Thursday, June 12, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Bourque, Szkutnik taken in MLB Draft

Thursday, June 12, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

13

SURGERY
From Page 1
"The program is similar to
the training for a 5k race, as a
two hour operation has a simi-
lar effect on the body, and you
can imagine what that would be
like for an 85-year-old," Englesbe
said. "They have to quit smoking,
walk every day, and the family
kind of participates in the care
and process."
Eligible patients of any age or
health in the program are given
firm, obtainable goals and tools,
like interactive smart-phone
apps, to create optimal condi-
tions and be as prepared as possi-
ble for surgery. MSHOP has been
used in the University's hospital
system for approximately a year
and a half, with over 300 patients
participating in the program.
The program has demonstrated
a 30 percent decrease in the time
patients spend in the hospital and
a subsequent 30 percent decrease
in the cost of care.
The Health Care Innovation
Award, given by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services,
is one of many awards offered
through the Social Security Act
to demonstrate support for vari-
ous health care providers, health
care institutions and programs
that have the potential to be

transformative for the healthcare
field such as MSHOP. The award
is funded by the Patient Protec-
tion and Affordable Care Act and
other legislation set through the
centers which aim to lower the
cost of healthcare by providing
more accurate information prior
to surgery and taking measures
to improve patients' health prior
to surgery if they choose more
aggressive treatment options.
Englesbe added that beyond the
introduction of healthier habits,
MSHOP also uses preoperative
imagery like CAT scans to help
patients see how healthy they are
internally before making decisions
about surgery.
"A person could be 68 but have
a body equivalent to an 85 year old
on the inside," he said. "We are
using this sort of technology to
help patients have a better under-
standing of what to expect, and
often patients reconsider whether
they want aggressive surgery."
The award will fund the pro-
gram's implementation, and the
actual training of patients, in over
40 hospitals within the next three
years.
Along with the University,
MSHOP also partners with the
Michigan Surgical Quality Col-
laborative and insurance compa-
ny Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Michigan.

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Alum Priya Khangura and LSA junior Sola Mumo wait in line in the rain to see author and comedian David Sedaris at
Literati Bookstore on Wednesday.

ByZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
Last Saturday, two Michigan
baseball juniors were given an
opportunity to play professional
baseball. But they started to earn
that opportunity years earlier, as
teammates, years before joining
the Wolverines.
The Washington Nationals took
right-hander James Bourque in
the 14th round, and the Detroit
Tigers took left-hander Trent
Szkutnik six rounds later. Both
traveled to Florida this week to
undergo physicals and sign with
their respective teams.
During the season, the two
were key components on one of
the Big Ten's premier pitching

staffs. But their history together
extends before 2014, or even their
three-year careers at Michigan.
Bourque and Szkutnik became
teammates at age 14, as a part of
an Ann Arbor Travelers team that
produced 20 Division I baseball
players and five members of the
2014 Michigan baseball team, and
have been friends since.
Now, the two starkly different
players will finally play for differ-
ent teams, chasing their longtime
dreams of making the show in the
process.
To say Szkutnik and Bourque
are different types of pitchers
would be an understatement.
Szkutnik, the 6-foot left-handed
ace of Michigan's staff, boasts a
solid four-pitch arsenal with the

same fluid motion he's had since
middle school.
"Trent's always been advanced
physically," said Travelers coach
Jordon Banfield, now an assistant
at Illinois-Springfield. "The big-
gest thing for him was getting the
mental ability down to be a next-
level pitcher, but he's always been
an advanced pitcher."
Bourque, who arrived to cam-
pus as a 6-foot-4, 175-pound right-
hander, was far from an ace, and
was dangerously close to quitting
baseball altogether in high school.
But after working with the Travel-
ers and Wolverines, the junior has
added 20 pounds to his long frame
and sports a fastball that can now
reach 96 miles per hour.
"When James came to me, he

was 14, 5-foot-7, 110 pounds and
threw 70 miles an hour," Banfield
said. "He kept growing and devel-
oping physically, but it wasn't
until later on in high school that
he was looking like a real prospect
pitcher. He was interested in other
sports and was looking at schools
for academics, and I had to push
him and his family to stick with
baseball."
Despite the differences, both
were given an opportunity to play
under Banfield at age 14.
The energetic and relentless
training of Banfield, then 23,
allowed both players to develop
into college-ready pitchers.
The Travelers - a squad that
also included Michigan juniors
Donnie Eaton and Kyle Jusick and
sophomore Travis Maezes - won
20 tournament titles and became
the first Michigan team to qualify
for back-to-back Connie Mack
World Series, but it was the off-
season training and dedication
by Banfield that had the greatest
impact.
"Everyone on that team
improved an unbelievable
amount," Szkutnik said. "It really
speaks to the passion (Banfield)
showed to us on and off the field.
Whenever anyone wanted to hit or
throw or work on something, he
was there to make it happen."
The journeys contrasted, but
when Bourque committed to Mich-
igan the spring of his senior year,
the two were going to continue to
be teammates at the next level.
At Michigan, both pitchers

