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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1985)
Page 8/The Battalion/Friday, March 29, 1985 SPORTS Barnyard beasts infest Olsen Field Ags hope to rock Razorbacks By BRANDON BERRY Sports Writer C.E. “Pat” Olsen Field is located just west of the Texas A&M main campus, between the railroad tracks and the horse farms. In accordance with its rural set ting, Olsen Field and the A&M base- Photo by DEAN SAITO The A&M baseball team hopes to get past Arkansas as easily as Jimmy Flowers (32) got back to first on this pickoff play. ball team host two highly regarded barnyard tmimals this weekend — the Arkansas Razorbacks and the San Diego Chicken. The Ags face the Hogs Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday in a double- header beginning at 1 p.m. No. 5 Arkansas (22-4, 4-2 in the Southwest Conference) claimed two victories at the expense of the peren nial power Texas in a series played in Fayetteville last weekend. The Ags obviously have their ■ “chores” cut out for them. “It’s really tough for us, but it’s great for baseball fans in this area,” said A&M Coach Mark Johnson, “to be able to start the conference sea son with an opponent as good as Ar kansas and be able to add in the San Diego Chicken, too — he’s a great entertainer.” “I’d be really disappointed if we didn’t have some big crowds for these games.” Johnson has had his share of dis appointments lately. Since beginning the season 11-0, the Aggies have stumbled to a 21-8 record that has included losses to Oklahoma, Kansas, Houston and, most recently, Minnesota. “There’s no question that we’re in a little bit of a slump right now and everyone’s a little bit frustrated,” Johnson said. “But we talked about the possibility of this happening be fore the season began. Every team goes through what we’re going through at some time or another.” The Ags’ problems can generally be traced back to two crucial ingre dients — pitching and defense. A&M committed 11 errors in four games against Minnesota and gave up more unearned runs than they had in all eleven games of the sea son-opening winning streak com bined. Pitching, a major concern of coaches and players before the sea son started, has escalated into an enigma of inexperience and attri tion. Tom Arrington, a right-handed pitcher who was the 1984 Southwest Conference Post-Season Tourna ment’s Most Valuable Player and the ace of the Aggies’ pitching staff, has er three missed over three weeks with back spasms. Russ Swan, a left-hander who had started the season well with three victories, has also missed his last two turns in the starting rotation due to an injury. “We have had some sore arms on our staff and you can’t help but miss a pitcher like Tom Arrington,” Johnson said. “Arkansas is a really good team and, from what people nave told me, they’ve done it with pitching. They run the bases well and they are well- coached. But I’ll tell you one thing — we won’t be intimidated by them.” Ags fori The Te team is ho] to the finis of the Bayc “I don’t Photo Courtesy A&M Sports U The San Diego Chicken (above) takes his wild antics into Ol sen Field Friday night for the A&M-Arkansas baseball game. NCAA swim meet marks shattered Associated Press AUSTIN — Florida’s Mat Cetlinski and California’s Matt Bi- ondi shattered American and meet records in the men’s 500-yard free style and 50-yard freestyle, respec tively, on Thursday during qualify ing trials in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Champions at the Uni versity of Texas Swim Center. Cetlinski’s time of 4:14.85 bet tered the American and NCAA re cord of 4:15.56 established by George DiCarlo of Arizona in 1984. The Olympian DiCarlo was sec ond in qualifying at 4:15.48 and Olympic teammate Mike O’Brien of Southern California was third in 4:15.73. Biondi, a Trojan sophomore, posted a time of 19.32 seconds to eclipse the American and NCAA re cord of 19.36 established by UCLA’s Robin Leamy in 1981. Thomas Jager of UCLA tied the old record to finish second in qual ifying with Scott McCadam of Iowa State third in 19.63. The Stanford Cardinals’ 400-yard medley relay team also established a new American record with a qualify ing time of 3:11.93, breaking the did mark of 3:12.63 by Southern Meth odist in 1983. In the 200-yard individual med ley, Morales qualified No. 1 in the slow time of 1:46.49, well off the American record of 1:45.00. The early qualifying events rep resented some disappointments for the Florida team, which is seeking its third consecutive title. Florida failed to qualify even for the consolation finals in the 400- yard medley relay. Texas A&M Sportscope A&M baseball team host Arkansas in 3-game series Mark Johnson’s Texas A&M baseball team (21-8) hosts its first Southwest Con ference game at Olsen Field against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Saturday, the teams will complete the three-game series with a double-header at 1 p.m. No. 7A&M men netters take on Louisiana Tech, women to battle Lamar David Kent’s No. 7 Texas A&M men’s tennis team (14-2) hosts the Louisiana Tech University Bulldogsina dual-match Friday at the Omar Smith Tennis Center beginning at 1 p.m. Jan Baldwin's women netters willbein action Saturday at home in a dual-match with Lamar, beginning at 10 p.m. A&M softball team hosts Aggie Invitational Tournament Bob Brock’s No. 3-ranked Texas A&M softball team will be action this Friday through Sunday, hostingthe Aggie Invitational Softball Tournament at the Southwood Athletic Complex in College Station. meets too Bill Nix. Nix isn’t looking foi big of a st field slated But he from his A; “Every t out and ini only hope t Freshnui things off 1 meter run 25-lap race nets, Nix s tance. “I feel t her better her first att But the only one la Dreves’ Dedrick at pete in lh< Becky Dre ing a secor 5,000-mete Noel sai sonal recor runningalc teammates best comp; time of 10 i “I like meets beca said. For Ded more step the Texas drick has t for the Te only the 16 run. So, fo only wait at Sprintin blocks, Jui Russell will 400-meters