Page 4 College Station, Texas Friday, April 30, 1971 THE BATTALION G Aggies, Longhorns square off with SWC title at stake By CLIFFORD BROYLES The Texas Aggies and Univer sity of Texas in Austin Longhorns have played 76 games between them this season, but the next three are the most important of all as the two teams collide on Kyle Field Monday and Tuesday, with the Southwest Conference championship going to the winner. The Aggies and Longhorns will tangle in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Monday and a 3 p. m. single Tues day. A&M extended its season record to 31-6 with a 7-2, 12-1 sweep of the University of Houston Thurs day afternoon, pounding out 26 hits. The Longhorns have a 30-9 record following a doubleheader win over Dallas Baptist Tuesday. The Longhorns have won 22 of their last 25 games after having a slow start. They had to replace five starters from last year. The transition period cost the Horns a 8-6 record to start out the season, but they have been buoyed since then by three re turning veterans and a trans plant. First baseman John Langer- hans has a .421 average for the season with an amazing 12 home runs and 58 runs batted in. Third baseman David Clark is hitting .408 for the year with five homers and 54 runs batted in. The junior from Dallas has a school record of 62 hits. Second baseman Mike Markl is hitting .357 for the season and just returned from a broken wrist injury. The transplant is rightfielder Walt Rothe. Rothe last year worked as a pitcher but had a .318 batting mark. They moved him to rightfield and he now has a .391 average with nine home A&M Rugby club meets Rice to decide Texas rugby title The Texas A&M Rugby Club travels to Houston Saturday morning to play Rice University for the championship of the Texas Rugby Union. The game—slated for 10 a.m. at Memorial Park on Washington Street—will match the northern division champs, A&M, against the southern division winners. “They’ve got a very big team,” coach Roger Boos said. Boos said that the Aggies and Rice met last semester with Rice taking a close victory in the final minutes of an overtime period. Scheduled to start for the Ag gies are: Gary Junot, fullback; Andy Scott and John Gunn, wings; Mark Fisher and Gene Anderson, centers; Butch Pres ton, flyhalf; John Ray ton, scrum- half; Steve Sturman, Allen Hines and Don Barr, first line forwards; Bill Scherle and Phil Tyber, sec ond line forwards; Don Robertson and Brian Marshall, wing for wards; and Bob Elmore, number eight. runs and 40 runs batted in. Those four have taken up most of the slack but the newcomers have improved steadily. Take shortstop Amador Tijerina. The 5-3 transfer from Odessa JC is batting only .250 for the year but since SWC play has started he is hitting .409. Jimmy Crouch and Charlie Crenshaw have taken over in the outfield. Crouch owns a .258 average but has a .286 mark against SWC competition. Cren shaw is a .306 batter for the season but less than .200 in league play. The number one strong point of the Longhorns is, however, Burt Hooton. Hooten, the junior righthander from Corpus Christi King (Aggie baseballer Larry Smith, Jim Atterbury and Jim Wallace are from the same high school), has a remarkable 34-2 record since coming to the Austin school and this year has 10-1 standard with a 0.77 era for 81 innings in which he has struck out 126 men. Hooton will start the first game of the series and if needed will pitch in relief later or pos sibly if he has to may start two games in the series. Lefthander Mike Beard and Donnie Horne are the Horns other scheduled pitchers. Beard has a 5-2 record with 3.90 era and Horne, unbeaten in 5 SWC decisions has a 5-1 record with 2.82 era. “They are a well balanced ball club,” Aggie coach Tom Chandler said of the Longhorns. “It’s go ing to be a great series.” 