14
Sports
Tuesday
April 13, 2010
tennis and track & field, page 13 Editor Katie Giovinale giovinkl@muohio.edu
baseball
RedHawks reign over Northern Illinois By Alex Butler Senior Staff Writer
SCOTT ALLISON The Miami Student
Junior catcher Adam Weisenburger fires the ball to second before Sunday’s game v. NIU.
MLB and Masters show signs of spring Brian Gallagher
Gallagher’s Going for Two
T
he dogwoods are in bloom, you can smell burgers and hot dogs and the coeds are flocking out to the sunshine only to return looking like lobsters. Yes, spring is here (note: this was written on Sunday, and by the time you read it there could be snow on the ground, so I would like to absolve myself of any responsibility relating to this matter). With spring comes the hope of new life. Miamians can hopefully shake off the heartbreaking loss of the hockey team in the Frozen Four and look forward to success in other sports. For baseball fans, spring allows them to hope for a few short weeks this is the year their team will do well. The Cleveland Indians are looking more and more like the team portrayed in Major League, Major League II and perhaps most like Major League III: Back to the Minors (a worse sports movie sequel than Slapshot II). The team has traded away most of the talent but owner Larry Dolan says he hopes the team “can compete for a division title every three or four years.” This could be that year! And the team formerly known as the Big Red Machine — the Cincinnati Reds — are also hoping this year they will climb out of the basement of the NL Central where they seem to have taken up residence. Elsewhere, The Masters, which ESPN markets as “an event unlike any other,” seems to be similar to most of the other golf tournaments I watch (except for the fact Tiger is doing his job again). However, it is special enough to have its own theme music on the ESPN, which is an achievement in itself. The questions during the tournament: Who will win? Is that one of Tiger’s mistresses? Where do golfers get those checkered pants? These and other important inquiries provide the background to the first of four grand slams of golf. The Masters serves as the start of the golf season and gives hacks everywhere hope they will be hitting shots like Phil Mickelson once they dust off the clubs.
wSee GALLAGHER, page 13
The sun was glaring and baseball fans were enjoying temperatures in the mid 70s this weekend at McKie field at Hayden Park. They also enjoyed seeing the Miami University RedHawk baseball team edge the Northern Illinois University Huskies (11-19, 4-5 Mid-American Conference (MAC)) for their first MAC series win. “We had a different focus coming into this weekend,” catcher Adam Weisenburger said. “We started playing our game. We started playing good defense and our pitchers pitched well. I think we came together as a unit and hopefully we can keep this going throughout the rest of MAC play.” The Red and White (14-16, 3-6 MAC) handled the bright light above by flipping down their shades and eyeing a 0.500 record going into Sunday after taking Friday and Saturday’s contests against the Huskies 6-1 and 5-1, respectively. Starter Tyler Melling was largely responsible for the win Friday. The junior RedHawk dominated
for eight innings with eight strikeouts and only three hits allowed. Head Coach Dan Simonds’ men had a little extra pop in their step but it was not enough to keep pace with the Huskies as they squandered a lead and suffered a 5-4 setback to deny them a sweep. “I’m not satisfied at all,” Simonds said. “I’m very disappointed today because we played a couple really good games. I thought we beat ourselves today.” Simonds’ men forged four runs in the first two innings Sunday and looked like they would be able to hold on if the bullpen could hold up. The Huskies closed the gap in the fifth and sixth frames with two runs to make the score 4-2 and then knotted things up in the eighth inning at 4-4 and set the stage for an interesting ninth inning. Closer Jordan Jankowski tried to stop the bleeding late but the Huskies plated the fatal run and handed him his second loss of the season as the Red and White lumber fell silent in the bottom of the inning. Weisenburger led the RedHawks at the plate by going 4-5 with three RBI’s and a stolen base. Second baseman Jon Edgington plated the
other run for the Red and White. “I think we came with a sense of purpose today,” Weisenburger said. “We wanted the ‘W’ but we couldn’t come out with it. Hopefully we can take this into next week and pick up a couple victories.” The Red and White are tied for second place in the MAC East with the University at Buffalo Bulls and the Ohio University Bobcats. Simonds hopes his players will stay positive and keep an attention to detail. “You have to learn from that, that’s the biggest thing,” Simonds said. “Everyone is disappointed and I think they realize we kind of beat ourselves but how do you learn from it? We’ve got to make sure that at a minimum we are not making as many mistakes that way and if we are going to get beat it’s going to be because a good team outplays us, not because we beat ourselves.” Simonds’ men will get their next chance to play RedHawk baseball against the Xavier University Musketeers at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Oxford. The Red and White defeated the Musketeers 5-3 April 6 in Cincinnati.
softball
’Hawks split series with Chippewas By Nick Bonaventura Staff Writer
Miami University’s softball team split a weekend series with Central Michigan University (CMU), dropping the first game 1-0 before rebounding and winning the second game 8-4. Following the series, Miami’s record stands at 19-16 overall and 4-2 in the MidAmerican Conference (MAC). “We’ve been doing our best to stay aggressive lately and to just remember that anyone in the lineup can come up and get a rally started,” sophomore third basemen Daniela Torres said. “When we get runners on, we have people throughout the lineup that can steal bases and score runs. It’s just very important to stay aggressive.” In the Saturday contest, the ’Hawks were held to just one hit, a third inning single by junior second basemen Meghan Mawn. Sophomore pitcher Jessica Simpson held the Chippewas to just one run despite allowing nine hits. The winning run came in the sixth inning, when junior Amanda Patrick hit a double to score the game’s only run. Sunday’s game was much different for the RedHawks. After CMU took a 2-0 lead in the second inning and knocked Miami’s starting pitcher, senior Meredith Linch, out of the game, the ’Hawks roared back to tie the game with sophomore right fielder Jordan McElroy’s two runs batted in (RBI) hit. McElroy finished with two RBI and a run scored. With Simpson once again pitching, Miami then took charge of the game. The Red and White scored three runs in the fourth, highlighted by Torres’s double that scored two. Torres finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. “We played very well in the second game,” Torres said. “Yesterday and today were both great defensive games. Whenever we play great
MICHAEL GRIGGS The Miami Student
Senior shortstop Sarah Billstrom sends a ball to first in Saturday’s game v. Central Michigan University. defense against such a good hitting team, the defense is always going to win the game.” Miami head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly credited the bottom of the RedHawks’ lineup for the increase in offensive production. “The key to our victory was that our eight and nine hitters reached base every time they were up,” Schoenly said. “That gave us some people on base for our other players, which
is always good. That was the difference between this game and yesterday’s.” Simpson pitched five innings, allowing two runs and striking out four to earn the victory. CMU threatened to come back in the sixth inning with a two run homer by senior first basemen Jill Schulz, but could not muster any offense after the blast. After a rough start to the beginning of the season, Mi-
ami has now won five of its last six games. “We’re playing teams now that we know a lot about,” Schoenly said. “We can prepare better for these teams. We know how to get their batters out. In the preseason, we played some pretty tough teams, and I think the experience against those teams is really starting to help us.” Miami is next in action April 16 for a doubleheader at Kent State University.