Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 63

DETROIT FREE PRESSMONDAY, MAY 18, 1987 3F Wolverines win 2, face Purdue in title game Pitching beats Ioiva, Boilers By MICK McCABE Free Prest Sportt Writer ANN ARBOR All of the winners' bracket and losers' bracket figuring is over. The Big Ten baseball tournament is down to one game at 1 p.m. today. Sophomores Chris Lutz and Jim Abbott turned in outstanding pitching performances Sunday as Michigan defeated Iowa, 7-1, and Purdue, 5-2. In the doubleheader the Wolverines (50-10) banged out 19 hits, seven by freshman first baseman Phil Price, who had three RBIs and reached base in all 10 plate appearances.

Lutz eliminated Iowa (29-28) on a six-hitter in the opener. It was the first time Lutz (6-0) has pitched in a game in 10 days, and his complete game was a bonus. the win over Minnesota Saturday by throwing one pitch. Price was sensational, with five singles, a double, a triple, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. For the tournament, he has reached base safely 12 straight times.

"I don't think I've ever gone he said. "I didn't put any pressure on myself and Danny Hall (assistant coach) opened up my front foot. was able to get the barrel of the bat out ofi the ball." Purdue is expected to start righthander Tom Richter (5-5) today. Middaugh said he is unsure who will pitch for the Wolverines. "When you get into a championship game, everybody's available," Middaugh said.

"I just wanted him (Lutz) to watch for a while," U-M coach Bud Middaugh said. "He had not been throwing well and he had to overcome mono he got just before the spring trip." U-M HAD TO beat Iowa to get a chance at the Boilermakers, and Lutz struck out 10 and walked only one. "I didn't feel a whole lot of pressure," Lutz said. "I had a feeling going in we were going to score some runs. It wasn't like I was going to have to shut them out.

I was just taking it an inning at a time." The big inning was the fourth. U-M had a 1-0 lead when Bill St. Peter was safe on an error and Chris Gagin singled to center. With two outs, Mike high hopper to the pitcher for the second out. That put runners on second and third, but instead of intentionally walking Tom Brock, Purdue pitched to him and he lined a hit to deep center that scored two runs for a 5-2 lead.

"If I was them I would have pitched to me, too," Brock said. "I had the hat trick (three strikeouts) in the first game. Abby (Abbott) threw a hell of a game and I'm just glad I could help. He deserves the win after coming back after one day." ABBOTT FINALLY ran out of steam in the top of the eighth after Purdue led off with an infield single. In came Greg Everson, whose first pitch resulted in a double play.

Everson got Gillette, Jim Durham and Steve Finken hit consecutive infield singles, scoring two runs. A third run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Price. Abbott (10-3) was the loser to Iowa in U-M's opening game Friday, when he pitched 3 V3 innings. Again Sunday, he didn't have his best stuff, but he battled Purdue (36-20-1), which would have won the double-elimination tournament by beating U-M. "Wasn't that great the way Abbott threw?" Middaugh asked.

"He wanted the ball so bad. I would really have liked to have waited until tomorrow, but you don't know if there will be a tomorrow. That was the most important game at hand. I asked him to go out and give me five good innings and he gave us a strong seven." ABBOTT SCATTERED six hits and permitted just one earned run. "Today we got some breaks and we got some big plays by the defense," Abbott said.

"Without striking out many hitters (three) you need good defense." The score was tied, 2-2, in the top of the seventh when U-M loaded the bases Durham doubled, Finken was hit by a pitch and Price singled in the infield. Durham scored on Darrin Campbell's A Alysheba slow to gain acclaim despite pursuit of Triple Crown By GENE GUIDI Free Press Sports Writer BALTIMORE He has yet to capture the imagination of the racing world in the manner of Whirlaway, Citation or Secretariat. But despite the present perspective, the fact Phil Krueger hits wall Sunday; he was unhurt. Indy 500 lineup remains that a victory in the June 6 Belmont Stakes will reserve a place in history for Aly-sheba right next to the greatest thoroughbreds ever. Not only will a Belmont win make Alysheba only the 12th horse to capture thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, it will earn him $5 million in purses and bonuses, putting him second to John Henry in all-time win- ninos 3 bumped at Indy; Carter re-enters INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A last-minute rush on Sunday filled the 33-car field for the May 24 Indianapolis 500, bumping three slower qualifiers and leaving a race-day lineup slower than expected but loaded with experience and a record nine former winners.

The day began with three positions open. After former pole-winner and track-record holder Pancho Carter withdrew one car to qualify another and Phil Krueger became the victim of the 23d crash of the month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there were still three spots to fill until the last, hectic 90 minutes of the six-hour qualifying session. Rookie Davy Jones, Carter, Ed Pimm, George Snider and Steve Chassey filled the last five spots and rookies Sammy Swindell, Dominic Dobson and Rocky Moran all were knocked from the lineup. The field average is 207.194 m.p.h., well short of the record of 210.358 set last year and far short of expectations when practice opened May 2. It is the first time since 1980 that the average speed has gone down at Indianapolis.

A.J. Foyt's team qualified four cars for the 71st Indy classic. It is the first time a four-car team has made it into the race since 1970. Foyt, George Snider, Jones and rookie Stan Fox qualified. In all during the four days of time trials, there were 64 qualifying attempts, 39 completed.

