By Jim Franz
Sports Editor

Mark Baumann has pitched championship horseshoes with Dale Lipovsky as both a partner and an opponent.

He prefers the former infinitely over the latter.

They were teammates this weekend and helped Minnesota I capture first place in the 1996 Team World event at Beloit's Edwards Sports and Activity Center.

It was Minnesota's fourth title in the past five years, but only Baumann's first. Five-time world champion Phyllis Negaard occupied his spot on the previous three winners (1992-1994)

``The state association pays our entry fee and takes the four highest percentages for the top Minnesota team; I beat her (Negaard) out,'' said Baumann, who has finished second to Lipovsky numerous times in the Minnesota individual state tournament. The Mankato native did beat him once, for the state title in 1993.

``Dale intimidates me a little bit,'' Baumann said. ``In '93 I shot just under 90 percent to beat him in a playoff. I haven't been able to repeat that. I've been second to him every year since.''

Baumann wasn't that surprised when he watched out of the corner of his eye as Lipovsky defeated previously unbeaten Sylvianne Moisan of Quebec, 23-19, on the adjacent court.

Baumann rallied for a 19-16 win over Moisan's husband, Andre Leclerc. Beth Nathe made it 3-0 for Minnesota by beating Angeline Moisan _Sylviann's mother, 26-17. Quebec's only win came when Marcel Boudreault edged Lu Cave, 25-22.

Sylvianne Moisan, a three-time Canadian champion and runnerup in the '95 World Tournament, had the highest ringer percent of the tournament, 79.24. But Lipovsky (75.65) beat her by taking her out of rhythm in the finals.

``She really likes to pitch at a faster pace than I do,'' he said. ``I just stuck to my normal pace and I think that might have taken her out of her game plan. I got a decent lead in the middle of the match and when I started to slip at the end she ran out of shoes to catch up.''

Baumann was playing attention. He fell behind 9-0 in his match, but rallied and gained some momentum by watching his teammates Lipovsky and Nathe lead their matches.

``I knew if they won and I could just stay close we'd have a good chance of pulling it out,'' said Baumann, who had earlier tossed 37 ringers in 40 attempts to tie Wisconsin's Randy Rein for the top ringer percent of the tourney _92.5. ``Maybe Andre was watching, too, because he started missing when Sylvianne was missing.``Quebec has a great team,'' Lipovsky said. ``We were fortunately to get ahead of them.''

Defending champion Kentucky finished third, but did win a tight match with Wisconsin I in the stepladder finals. The teams finished in a 2-2 tie and had exactly the same number of ringers. Kentucky (66.85) won by total points and the slimmest of margins, 101-100.

Against Minnesota, however, only former world champion Sue Snyder was able to win for Kentucky.

Fourth-place Wisconsin (69.27) was followed by Ontario (68.90), Indiana (66.23) and Missouri (68.33).

The three-day event was again hosted by the Beloit Horseshoe Club.