Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 51

Steve Klein Sports Editor 377-1071 Lansing State Journal Sunday, Sept. 30, 199k) Page 1E- a i P0ET nn Wolverines win big, 45-1 7, but running game struggles third straight Big Ten Conference title next Saturday at Wisconsin. Maryland fell to 3-2, its only other loss coming by one point to Clemson. Defensively, the Terrapins gave Michigan fits for the better part of three quarters. The Wolverines couldn't run the ball Vaughn needed a 21-yard touchdown dash to finish the first half with a net of 20 yards and that led to serious frustration.

"They were playing a lot of games, bringing in the linebackers a lot, and we just didn't make the adjustments," Vaughn said. "But we knew if we kept pounding on them, we'd wear them down, and we did." Greg Skrepenak, the 320-pound anchor of the offense, saw a well- They combined with three lost fumbles to give the Terrapins six turnovers, and a turnover deficit of 14 for the season. "I said coming in the one thing Maryland had to do to be a good, complete football team was cut down on the turnovers," said Michigan coach Gary Moeller. And was he ever glad the Terrapins stayed in character. "I'm happy to win.

We should have capitalized more, but the fact we forced that many turnovers is obviously a positive sign," Moeller said. "I wasn't pleased with the way we played, but it's a win, and any win is a good win. "Maybe it will correct our focus and show us just how far we are from where we want to be." What the Wolverines are is 2-1, at the completion of non-conference play. They begin pursuit of a Struggling offense. 8E Maryland 1-yard line.

So how did the sixth-ranked Wolverines manage to win so big, with so little going for them? Maryland countered the good things it did and they were numerous with one costly mistake after another. Take the second offensive play, for example. Quarterback Scott Zolak fades back to pass, finds U-M linebacker Martin Davis at the 27, and it's touchdown Michigan. Just 56 seconds have elapsed, and the Terrapins trail 7-0. Zolak, one-time waterboy for high-schooler Joe Montana in Mo-nongahela, went on to set a Maryland record for completions with 29, for 264 yards.

But he also threw three interceptions. Associated Press Michigan Jarrod Bunch is surrounded by Maryland urea Mines coached football team when he 0r see ivin-nioM. ray Kevin pompey (i 7), Scott km MSU back gains 229 yards! in 34-10 win; Hawkins hurt DAVE MATTHEWS tlansing State Journal if ANN ARBOR Don't be misled I by a trivial little thing like the final Saturday's 45-17 beating of 5 Maryland here Saturday didn't represent Michigan's finest hours of 1990. -You could describe it as winning and ugly. Wolverines were out-' gained by the Terrapins, 422 yards to 352.

-BU-M tailback Jon Vaughn, i yYio appeared a candidate for All- Jjitergalactic after two games, re-; turned to earth with 89 yards in 22 -carries, six of which resulted in 'losses. That was 155.5 yards under his pre-game average. Michigan fumbled four times i and lost three, one of them at the Michigan State's Tico Duckett XImX Zr- -v By JACK EBUNG Lansing State Journal EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. It was Michigan State's favorite brand of bone-crushing football except that some of those bones belonged to the Spartans. A 24-point second-half surge and 229 rushing yards by sophomore tailback Tico Duckett powered 22nd-ranked MSU to a 34-10 win over Rutgers Saturday night before just 26,188 fans in Giants Stadium.

The 1-1-1 Spartans dominated the last two periods with 208 yards rushing, after the 2-2 Scarlet Knights had stirred memories of a 17-13 upset two years ago with an excellent first half. "We started out really, really slow," said MSU coach George Perles after the school's 500th victory. "There's no excuse for playing that poorly in the first half. You wouldn't want to hear what was said at the half. A scolding would be a good term." Duckett, who carried the ball 33 times in the most-productive day of his career, apparently got the message.