Two were withdrawn. After Moran qualified at 199. 157 and Dobson at 201.240, Jones filled the field with the day's fastest four-lap, 10-mile qualification run at 208.117. 1 Snider, who qualified for his 22d Indy start despite crashing In a qualifying attempt last weekend, bumped Moran with a run of 203.192. Chassey, who finished 1 1th here in 1983, had only one lap over 200 in two aborted qualifying attempts during the day.

But on the last of his three allowable qualifying attempts, he put his car into the field at 202.488, sending Dobson away. Before the long afternoon lull, during which the nonqualified drivers practiced in an effort to come up with enough speed, Krueger walked away without injury from the only incident of the day, hitting both the outside wall and the fence along the inside of the track in Turn 1. he beat has given any indication of developing into a horse to remember. Van Berg said Alysheba would be shipped to New York in a couple of days to prepare for the Belmont. Bet Twice and Cryptoclearance, third in the Preakness after lacking racing room at times, will be in New York on June 6 to try Alysheba one more time.

Gulch, fourth in the Preakness, isn't likeiy to chase Alysheba at l'2 miles. Avies Copy, fifth, will skip the Belmont in favor of the Ohio Derby. The remaining Preakness finishers Phantom Jet, Lookinforthebigone, No More Flowers and Harriman also will pass on the Belmont. THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE to Alysheba's Triple Crown dreams likely will come from Woody Stephens, the venerable trainer who has won five straight Belmonts. Stephens is talking about sending the entry of Gone West and Conquistarose in search of his sixth straight Belmont, Conquistarose loves to race on muddy tracks, and it has rained on three of the last six Belmont days.

If it doesn't rain, Conquistarose might not start. Gone West, who will race next in Sunday's Peter Pan in New York, is the stronger half of the entry. He'll have one edge over Alysheba a prep race over the Belmont track. Other possible Belmont starters include: Never Waver, owned by George Steinbrenner; Shawklit Won, winner of more than and Leo Castelli, who dueled Alysheba in the Blue Grass Stakes 10 days before the Derby. One minor concern for Van Berg is that he'll have to prepare Alysheba for the grueling 1 -mile Belmont with- out the diuretic Lasix.

New York doesn't permit the use of medication. Van Berg used Lasix on Alysheba at Pimlico as a precaution because the colt had throat surgery this spring. But Van Berg said the horse can race without medication if necessary. POS DRIVER CHASSIS-ENGINE SPEED 1. Mario Andretti Lola-Chevrolet 215.390 2.

Bobby Rahal Lola-Cosworth 213.316 3. Rick Mears March-Chevrolet 211.467 4. A.J. Foyt Lola-Cosworth 210.935 5. Roberto Guerrero March-Cosworth 210.680 6.

Dick Simon Lola-Cosworth 209.960 7. ArieLuyendyk March-Cosworth 208.337 8. Johnny Rutherford March-Cosworth 208.296 9. Michael Andretti March-Cosworth 206.129 10. Emerson Fittipaldi March-Cosworth 205.584 11.

Ludwig Heimrath Lola-Cosworth 207.591 12. Rich Vogler March-Buick 205 887 13. Jeff MacPherson March-Honda 205.688 14. Scott Brayton March-Cosworth 205.647 15. Geoff Brabham March-Honda 205.503 16.

Gary Bettenhausen March-Cosworth 204.504 17. Danny Sullivan March-Chevrolet 210.271 18. Fabrizio Barbazza March-Cosworth 208.038 19. Gordon Johncock March-Cosworth 207.990 20. Derek Daly March-Buick 207.522 21.

Al Unser Sr. March-Cosworth 207.423 22. Tom Sneva March-Buick 207.254 23. Al Unser Jr. March-Cosworth 206.752 24.

Randy Lewis March-Cosworth 206.209 25. Kevin Cogan March-Chevrolet 205.999 26. Josele Garza March-Cosworth 205.692 27. Stan Fox March-Cosworth 204.518 28. Tony Bettenhausen March-Cosworth 203.892 29.

Davy Jones March-Cosworth 208.117 30. Pancho Carter March-Cosworth 205.154 31. Ed Pimm March-Cosworth 203.284 32. George Snider March-Chevy 203.192 33. Steve Chassey March-Cosworth 202.488 "I keep hearing that this is a Chris McCarron weak crop of three-year-olds," trainer Jack Van Berg said.

"I don't know about that, all I know is that my horse keeps winning. This horse proved how good he was (in the Preakness). No one had any excuses. "And as far as going 1 miles in the Belmont, this horse can run from here to California if you put him on the highway and point him in the right direction." Everyone doesn't share Van Berg's confidence in Alysheba, despite the colt's wins in the Derby and Preakness with jockey Chris McCarron. THERE ARE A couple of reasons for that: The slow times.

His Derby win in 2:03 25 was the slowest in 14 years; his winning Preakness time of 1:55 45 was the slowest since 1975. The narrow victory margins. In both races, Alysheba beat runner-up Bet Twice by less than a length. The lack of keen competition. None of the three-year-olds The spirit of Marlboro in a low tar cigarette.

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