Gophers buried

'M' baseball takes three of four at home

Halloween was almost five and a half months ago, but the Michigan baseball team waited until this past weekend to remove the hideous mask it has worn all season.

And, lo and behold, the Wolverines now bear a striking resemblance to last year's ball club, which went 17-6 in the Big Ten and won the regular season conference title.

Michigan (5-7 Big Ten, 15-16-1 overall) finally played like a defending champion, persevering through three tight games against Minnesota on Friday and Saturday before the Golden Gophers (7-5, 25-9) won the series finale, 6-3, yesterday.

This weekend's was Michigan's first home Big Ten series, and it couldn't have come at a better time, after subpar weekends at Illinois and Ohio State. The Wolverines lost three of four games against each team and fell further and further in the conference standings.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily J.J. Putz and the Michigan baseball team leveled Minnesota in their Big Ten home opener this weekend, taking three of four games in the series. The Wolverines improved their conference record to 5-7 and are now just four games behind first-place Illinois with 12 Big Ten games remaining.

"These were big games for us," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "We were backed in the corner and we had to win some ballgames, but the kids responded."

At the forefront of this weekend's turnaround was Michigan closer Tyler Steketee, who pitched every day, saving Friday's 5-4 victory and Saturday's 3-2 thriller. Minnesota had a runner in scoring position and the go-ahead run at the plate in both games, before Steketee came in and slammed the door.

The Gophers entered this series in second place with a 6-2 record, only a game behind red-hot Illinois. And the Wolverines found themselves in a much humbler position - five games out of first. But the two teams went in the exact opposite directions this weekend.

Michigan, which had little to lose and a whole lot to gain, established an aggressive tempo early on in the series. Trailing 3-2 in the fourth inning Friday, catcher Mick Kalahar was gunned down at the plate as he tried to score from first base on shortstop Scott Tousa's one-out double.

But on the very next play, Tousa ran right through third base coach Chris Harrison's stop sign and scored the game-tying run on Bobby Scales' two-out single.

"I just put my head down and kept on running," Tousa said. "By the time I saw the sign, it was too late to stop. Staying aggressive and going after the other team is what we needed to do."

Michigan took the lead on the next play and stayed ahead of the Gophers for most of the weekend. Junior Brian Berryman (3-2) picked up the win Friday, though he didn't show his best stuff, walking six Minnesota batters in eight innings.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily Michigan left fielder Jason Alcaraz went 7-for-16 against Minnesota this weekend. He hit a two-run homer Friday to spark Michigan to its first of three victories.

But Michigan pitchers were in complete control by Saturday.

Left-hander Bryan Cranson evened his record at 3-3 with five innings of scoreless ball in the early game, before Tousa committed two errors at short and Zahn called on Steketee to extinguish the fire.

Senior Brian Steinbach went the distance in the nightcap, and gave his teammates a chance to finally sit back and relax.

Michigan's 7-2 victory in the second game Saturday was the calmest in an overall, melodramatic series.

"When you get good pitching, that makes the difference," Zahn said. "We had good pitching from Cranson, Steketee and Steinbach today."

But Zahn was not completely at ease after Saturday's doubleheader sweep. He knew what happens to a good baseball team when it has its back against the wall - a position in which Minnesota found itself.

Michigan was thrust into that dubious position in Champaign two weeks ago, and in Columbus a week ago. The team down three games to zero stormed back to win at least one.

Continuing the trend, Minnesota came out yesterday and prevented a series sweep. The slightly altered Gopher batting lineup recorded 10 hits and scored six runs. First baseman Robb Quinlan homered twice from the leadoff spot after going hitless from the third slot in the first three games.

Michigan may have fallen short of the .500 mark in the conference, and still sits in seventh place - four games behind front-running Illinois.

But Zahn's club has one of the Big Ten's easier second-half schedules ahead. Next weekend's opponent, Michigan State (4-8 in the conference) will face the maskless Wolverines who are at the top of their game.

"We're playing our best ball of the year right now," Michigan catcher Mick Kalahar said. "We're starting to steamroll. I think we'll be pretty tough to beat the rest of the year."

04-13-98