He picked up 137 yards in 20 rushes after the break. "I want to prove I can run the ball 30 or 35 times," said the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder from Kalamazoo. "And the only way to do that is to do it." MSU quarterback Dan Enos did exactly what his coaches asked with 11 completions in 14 throws for 146 yards. But his biggest pass play brought the worst news of the night, as flanker Courtney Hawkins suffered a broken right collar- AL East I Boston 86 72 I Toronto 84 74 2 1 4 games remaining outs in the ninth against Dennis Lamp, capped by Kelly Gruber's grand slam. Clemens (21-6), whose comeback was postponed several times since he was sidelined Sept.

4 because of severe tendinitis, got three standing ovations when he took the mound to warm up. Then, he blanked the Blue Jays on five hits while striking out five and Whittier (38) and Larry Big Ten scores Michigan 34, Rutgers 10 Michigan 45, Maryland 1 7 Miami 48, Iowa 21 USC 35, Ohio State 26 IPinois 28, Indiana St. 10 Notre Dame 37, Purdue 1 1 I Indiana 37, EMU 6 I Northwestern 24, N. Illinois 7 MSU's next game is Saturday at 1 p.m. against Iowa Duckett dominates.

5E Spartan notebook. 5E bone in the third period. Hawkins is expected to miss the next six gamesSplit end James Bradley will have x-rays today on an injured thumb. And tight end Carlos Marino may need arthroscopic knee surgery, more bad news for Perles' program with the Big Ten opener against Iowa six days away. "You never replace a guy like Courtney," said Spartan offensive coordinator Morris Watts.

"Anytime you lose a starter, it hurts. And Courtney's a level above that." Rutgers quarterback Tom Tarver looked to be on the level of 1988 MSU nemesis Scott Erney in the first 30 minutes and finished with 16 completions in 26 throws See MSU. Page 5E Jays, 7-5 walking two. "My velocity was a bit better than I thought it would be," Clem-: ens said. "I had to reach down a couple of times, but I was done after the: sixth," Clemens said.

"I'm satisfied. I feel like a part of the team again, making an impact." Brunansky connected on three straight at-bats against three different pitchers for his first career three-homer game, and finished with five RBIs. "It's a player's dream to put up numbers like that and help your team win," Brunansky said. "I just got a couple of good pitches to hit and I didn't miss them." I SCORECARD PAL 3E Minnesota 2. Detroit Boston 7, Toronto 5 Baltimore at Cleveland (ppd.) Milwaukee 8.

New York 1 Chicago 5, Seattle 2 Oakland 7, Texas 3 Kansas City at California (n) NL 3E San Diego 3. Cincinnati 1 Chicago 3, New York 2 Montreal 5, Philadelphia 1 Pittsburgh 8, St. Louis Houston 9, Atlanta San Francisco 4, Los Angeles 3 Outdoors 10E Nearly 300,000 bow hunters will open deer season Monday." Michigan game managers ex-' pect them to take 8 1 ,000 deer statewide 40 percent from southern Michigan. Associated Press Rodriguez (67), Todd Lane (55) and Elnardo Webster (93). Twins top Tigers, 2-0 Red Sox go 2 up on cuts through the Rutgers' Ben long fly ball to center field that Shane Mack ran down near the wall.

Darnell Coles got both hits off, Erickson (8-4), singles in the third and the eighth. Rick Aguilera got four outs for his 31st save, striking out Coles with the bases loaded to end the game. Scott Aldred (1-2) took the loss despite allowing one run on four hits in six innings. "I'd like to have 30 or 40 Aldreds in our organization," Tigers manager Sparky Anderson said. "I knew from the day we signed him that he would be a major leaguer.

He has great poise and great talent." TIGER WATCH Saturday: Minnesota 2, Detroit O. The third-place Tigers (76-82) are 10 games behind Boston. Today: Minnesota (Mark Guthrie, 7-8) at Detroit (Walt Terrell, 5-4), 1:35 p.m. Radio: WMMQ 92.7 FM, WJR 760 AM. Reds clinch NL West.