improved each year until 2014,
when the possibility of being
drafted became more possible
than ever for both.
Szkutnik posted a 3.38 earned-
run average and 57 strikeouts in
15 starts for the Wolverines, while
Bourque pitched 40.1 innings in 25
appearances on the mound, strik-
ing out 33 and holding opponents
to a .247 batting average.
"We used to joke around that
we can't wait until we get drafted
our junior year," Bourque said.
"But the closer we got, the more
it became a possibility. Looking
back, the odds were so slim, but
the help we had and the work we
all put in made it happen."
Following draft day, the two
have both made their respective
trips to Florida to sign major-
league contracts, as the former
Ann Arbor Travelers finally travel
away from Ann Arbor.
They won't be teammates
anymore, but after seven years
alongside each other, there's no
questioning the day nearly every
kid dreams about was even more
special when shared with a long-
time teammate.
"As a program, we met every
one of our goals," Banfield said.
"Twenty Division I players, four
players drafted now and there's
definitely still a family and every-
one stays in touch. Even though
the team's in the past, I tell them
all that I'm happy to help if they
want to keep working. All I ask
in return is tickets to their first
games."

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LOANS
From Page 1
Department of Education com-
pletes the process of modifying its
regulations, low-income individu-
als who borrowed before 2007 or
stopped borrowing before 2011
will also have access to the PAYE
repayment option. Previously,
these borrowers were eligible
for the income repayment plan,
which capped payments at 15% of
discretionary income and offered
loan forgiveness after 25 years.
As of 2011-2012, 38 percent
of University students received
some form of federal direct loan,
according to the National Center
for Education Statistics.
The data doesn't delineate
when borrowers first took out a
loan, which is necessary to cal-
culate new eligibility, buta report
from the White House Council of
Economic Advisers and Domestic
Policy Council released Tuesday
stated the state of Michigan as a
whole has almost 193,000 indi-
viduals who could benefit from
the executive order.
In general, college affordability
has become a pressing concern for
Michigan residents. The state cur-
rently ranks as 45th in the nation
MISS BEING A FR
ORIE

for college affordability, accord-
ing to a yearly report by College
Board, and a May report from the
Center for Michigan found that
college affordability is a top con-
cern for people in the state.
Democratic Congressional
candidate Debbie Dingell, who
has made student loans an area of
focus in her campaign and is also
the chair of Wayne State Univer-
sity's Board of Governors, said
the impact of college affordability
has become a growing issue in the
state.
"I've been on the Wayne State
board for eight years," Dingell
said. "Every single year, it seems
like it's becoming more chal-
lenging and more difficult and
harder to afford a higher edu-
cation. And every single day, I
am meeting young people who
are graduating with staggering
debt."
She added that while college
affordability is a nationwide
issue, in Michigan it may be
particularly pressing because of
trends in public university fund-
ing, which has been dropping
since the early 2000s and was hit
particularly hard when Gover-
nor Rick Snyder instituted a 15%
percent cut in his FY2012 budget.
"It used to be that in Michigan,

higher ed was respected as the
top of the country," she said. "We
stopped investing in higher edu-
cation."
During Monday's announce-
ment,the President also expressed
support for legislation in the U.S.
Senate that would allow borrow-
ers to refinance their student
loans at lower interest rates.
The legislation, which would
benefit 963,000 Michigan bor-
rowers according to the White
House report, was blocked in the
Senate Wednesday following a
Republican filibuster.
However, Mark Kantrowitz,
senior vice president of Edvisors,
which manages several financial
aid and college websites, said
both initiatives may have a lim-
ited impact overall because they
don't address the root causes,
such as the decreasing amount of
non-loan federal money available
for students that lead students to
take out so many loans.
"If we were to double the aver-
age Pell Grant, the debt would go
down," Kantrowitz said. "And
that's the real problem - there's
too much debt at graduation. The
payment plan is a safety net, but
the real problem is the debt in the
first place."

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