The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, April 6, 2017 — 5A

ACROSS
1 Highlands hat
4 Serenade, as the
moon
9 Pearl seeker
14 Botanist Gray
15 Naproxen brand
16 “__ Mio”
17 *Judy Blume
genre
19 Bags with
handles
20 Calendario start
21 Sierra __
23 Former
Radiohead label
24 __ Valley:
Reagan Library
site
25 *Got from the
cloud?
27 Not having the
know-how
29 Locomotive, e.g.
30 Compose, in a
way
31 Single-celled
creature
35 Sinusitis docs
36 *Like much
Chinese 
cooking
39 Reebok rival
42 Dapper
43 Cal. pages
46 Like
49 Unite securely
51 *Three-year
school,
commonly
55 Julie’s “Doctor
Zhivago” co-star
56 Subj. with
unknowns
57 “Cool!”
58 Concert venue
59 Softens
61 Some football
linemen ... and
what the answers
to starred clues
have?
63 1999-2004 Olds
64 Vast, in verse
65 How-__: do-it-
yourselfers’ buys
66 Printing flourish
67 Freelancer’s
supply: Abbr.
68 Fused

DOWN
1 Occupies oneself
with, as a hobby
2 Just plain silly
3 Mob inductee
4 Scott of “Arrested
Development”
5 Tavern favorite
6 Mello __
7 “__ From the
Bridge”: Miller
8 Wyoming county
9 Act grandmotherly
toward
10 Metric lead-in
11 Elected
12 Gold or silver
13 Lives
18 Trifle
22 N.Y. Mets
division
25 __-glace: rich
sauce
26 Got on in years
28 Long. counterpart
32 Coastal eagle
33 Museum
curator’s deg.
34 Oils, e.g.
36 __-Flush:
household
cleaner

37 Bite symptom
38 Network logo
39 Overnight bag
item, maybe
40 Elvis played one
in “Blue Hawaii”
41 One working the
crowd
43 Souvenir
44 With no end in
sight
45 Berlin boulevard

47 Myriad
48 Pay dirt
50 “Encore!”
52 Can’t take
53 Turner
autobiography
54 “We Got the
Beat” band
58 Casino fixtures
60 Part of TNT
62 Charlemagne’s
domain: Abbr.

By Kurt Krauss
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
04/06/17

04/06/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, April 6, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Enjoy the Sudoku

on page 2

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Kugler aims to be a 
starter in fifth year 

Patrick Kugler was quick 

to say he never considered 
transferring.

But the fifth-year senior 

center certainly couldn’t have 
been blamed for doing so — 
or for at least considering it. 
Through his first four years on 
the Michigan football team, he 
played in just five games, failing 
to carve out a consistent role on 
the offensive line.

Time 
and 

time 
again, 

Kugler 
found 

himself on the 
wrong end of 
the depth chart. 
So 
it 
would 

have 
been 

understandable 
had he decided 
to 
leave 

Michigan 
and 
pursue 
a 

graduate 
transfer 
elsewhere 

for his final season of eligibility 
— perhaps somewhere like the 
University of Texas El-Paso, 
where his father, Sean Kugler, is 
the head coach.

Kugler 
shot 
that 
down 

Tuesday night, though, saying 
it would be “Michigan through 
and through.”

Kugler’s career thus far may 

seem like an unexpected turn 
for a player who many expected 
to be the anchor of a powerful 
offense.

As the No. 1 ranked center 

in the nation with offers from 
nearly 
everywhere, 
Kugler 

arrived in Ann Arbor as one 
of 
the 
most 
highly-touted 

members 
of 
a 
ballyhooed 

offensive 
line 
class 
under 

former Michigan coach Brady 
Hoke. The expectations for him 
and the rest of his linemates 
could not have been more 
overstated.

Yet, 
that 

vision 
of 

a 
mauling 

offensive 
line 

that 
would 

finally 
give 

Hoke his desired 
power-running 
game never took 
effect.

After 
Hoke 

was 
fired 

following 
Kugler’s 
second 

year, current head coach Jim 
Harbaugh stepped in. Harbaugh 
brought an entirely different 
staff and mentality, with Kugler 
calling 
the 
new 
four-hour 

practices an initial “shock.”

But he stuck around, even 

when 
many 
of 
his 
peers 

didn’t. One by one, each of the 
offensive linemen from that 
2013 recruiting class left the 
team. 
And 
when 
fifth-year 

senior guard David Dawson 
announced earlier this spring 
that he would be transferring 
to Iowa State for his final year, 
Kugler officially became the last 
man standing.

He is older and wiser now, 

which may prove to be a boon 
for a team as inexperienced as 
Michigan is — especially on 
the offensive line, which will 

enter the year with just 48 total 
starts, 38 of which belong to 
senior center Mason Cole.

One of those 48 does belong to 

Kugler. He started in last year’s 
season opener against Hawaii at 
left guard in place of an injured 
redshirt senior Ben Braden. It 
wasn’t his natural position, but 
he made do. Braden, though, 
returned shortly, which left 
Kugler out of a spot. And, when 
then-sophomore 
offensive 

tackle Grant Newsome went 
down with a season-ending 

injury, the next 
man 
up 
was 

a 
freshman, 

Ben 
Bredeson, 

instead 
of 

Kugler.

That 

brief 
taste 

of 
a 
starting 

position 
left 

Kugler wanting 
more, especially 
after 
realizing 

he may not have approached the 
competition with the requisite 
intensity.

“You’ve 
got 
to 
outwork 

everybody,” 
Kugler 
said. 

“There’d be times where I’d 
probably get outworked last 
year or I wouldn’t do the extra 
work the past couple years, so 
it’s just about trying to get in 
there and get all the extra work 
that you possibly can.”

