Eastern Michigan is final tuneup for Wildcats

Brian D. Rothschild Arizona Daily Wildcat UA freshman Mike Myer stays alive fouling off a pitch against Oral Roberts. Myer has seen time at third base, first and atdesignated hitter filling in for the injured Jeff Gjerde. He's hitting .317 with nine RBI.

The Eagles (1-0) will be in Tucson to face the Wildcats (12-9) today at 2:30 p.m. The two teams will meet again tomorrow at the same time.

The two-game series cannot be looked over by the Wildcats because it is the team's last opportunity to establish a steady line-up before conference play begins for the Wildcats this weekend at California.

"There are no warm-ups," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said. "There are no such things in baseball. You treat a team like this team as a warm-up, you get your butts beat."

Sophomore left-hander Rob Shabansky (2-1) will take the mound in today's contest.

The Eagles beat Grand Canyon College yesterday 9-4 in Phoenix.

Eastern Michigan is entering the 1997 season after a 26-29 record last year. Its Mid-American conference record of 16-16 was good enough for seventh place out of 10 teams.

The Eagles are led by senior right fielder Scott Barrett, who hit .318 last season with 43 RBI and a team-high seven home runs. The Eagles only other returning .300 hitter is sophomore first baseman Greg Ryan, who finished hitting .313 with four home runs and 29 RBI.

Today marks the first appearance by Shabansky since straining his right hip flexor muscle against Texas A&M on Feb. 16.

After five appearances this season, Shabansky is sporting a 3.38 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings. He has allowed only seven walks and opposing batters are hitting a mere .221 against him.

The Wildcats will be riding the bat of junior center fielder Diego Rico, their lead-off hitter and the owner of a 14-game hitting streak. During the streak, Rico has had 10 multi-hit games and is currently leading the team with a .429 batting average and five triples. His 33 hits and 22 runs scored are good for second on the team.

Still out of action is senior designated hitter Jeff Gjerde, who is day-to-day after injuring a nerve in his right hand in a Feb. 11 game against Cal State-Dominguez Hills. The only action Gjerde has seen since then is a pinch-hit appearance against Texas A&M on the Feb. 16.

Gjerde was Arizona's best hitter last season. He was hitting .388 with 12 RBI before the injury.

One player the Wildcats are glad to see come off the disabled list is junior second baseman Erik Mattern.

Mattern, who had mononucleosis at the beginning of the season, has hit .438 with 14 hits and seven doubles in only nine games. He has committed only one error this season, good for a .975 fielding percentage.

After the two-game set, Arizona will travel to Berkeley, Calif. to face the Golden Bears in a three-game series starting Friday.

Cal finished just ahead of the Wildcats in conference play last season with a 10-20 conference record. Arizona was 7-23, finishing last.