9-under after 36 holes Veriato burns up course By CLIFFORD BROYLES Battalion Sports Editor “Don’t get too close to him or you’ll get burned,” said Arkansas golfer Mike Mosser as he headed down the fairway after teeing off on the 17th hole at the Southwest Conference golf tournament on the A&M golf course Thursday afternoon. Mosser was referring to Aggie golfer Steve Veriato as he was approached by his caddy. Veriato was probably capable of doing just what Mosser warned of, as the A&M sophomore fired a pair of blistering subpar rounds to take a commanding lead at the halfway point of the meet. Veriato fired a three-under-par 67 on the first 18 holes Thursday, yet trailed teammate Tommy Johnson by two strokes as he turned the first 18 in 65. But in the second round Veriato shot a 64, one short of the course rec ord, to finish the day with a 131 total, five strokes ahead of John son, his nearest competitor. Chuck Brownfield and Jim Cisne of Arkansas both finished the second round with subpar scores and are tied for third at 139. The golfers play 36 holes today to complete the 72-hole tourna ment to decide the medalist for the Southwest Conference. Veriato fired 14 birdies in the 36 holes of play with the weather hot and humid under overcast skies. His second round was es pecially impressive as he went through the front nine in a four- under-par 31, as he shot par or better on every hole. He paired holes two, three and four after birdieing the first and then con secutively birdied the fifth, sixth and seventh. Veriato seasoned his good shooting with a mixture of good putting. “I putted like you’re supposed to today,” he said. “I didn’t make any real bad shots.” He noted that the greens on the course were in good shape and helped his game considerably. Team champion Texas Tech showed why it won that honor with its balanced array of four golfers. Jim Whitteker and Steve Thompson had 144’s, Hamilton Rogers at 145 and Stan Wilemon a 146 for the Raiders. The results of the first day’s play were: Steve Veriato, A&M, 67-64—131; Tommy Johnson, A&M, 65-71—136; Chuck Brown field, Arkansas, 71-68—139; Jim Cisne, Arkansas, 70-69—139; Stan Altgelt, SMU, 70-72^-142; Jim Whitteker, Tech, 72-72—144; Steve Thompson, Tech, 72-72— 144; Jerry Gatti, TCU, 72-72— 144; Hamilton Rogers, Tech 72- 73—145; Mike Mosser, Arkansas, 73-72—145; Stan Wilemon, Tech, 72-74—146; John Scott, Rice, 71- 75—146; David Montgomery, SMU, 77-72—149; Eddie Vossler, TCU, 75-74—149; Larry Law rence, Baylor, 75-74—149. Ag netters falter Solomon, Owls advance MICHAEL RICE Battalion Sports Writer Freshman superstar H a r o Id Solomon swung his way into Fri day’s singles quarterfinals, Thurs day on varsity courts, where the Aggies are hosting the three- day Southwest Conference Tennis Championships. Solomon, the freshman ace who competed in the River Oaks Tour ney last weekend, led the way for his three teammates into the quarterfinals, trouncing Phil Lan- dauer of Arkansas 6-1, 6-2, after drawing a bye in the first round. He appears to be on a collision A g polo s at OU water tournament The Texas Aggie water polo team, fresh from a victory of the University of Texas-Austin, journeys to Norman, Okla., Sat urday for the University of Okla homa Invitational Water Polo tournament. Scheduled to make the trip for the Aggies will be Fred Meyers, course with All-American team mate Zan Guerry for the finals, to be held Saturday. Guerry is seeded second in the champion ships behind Solomon. A&M’s entries in the singles, Mike Hickey, Dickie Fikes, Jon Ragland and Tommy Connell, lost in the second round in the race for the quarterfinals. Hickey was defeated by Texas’ Jim Bayless 6-3, 0-6, 6-4; Ragland by SMU’s Jay Paulson 6-4, 6-1; Fikes by Rice’s Gus Pellizzi 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; and Connell by Tim Vann of SMU, 6-1, 6-4. The doubles team of Dan Cour- san and Hickey was defeated by TCU’s team, Juan Corominas and Ned James, 7-5, 6-4, leaving the only entry left for A&M in the second round, the doubles duo of Fikes-Ragland, which drew a bye in the first round. As there was only time for one full round of doubles competition, there were no major upsets in the doubles matches. However, the duo of Solomon-Guerry defeated Baylor’s Tommy Sheives and Jack Vance 7-6, 6-2, in the only second petition with Vann and Paulson of SMU, Bayless of Texas, and George Moncada of Baylor, to