Hribernik obeys age-old rule in victory

It starts at the youngest level of baseball. Little league coaches across America tell their future major league pitchers to get ahead of the hitters. 'Just throw the ball over the plate and the rest will take care of itself,' they say. 'Let your infield do the work.'

That also holds true at every other level of play - college ball, the minor leagues and the big show. If you throw the first pitch for a strike and get ahead in the count, you can set up the hitter the rest of the way with your out-pitch.

Michigan pitcher Mike Hribernik has probably heard it hundreds of times. And yesterday, he proved how easy it is to breeze through a game when ahead in the count.

JOHN KRAFT/Daily The Michigan baseball team blanked Oakland 11-0 yesterday.

Hribernik mowed through the Oakland lineup as if he were sleeping, en route to an 11-0 victory. With the victory, the senior improved his record to 3-3.

He threw strikes early and often. The first five pitches Hribernik threw were in the strike zone and he struck out the first two Oakland batters to open the game. Hribernik struck out at least one batter in each inning and tallied a career-high nine strikeouts in all.

"Against the smaller schools, you've just got to go out and throw it," Hribernik said. "I wasn't trying to hit the corners so much - instead I was just throwing it down the middle."

Hribernik got ahead in the count on the first 10 batters he faced, and he retired them all. Right fielder Kyle Simmons - the 11th batter of the game - broke up the possible no-hitter with one out in the fourth inning, squeaking a ground ball by Michigan shortstop Kevin Quinn.

"We want the pitchers to be throwing a lot of strikes," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "It's very important to get the first pitch over. We've had trouble with that all year."

So it looks like the Little League coaches were right. Get ahead of the hitter and control the at-bat - fall behind him and the hitter's in control.

Oakland's only hit off Hribernik -a single by Simmons - must have motivated the righthander. He finished stronger than he started, striking out the last five hitters he faced.

"I just came out, slowed everything down, and went back to the basics," said Hribernik of his performance following the hit.

Hribernik's success in nonconference games is nothing new this season.

He pitched well against Ball State two weeks ago and won his second game of the season, 14-6. Hribernik's first victory came on Michigan's spring trip, against Texas A&M on March 3.

But Hribernik hasn't been as fortunate in Big Ten matchups. He was roughed up in an 11-8 loss at Illinois on March 9, and lasted less than three innings in a 6-4 loss at Ohio State last Friday.

"It's a lot more intense against the conference teams," Hribernik said. "Maybe I just haven't handled the intensity very well."

Zahn looks for Hribernik to turn another performance like yesterday's the next time he takes the mound in a Big Ten game.

"If he would have pitched at Ohio State like he did today, we'd have another 'W'," Zahn said.

04-09-98