This time around, he says, 

he has done “all the little 
things” to try and get on the 
field. That has meant seeking 
more treatment after practices 
and workouts and trying to 
eat healthier — Kugler says he 
has been trying to cut down 
on pizza, his favorite food — 
while continuing to familiarize 
himself with the offense.

“It’s not a new system, but it’s 

a new terminology a little bit 
with (assistant head coach and 

passing 
game 

coordinator) 
Pep 
Hamilton 

here,” 
Kugler 

said. “So it’s just 
about 
getting 

the calls down, 
and they put a lot 
more emphasis 
on making calls 
with the center, 
so that’s been 
the key for me, 

just trying to get everything 
down. And it’s been going really 
well so far.”

Perhaps those adjustments, 

along with his improved work 
ethic, will lead to Kugler finding 
success in his final year. Either 
way, he’s not leaving Michigan 
— not before he gives it one last 
shot.

“I think that I’m one of the top 

five — everyone thinks they’re 
one of the top five,” Kugler said. 
“If I’m not starting in spring 
ball, I’ll earn that during (fall) 
camp, or if I don’t, I’ll try to be 
the best senior leader that I can 
regardless of what my role is on 
the team.

“… It’s my fifth year so it’s my 

last go-around, (and) I want to 
prove to everyone that I belong 
here and (that) I’m a Michigan 
man.”

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Fifth-year senior center Patrick Kugler came to Michigan as the No. 1 center.

“That’s been 
the key for me, 
just trying to 
get everything 

down”

Lugbauer’s surge powers Michigan’s offense

Entering 
the 
season, 

expectations for junior third 
baseman Drew Lugbauer were 
high, and deservingly so. After 
a sophomore season in which 
he hit .294 and slugged .483 
with seven home runs and 47 
runs batted-in, the preseason 
Big Ten Player to Watch had 
established himself as a left-
handed power source in the 
heart of Michigan’s lineup. 

Through the 15 games of the 

season, however, that version 
of Lugbauer was nowhere to 
be found. Leading up to the 
Wolverines’ first home game, 
he possessed a .164 batting 
average and had struck out 21 
times in 55 at-bats.

But a return to Ray Fisher 

Stadium was seemingly all that 
was needed for Lugbauer to 
find his form.

Since 
blowing 
open 

Michigan’s 
home 
opener 

against Northern Illinois with 
a two-out grand slam, the third 
baseman has been on a tear, 
hitting .403 with six home 
runs and 24 RBIs — good for a 
slugging percentage of .807. He 
was recognized by the Big Ten 
as the Conference Player of the 

Week for his performances last 
week against Toledo, Central 
Michigan and Penn State.

But 
with 
Lugbauer, 
it 

hasn’t just been about the raw 
statistics. It’s about how he 
records them.

Power 
is 
the 
defining 

characteristic of Lugbauer’s 
game. At 6-foot-3 and 220 
pounds, he’s a prototypical 
middle-of-the-order 
slugger 

with the ability to drive the 
ball out of the 
park 
in 
any 

direction.

Last 
week, 

that 
was 
on 

full 
display. 

Even 
though 

the 
contest 

had 
been 

effectively 
decided in the 
Wolverines’ 
favor, Lugbauer 
provided the defining moment 
of Wednesday’s game against 
Central 
Michigan. 
In 
the 

seventh inning, he hit a deep 
shot to right field that finally 
landed on the roof of the 
neighboring 
indoor 
track 

and field building, a hit that 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
described 
as 
an 
“absolute 

bomb”.

“Farthest ball I’ve ever seen 

hit, for us or against us, in 
the five years I’ve been here,” 
Bakich said.

That’s 
not 
the 
only 

extraordinary feat Lugbauer 
has proven himself capable 
of. Against Penn State on 
Saturday, 
he 
swatted 
two 

opposite-field 
home 
runs, 

including a first-inning blast 
that landed in the outfield of 
the adjoining Alumni Field and 

a 
fifth-inning 

drive down the 
line that cleared 
the 25-foot-high 
left-field wall.

“I don’t care 

who 
you 
are, 

that’s really hard 
to do as a hitter,” 
Bakich said. “To 
not only hit the 
ball 
the 
other 

way but hit it 

with such authority you clear 
the fence.

“He’s showing line to line 

power, and he’s really elevating 
himself as one of the best power 
hitters in the conference. He’s 
a kid who works extremely 
hard and has created this for 
himself.”

But even when Lugbauer 

struggled to find his rhythm at 

the plate, he was able to make 
his moments count. Despite 
his subpar batting average and 
slugging for the first month 
of the season, he still was 
tied for second on the team in 
RBIs with 10 — a testament to 
Lugbauer’s work ethic and his 
ability to remain focused.

“Even when the hits weren’t 

falling for him, he prepared 
the same way and invested just 
as much time,” Bakich said. 
“He’s not going to do anything 
different.”

Certainly, Lugbauer draws 

the most attention for the 
barrage 
of 
home 
runs 
he 

launches into the stratosphere. 
But in the same fashion as 
his training, there’s nothing 
different about his approach 
at the plate, whether the end 
result is a line-drive single up 
the middle or a towering blast 
to right field.

“I just try to put a good swing 

on it,” he said. “My swing is 
kind of more geared towards 
(power), so I just try to find a 
good pitch to hit and get super 
selective in doing that.”

But with the way Lugbauer 

has been batting lately, there’s 
a good chance he won’t be 
seeing nearly as many good 
pitches to hit in the future.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Junior third baseman Drew Lugbauer has been on a tear at the plate recently, hitting .403 with six home runs and 24 RBI — good for a .807 slugging percentage.

ORION SANG

Daily Sports Editor

“I want to 
prove to 

everyone that I 

belong here”

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“My swing is 
kind of geared 

towards 
(power)” 