round out the competition for Friday. I'illflllBlIllMlIillllMI Steve Sonnenberg', Mike Shary, Doug’ CarSon, Martin Littekin, Steve Prentice, Bob Willoughby, Mike McClellan, and Bill Stewart. round doubles competition. Going into the singles quarter finals, all four men of the cham pion Rice group were still in com- lllHIHIIlHiHBiHIIHHBHBIIIIHKHHHRBBIIHHHiililiiHlllilllllBfIlli Mike Hickey NOW OPEN JET PILOT BURGER HUT SUNGLASSES with the famous SPECIAL Wheel Burger serving steaks, breakfast and fresh $3.95 catfish. While They Last Hamburgers — 35 Steak Orders — $1.45 317 University Drive at LOU’S “They’ve got the number one college pitcher in the country in Hooton,” he said. Hooton beat the Aggies last year in the game that decided the conference title 8-0. But Chandler looks at the series from his side of the fence and says he can’t worry about who Texas is going to pitch. He’s got to worry about his own club. “We’ve got them in our ball park. And we’ve got to beat them two out of three to prove we’re champions.” Chandler feels that pitching and defense are the keys to the series and is yet undecided on who will do the pitching. Five different hurlers are under consideration. Either righthander Charlie Kelley 7-1 or lefty Bruce Katt 4-1 will pitch the first game Monday. Paul Czerwinski 7-1 will work the second game and either Charlie Jenkins 5-0 or Jackie Kinks 5-0 Tuesday. Czerwinski and Jenkins were the winning pitchers against Houston. The left side of the A&M in field was a little on the down side Thursday. Shortstop Butch Ghutzman sat out the twinbill to rest an injured wrist that has been bothering him for about a week. He will, however, be ready to go against Texas. Third baseman Jim Hacker sprained an ankle sliding into second base in the first game but reports say that Hacker will probably be okay for the series. The probable A&M lineup will be: Butch Ghutzman, .302, short stop; R. J. Englert, .368, left- field; Dave Elmendorf, .400, cen- terfield; Billy Hodge, .360; catch er; Jim Sampson, .312, Larry Smith .340, or Gene Reinarz ,250, rightfield; Chris Sans, .328, first base; Carroll Lilly, .352 or Sandy Bate, .185, second base; Jimmy Hacker, .286, third base; and the pitcher. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Ags unleash bats on Cougars The Texas Aggies welcomed back coach Tom Chandler with a 26-hit attack in smashing the Uni versity of Houston 7-2 and 12-1 Thursday afternoon on Kyle Field. The twinbill was a tuneup for the upcoming series with Texas, and the workout found the Aggies hitting on all c ylinders. A&M belted the two aces of the Hous ton staff with 12 hits in the seven-inning opener. Elroy Othold, who had a 7-0 record and had shut out Texas two weeks ago, was knocked out in the second inning. Center-fielder Dave Elmendorf was the big stick for the Aggies in the first game, smashing a single, double, and triple along with a walk. Chris Sans had a single and double while R. J. Englert added a pair of singles to the attack. Paul Czerwinski pitched the first four innings and picked up his seventh win against one loss. Charles Kelley notched a save with three innings of relief work. The Aggies suffered a bad break in the first game when freshman thirdsacker Jim Hacker twisted his ankle crossing second base. It was first feared that the ankle was broken, but an examin ation revealed only a sprain, and Hacker should be ready for the Texas series. With Elmendorf leading the way again, the Aggies exploded for seven runs in the eighth in. ning of the second game to back up a fine two-hit pitching jok| by three pitchers. Elmendorf I drove in four runs with a single || and double. Englert had three hits while Sans had a double anj | triple. Charlie Jenkins, who picked up I his fifth win without a loss, al. lowed one hit in the first three J innings. Bruce Katt followed witk three hitless frames, and Jackie Sinks allowed a hit in the lajt three innings. The victories lifted A&M’s sea. son record to 31-6 and ruined any hopes Houston might have hail of landing an NCAA playoflj berth. The Church..For a Fuller Life..For You 7„i SH,