M Pitchers Fan 18 But EMU Troublesome

M Pitchers Fan 18 But EMU Troublesome

By Wayne DeNeff

Michigan sophomore pitchers Nick Radakovic and Geoff Zahn struck out 18 Eastern Michigan batters but they needed all the runs they could get for an 11-9 victory yesterday at Ferry Field.

In between Radakovic’s 11 strikeouts he walked nine and in between Zahn’s seven strikeouts he gave up seven hits.

In the final analysis, Michigan probably won the game with a better defense. Each team had nine hits.

The Hurons committed five errors while the Wolverines made only one and Michigan first baseman Chan Simonds came up with defensive gem of the day. In making a back-handed stab of Glenn Moulton’s hot grounder along the foul line, Simonds took away a bases-loaded double and turned it into an out.

Michigan powered a pair of home runs to account for four of its runs. Ypsilantian Al Bara, the Wolverines’ leading hitter with a .363 average, stroked a wrong-field four-bagger over the left-field fence with one man on base in the first inning to get the Wolverines out in front and Radakovic cracked one in the fifth, also with one aboard. Earlier, Radakovic had a two-run single to make him the day’s top run-producer.

Milan’s Lonnie Head unloaded a home run for the Hurons whose record dropped to .500 in 10 games.

Michigan now stands 20-9 and will play at Bowling Green tomorrow before winding up the regular season with a three-game series with Michigan State this weekend. The Spartans will be here for a doubleheader Saturday following a single game in East Lansing on Friday.

Both the third-place Wolverines (8-2) and the fourth place Spartans (7-3) still are in the running for the Big Ten championship but they’ll need a lot of outside help to catch Ohio State (5-0) and Minnesota (9-1-1), the first and second place teams.

Michigan ran up a 5-0 lead in the first inning against the Hurons. Following Bara's home run, Jim Schafer gave up three walks and Les Tanona and Radakovic singled.

Michigan made it 6-0 in the second inning on a pair of errors and Bara's stolen base.

Radakovic's home run made it a total of eight runs and then the Wolverines added two more in the sixth on Tanona’s single, Keith Spicer’s double, an error and a wild pitch. Michigan finished its scoring in the seventh when catcher Jim Berline singled, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an error.

Eastern almost pulled the game out of the fire in the top of the ninth.

Trailing, 11-7, pinch-batter Larry Brose opened the inning with a single to right. After pinch-batter Jim Hinman fanned, Dan Maynard cracked a single to left. Brose scored on a wild pitch and pinch-batter Al Olech walked to put runners on first and second.

It looked like the Wolverines were in deep trouble when pinch-batter Joe Wright drilled a double between the outfielders scoring Maynard but Olech was cut down at home on the relay from the outfield.

Instead of men on third and second (tying run) with one out, the Hurons had two men out and only one man on base and were trailing, 11-9. Zahn then got pinch-batter Lew Banwart on a tapper in front of the plate.

EMU
                        AB  R  H
Henegar ss      4  0  0
Bowen 2b        2  1  1
Wright ph        1  0  1
Clay cf-p          4  1  1
Banwart ph     1  0  0
Rastique c       4  0  0
Moulton rf       4  0  1
Head 3b           5  1  1
Schwalm lf      3  1  0
Brose ph          1  1  1
Patterson 1b   3  2  1
Hinman ph     1  0  0
Shough p        1  0  0
Sterling ph     1  1  0
Maynard cf     2  1  2

Totals              37  9  9

MICHIGAN
                         AB  R  H
Gilhooley ss      4  1  0
Bara rf               5  3  2
Schryer cf         5  0  0
Tanona lf          5  2  2
Simonds 1b      4  1  0
Spcier 3b          5  0  1
Wakaba'i 2b     2  1  0
Berline c           3  2  2
Radakovic p     2  1  2
Zahn p              1  0  0

Totals              36  11  9

EMU_____________________002 003 202--9
MICHIGAN_______________510 022 10x--11

E--Clay, Rastigue, Moulton, Patterson, Shough, Radakovic, RBI--Bowen 2, Wright, Moulton, Head, Maynard, Bara 2, Tanona, Simonds, Spicer, Berline, Radakovic 4. LOB--EMU 12, Michigan 7. 2B--Bowen, Wright, Patterson, Bara, Spcier. HR--Head, Bara, Radakovic. SB--Gilhooley, Bara.

PITCHING SUMMARY
                                       IP   H   R-ER  BB  SO
Shafer (L, 1-2)________2/3   2    5-5     4     1
Shough ____________4 1/2   3   3-2     2     3
Clay __________________2   4    3-1     0     1
Radakovic (W, 2-2)__5 1/3   2   5-3     9     11
Zahn ______________3 2/3   7   4-4     2     7

WP--Clay 2, Radkovic 2, Zahn. U--Bob Cade and Jack Wendt. T--3:18. A--200.