3E Pirates clinch tie. 3E Brewers rout Yanks. 3E Associated Press BOSTON Roger Clemens provided the smoke and Tom Brun-ansky the firepower. Clemens returned with six shutout innings and Brunansky welcomed him back with three home runs Saturday as the Boston Red Sox opened a two-game lead over Toronto in the American League East, holding off the Blue Jays 7-5. A day after the Red Sox rallied in the ninth inning to sting Toronto in the opener of the three-game series, Boston brightened even more when Clemens seemed strong.

Still, it wasn't easy as Toronto scored five runs with two Associated Press DETROIT Pitchers duels are rare enough in the American league. But when two rookies teve one at Tiger Stadium, that's fcyen more special. Scott Erickson gave up just two tuts in 7 3 innings and won his fifth straight decision Saturday as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0. f-Cecil Fielder's attempt to become the first American Leaguer in 29 years to hit 50 homers regained stalled at 49. He hit four fly balls, including two with the bases loaded that ended innings.

the third inning, Fielder hit a Trip to Shea Stadium turns out to be major league task Y4 JACK EBUNG It was the 16th win for Gooden in his last 17 decisions good enough to help overtake every team but the Pirates. The second most despised fan in Shea Friday was a fanatic follower of Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston, who brought his "Shawon-o-Meter" stat board all the way from Chicago. Three strikeouts later, he was gone. But Public Enemy No. 1 was a guy who wore a Pirates T-shirt and cap and refused to roar when the massive Sharpvision scoreboard showed Cardinal home runs and set off a premature anti-Pirate party.

He couldn't have been any less-popular if he'd hollered to the injured Darryl Strawberry, "Don't sign with the Mets, ya bum! Go bat behind Cecil Fielder!" With a divisional title to win, there was no talk at Shea about Fielder's quest for 50 home runs and no Cec-pools on when that might happen. We're just happy to know it'll be after we got back to Newark. lack Ebling is a member of the Lansing State Journal sports staff. the guard dogs behind the fences on Roosevelt Avenue and bought $10 loge-level tickets from scalpers at face value. Just when at least one of us started to question the entire adventure, three nice things happened in a surprisingly pleasant five-level facility.

Dave Magadan picked up a bat. Gooden picked up his team. And a crowd of 37,586 picked up the subtleties of baseball most fans never see. Magadan went 4-for-4 with two doubles, raised his average six points to .330 and sent NL pacesetter Willie McGee a message, wherever he is. If the Mets' streaking first baseman goes 9-for-20 in his final five games, he'll pass McGee, now a member of the Oakland A's and the leader in the clubhouse at .335.

The biggest factor in McGee's favor this week might be not having to face Gooden, who fanned 10 Cubs and allowed just five hits in eight shutout innings. He also led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and scored the game's first run, then dropped a perfect bunt in the sixth to set up an insurance score in a 7-1 triumph. 'l NEW YORK It was a great idea a week ago and a nice memory this morning. 'I But for roughly an hour and a half Friday 'rpght, we wondered if we'd ever reach Shea Stadium. The gameplan was simple enough four sportwriters would drive from Newark, N.J., to Queens for a Cubs-Mets matchup yith NL East playoff implications.

The problem started when a hotel concierge gave us a route that passed through every borough but State College, Pa. "You should be there in about 30 minutes," he said with a smile as he scribbled directions. He must have laughed a lot louder as we headed out the door. We couldn't have made it to our seats in a naif-hour if we'd chipped in and chartered a helicopter. could have made it in an hour, however, if our navigator knew the difference between a map and a menu.

Let's just say my Lansing State Journal colleague, Gordon Trowbridge, will never work for NASA. If he does, our next flight to Mars is bound for Pluto. With a 50-50 chance he'd get lost in a phone booth, it's no wonder Trowbridge had us headed 15 miles sideways toward the wrong airport. Eventually, about the time Doc Gooden fired his first pitch, we righted ourselves and joined the near-gridlock on the Van Wyck Expressway. Finally, a sign for Shea and Flushing Meadow appeared.

An inning later, we parked our rental car and began walking from somewhere in the vicinity of Baltimore. By the top of the third, we'd gotten past all.