Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 71

Lansing State Journal Sports Editor Jeff Rivers: 377-1071 ClUSSlffSlI (3 SPORTS LOCKER AMERICAN LEAGUE VJIngo can rcboimd Detroit's Keith Primeau thinks the Wings can get back to the Stanley Cup finals this year. PcJo 6G Charles Nagy strikes out a career-high 12 as Cleveland gets past Detroit, 6-2. Page 3G V. SI P) -K'- Sunday Drop off: Tiger Danny Bautista gets run over by Chris Gomez, but makes the catch anyway. U-M receiver catches last-second touchdown that leads to 1 8-1 7 win By Neil Koepke Lansing State Journal ANN ARBOR The football floated softly and majestically toward the right comer of the end zone as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

And a first-year coach, a rookie quarterback and 101,000 fans held their collective breath for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the ball to come down. "No sweat," said Mercury Hayes, Michigan's sensational senior wide receiver. "I saw it up there, and I knew that if I could get to it, my foot would be in bounds. I knew where I was," Hayes said, describing one of the most dramatic finishes in Wolverine history. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr didn't know where Hayes was in bounds or out of bounds until he heard the crowd roar its approval.

"I saw the ball go up, start to come down and then I lost it," he said. "My view was blocked. The way I knew we scored was the crowd. That was something great to 4 A second "or two" after Hayes caught the balf and managed to keep his left foot in bounds before sliding out of the end zone, field judge Collin McDermott, from the Pac-10, pointed to the ground and raised his hands into the air, signaling touchdown. Hayes' brilliant 15-yard TD reception from redshirt-freshman Scott Dreisbach on the last play of the game gave U-M a pulsating 18-17 victory over Virginia Saturday in the Pigskin Classic at Michigan Stadium.

It capped an amazing fourth- quarter rally in which Carrs Cardiac Kids rallied from a 17-0 deficit, and pulled out a season-opening victory in front of 101,444 1 get over it We just didn't have enough at the end." In 116 seasons, no Michigan football team had ever bounced back to win after falling behind by 15 points or more. 1 No doubt about ft: Virginia coach George Welsh may argue, but Michigan's Mercury Hayes (9) definitely has his left foot in bounds i IniZax Digest 2G Letters 4G Auto racing 7G Golf roundup 7G PAUL M. WARNER Associated Press our wide receivers, it's like throwing a rock in a lake, they're so wide open," said Dreisbach, the Cadillac of first-start quarterbacks. "But when the fans started booing me, I understood it totally. I made two critical errors." His first telegraphed toss, picked off by cornerback Ronde; Barber, led to a Virginia TD and the only points of the first half, after Cavalier placekicker Rafael: Garcia was wide on field goal' chances of 39 and 38 yards.

Wolverine kicker Remy Hamil-; ton was equally awful, dubbing a field goal and drilling a butt-high extra-point try. And when linebacker Jarrett Irons missed a clean shot at Virginia tailback Tiki Barber, an 81-yard TD run put Virginia ahead 14-0. When Dreisbach threw his second interception, an "Oh, no!" toss into the end zone, the rapidly tiring Please see EQLING, 5G a.m., USA; 7:30 p.m., USA Page 2G to outdistance others. Page 6G 71 71 71 straight from the start. Rarer still! is one who comes back better, the way the two-inch taller Seles ap-: pears to be with the added dimen-j sions of a bigger serve and more confident volleys.

Seles started her comeback by winning the Canadian Open last week as easily as she ever won any tournament The U.S. Open, a two-1 week grind, will be tougher. But barring a flareup of the tendinitis in her left knee, or any new injury, she has the talent and the draw to win her ninth Grand Slam title. "The first time back, it's unreal-! istic," Seles said unconvincingly as she sought to take the pressure off -herself. "It doesn't matter.

