iowa's
bad breaks. Instead, the squad
turned the tide several times in
its own favor.
Deepe Places Third
Dan Deepe, rated at best a con-
tender for fourth place at 123
pounds, placed third, as he pinned
three men along the way. Charlie
Anderson, grappling at 130, was
not even expected to finish in the
running for points-but he deci-
sioned two opponents to gain
fourth place.
Another Wolverine, Frank Hirt,
gained an upset decision over top-
ranked Bill Muther of Illinois at
137 to take a vital second.
Undoubtedly the most exciting
match of the entire meet was be-
tween Michigan's All-American
Mike Rodriguez and Larry Ten-
Pas of Illinois for the 157 pound
Conference title. This match be-
tween team captains was also a
matter of personal pride and a
grudge match dating back to the
1955 season.
SETS AN EXAMPLE-Mike Rodriguez, 157-1b. Big Ten wrestling
champion for the past two years, shows how he has been winning
points for Michigan. Here he pins his opponent in a regular sea-
son match at Yost Field House.
Rodriguez finally emerged the
winner by a fall in the second pe-
riod as each man earned numerous
points for reversals and near falls
on one another.
Marchello Wins Title
Marchello's bout with Kurdel-
meier was the final and decisive
one which gave Michigan the ti-
tle. It seemed to everyone but
Marchello that the Wolverine title
hopes were all but gone.
But Marchello fought the battle
of his career, winning on points,
the decisive one being earned with
but ten seconds remaining in the
third period of his match-the last
of the tourney.
This entered the Maize and Blue
once again on the record book as
Champions of the Western Confer-
ence.
In preparation for the all-im-
portant Conference meet the Wol-
verine participated in the Wilkes
B a r r e, Pa. Tournament over
Christmas vacation, but were forc-
ed to accept a second place finish
behind Pitt.
Lose To Pitt
Later in the season Michigan
again faced Pitt, however this time
in dual meet competition, Pitt
proved much too powerful for the
inexperienced and injury riddled
squad as Michigan's only winner
was Frank Hirt at 137 pounds in
the 28-5 trouncing.
Indiana edged out favored Mich-
igan, 19-18, in the season's big.
gest disappointment. In this dual
meet the Wolverines won ,nore
matches than the Hoosiers but
could not garner the needed points
to win.
Another dual meet against Ill4
inois once again found highly rat-
ed Michigan on the short end of
a 21-16 score. Rodriguez and John
McMahon, who later lost a close
match for the 167 pound cham-
pionship, were the only winning
Wolverines.
Michigan was ably represented
in the post-season NCAA wres-
tling tournament by Rodriguez
and Marchello as each downed two
men to enter the semi-finals only
to lose. Rodriguez was forced to
forfeit due to a knee injury, while
Marchello lost a very close deci-
sion. Hirt finished fourth in the
130 pound division.
A
century ago
and quality
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