If I play" well, that's great" i as he makes the game-winning catch in the Wolverines' 18-17' victory. Virginia's Ronde Barbe (19) and Paul London trail the play. told our team at halftime and sive coordinator before replacing two or three times in the late Gary Moeller as head coach in stages of the game that you never May. stop believing in each other and "There wasn't any question in never stop believing that you can win," said Carr, Michigan's defen- Please see U-M, 50 Saturday's results Indians 6, Tigers 2 Blue Jays 3, White Sox 2 A's 11, Red Sox 4 Rangers 10, Royals 3 Brewers 7, Twins 6 (10) Yankees vs. Mariners (n) Orioles vs.

Angels (n) See roundup, Page 3G NATIONAL LEAGUE Saturday's results Braves 7, Cubs 2 Marlins 6, Astros 2 Giants 2, Expos 1 Mets 7, Padres 6 Phillies 9, Dodgers 4 Reds 7, Pirates 6 Cardinals 5, Rockies 4 See roundup, Page 3G PREP FOOTCALL Dansville will introduce team The Dansville High Athletic Boosters Club is holding "Meet The Aggies Night" Monday at the football field. All athletes competing in fall sports along with coaches and parents will be introduced beginning at 6:30 p.m. In the event of rain, the event will be held in the gymnasium. MSU FOOTBALL i. Fans can get Nebraska ticket Spartan fans still have an opportunity to get tickets to the sold-out MSU-Nebraska football game on Sept 9.

Participate in the MSU gymnastics golf outing on Sept 8 and receive one ticket to the Spartans' season opener against the defending national champions. Reservations are now being accepted for the golf outing at Forest Akers East The entry deadline is Friday. The entry fee of $100 per person includes 18 holes of golf with a cart, prizes and a post-golf reception. Tee times begin at 1:30 pjn. The outing is limited to the first 75 people to register.

To reserve a spot call Rick Atkinson at 355-1633 or Tim Rivera at 432-3189. TENNIS Martin tickets go on sale Tickets go on sale Monday for the Williams-BMW Tennis Challenge, which will feature former East Lansing star Todd Martin against Richey Reneberg. Proceeds from the event, 6:30 p.m. Sept 26 at the Breslin Center, go to the Todd Martin Development Fund. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m.

at the Breslin Box Office. Prices range from $5 to $50. For information, call 432-5000 or 484-5656. MSU FOOTBALL Saban to appear on PASS show Michigan State University head football coach Nick Saban will be the guest on Live On PASS at 6 p.m. Monday.

Saban will discuss his team, the season and take viewers' phone calls. JOURNAL JEOPARDY Today's question: Name the player who had only three career RBI, one of which stopped Don Drysdale's 58-inning scoreless streak. Call 485-7316 and press 2 to answer the question. Leave a spelling of your name, your hometown and phone number. The first caller with the correct answer will appear in the following day's paper.

Saturday's answer: During Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, he started all but two of those games. Fred Merkle started at first base in those games. No one answered the question correctly. Tiger Saturday's Result: Cleveland 6, Detroit 2. Today's game: Detroit (Lima 1-5) at Cleveland (Her-shiser 11-5), 1:05 p.m.

TV: Ch. 3,50 Radio: WJR (760-AM) Baseball roundup. Page 3G 5 ti r-- ri Ciinr9 Drefetocli to i im.i Jack Ebling What's inside Michigan notebook Kickoff Classic preview Penn State scrimmages See coverage, Page 5G judge Collin McDermott a point to Hayes' last footprint and a touchdown signal to keep Carr from becoming just the third Michigan leader to begin with a loss. drained fans and a national television audience. 'I thought I saw it I thought it was out.

It looked close," Virginia coach George Welsh said. "It's only one game. We've got to grab with no time remaining. If Michigan receiver Tyrone "Butterfingers" Butterfield hadn't dropped his third pass of the day, instead of performing a volleyball set for a near-interception, the game would have ended 17-12. If Carr hadn't stuck to his word and stayed with Dreisbach when most of the 101,444 in attendance wanted to bench him for the next four years, the greatest comeback in Wolverine history would still be 14 points.

And if Virginia hadn't bungled what could've been a clock-killing possession, Michigan wouldn't have had the 2:35 it needed to pull off the best finish since last year's Colorado game. "We always talk about never giving up," said Hayes, the Pigskin Classic's Most Valuable Player. "The game is never won until 0:00 is left in the fourth quarter." Sometimes not even then. In this case, it took a pause from field "We've got a long way to go. A long way to NickSsbcn ing the first-team offense against the first-team defense.

The idea was to simulate game conditions as closely as possible. "It was our first chance to see them in a real competitive situation," Saban said. "They came into this pretty worn down from 10 days of two-a-days, but I still hoped they'd compete a little better than they did. "I hoped they'd be a little tougher and come up with some better efforts than they did." Afterwards no one in the Duffy Daugherty Football Building had to be reminded the Sept 9 Spartan Stadium date with defending national champion Nebraska was now only two weeks away. Two-a-day practice sessions are coming to a close with school start a Was the call correct? Cavalier coach George Welsh said no.

But Hayes said only one opinion mattered. "The ref is paid to make that decision," he said after a seven-catch, 179-yard day. "I'm paid to catch the ball." He'd better not say that around anyone from the NCAA or they'll Wonder how the Houston native ever got away from the old Southwest Conference. And he'd better have a talk with Butterfield, who could have been co-goat with Dreisbach if a third-and-10 toss had been intercepted, after an upward tip, or caught shy of the 5-yard line, after a poor decision on the throw. One play later, Dreisbach and Hayes were heroes, as the most prolific single-game passer in school history knew they could be and never thought they'd have to be.

"I have so much confidence in U.S. Open on TV U.S. Open early rounds Monday through Friday: 1 1 Complete U.S. Open seeds. Agassi and Sampras starting Associated Press NEW YORK the comeback, poised to top the ballyhooed returns of Mi-, chael Jordan and Mike Tyson.

Seles won the last two U.S. Opens she played before she was stabbed in 1993, and the way she looks In this year of Monica Seles is Seles now she's the favorite to win it a third time when play begins Monday. Rare is the athlete who returns from a long layoff as good as ever Michigan coach stuck with his first-time starting quarterback ANN ARBOR Rookie head coach Lloyd Carr woke up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. Redshirt-freshman quarterback Scott Dreisbach woke up with 12:55 left in the fourth quarter.

But with just enough great plays and plenty of good fortune, they were wide awake for a dream finish in Michigan Stadium. It took a full 60 minutes, Virginia's mistakes and the Dreisbach-to-Mercury Hayes combination for the Wolverines to win, 18-17. And after it all caved in on the Cavaliers, they flew back to Charlottesville, saying "If more often than Rudyard Kipling. If Hayes had worn larger shoes, he wouldn't have been in bounds by a half-size on the game-winning Spartan coach sounds disappointed after closed scrimmage Oy Chris Baldwin Lansing State Journal EAST LANSING On the day the 1995 college football season officially began, Michigan State coach Nick Saban took a good look at his team and -j groaned. EnSiaS "We've got a MSU notes.

lnZ Wfo go," p2 so Saban said Sat-rag8 urday after MSU scrimmaged in Spartan Stadium. "A long way to go." Whatever the Spartans did behind closed doors, they did not do it nearly well enough for Saban's liking. The self-professed perfectionist was not close to pleased and he had not even watched the tape of the despised Wolverines' 18-17 comeback victory over Virgina yet With only the coaches and players in attendance, the Spartans scrimmaged for about two hours Saturday afternoon, often match- ing this week. Several spots on the two-deep position charts are still up for grabs according to Saban. "If we had to play tomorrow I don't think we'd be close to ready," said junior middle linebacker Reggie Garnett.

"But we'll be ready in two weeks. "Even today you could see we're getting there. Everyone knew the calls and what they were supposed to do, we just made some mental mistakes." Sophomore outside linebacker Ike Reese left the scrimmage, happy in the knowledge MSU's defense does not have to try and stop quarterback Tony Banks when things start for real. "We looked bad at times," Reese said. "But Tony helped us look bad.

He's a lot more sure of himself back there, knowing where to throw the ball in all kinds of situations." Now the situation for the Spartans is more practice, more waiting and watching others play. "We're at the time of year now when you can't wait to get out there and play," Garnett said. "I can waif Saban said. "We've got plenty of work to do still.".