Page 9
sports
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1978
It’s conference time
A&M
I
iusan WiU
BY DERRICK GRUBBS
The Texas Aggies begin defense
of their Southwest Conference
baseball championship when they
host Houston in a three-game series
at Travis Park in Bryan.
The games were originally
scheduled to be played at A&M’s
new Olsen Field, but University of
ficials and A&M coach Torn Chan
dler agreed Wednesday afternoon
that the facility would not be ready
in time for the SWC opener on Fri
day.
The Aggies and the Cougars will
play a single nine-inning game Fri
day at 3 p.m. and a doubleheader at
1p.m. Saturday. Twinbill will con
sist of a seven-inning first game fol
lowed by a nine-inning nightcap.
UH comes to town with a 6-4 rec
ord and a four-game winning streak.
Last year they were 27-17-1 on the
season and finished sixth in the
SWC with a 11-12-1 league mark.
The Ags set themselves up for the
SWC championship with a three-
game sweep of their series with the
Cougars last vear, winning by scores
of 2-1, 7-1 and 3-0.
“We re an awfully young team
this year, says UH assistant
baseball coach Butch Ghutzman.
“We’ve had two or three freshmen
in our lineup most of the time, but
we’ve also made a lot of progress the
past few days.
“Just like a lot of teams, we’ve
been plagued by the bad weather
and haven’t gotten in as much work
as we would have liked. Right now
our pitching situation is up in the
air. We don t have our top three
starters from last year returning like
A&M does.
Still, the Cougars are not without
their share of talent. Their starting
rotation will likely include senior
Billy Blum, who is 2-0 with a 0.58
ERA. He has yielded only one
earned run in 15 innings on the
mound.
Another probable starter is
sophomore Tom Lukish, who is 0-1
with a 4.41 ERA, but leads the team
in strikeouts with 16. The third
starter could be either junior Greg
Shoemaker (1-0) or senior Lonnie
McKinney (0-0).
Contrary to Ghutzman’s assess
ment, UH also has a fair amount of
experience in their lineup. The
team they will likely field against
the Aggies includes four seniors and
four juniors, with freshmen only at
third base and designated hitter.
The probable Cougar lineup with
their season batting averages will
have junior Jay Beard (.324) in cen-
terfield, senior Gary Weiss (.167) at
second base, junior Donnie Randell
(.222) in leftfield, senior Donny
Lopez (.357) in rightfield, freshman
Mike Breslin (.321) at third base,
freshman Terry Byrum (.174) the
designated hitter, senior Steve
Kovar (.408) at shortstop, junior
Bobby Hollas (.167) at first base,
and junior Jeff Copeland (.313) at
catcher.
Beard currently leads the Coogs
in home runs (three) and RBI’s (10),
while both Lopez and Kovar have
hit safely in every one of Houston’s
games so far this year.
A&M will come into the series 6-2
after splitting a doubleheader with
St. Mary’s last Tuesday.
“Our pitching against St. Mary’s
was very impressive, Chandler said
Wednesday. “A team is no better
than its pitching and we ll need it
against Houston. UH is a hit and
run type of team with good speed.
They’ve got the best double play
combination in the conference in
Weiss and Kovar. They’ll be aggres
sive and come in ready to play.”
The rotation the Aggies will use
against Houston will have junior
Mark Ross (0-1) starting the nine-
inning game Friday, with junior
Mark Thurmond (2-0) and senior
David Pieczynski (1-0) slated to be
the starters in the doubleheader.
Chandler said he will use junior
John Pockrus in short relief , and
senior Jim McWilliams and
freshman Perry Swanson in long re
lief if needed.
The rest of the A&M lineup with
their season averages will have
senior Robert Bonner (.310) at
shortstop, junior Mark Warriner
(.300) at third base, sophomore
Mike Hurdle (.296) in centerfield,
junior Kyle Hawthorne (.500) at first
base, senior Robert Verde (. 167) in
leftfield, either senior Tim Feickert
(.316) or freshman Rodney Hodde
(.267) the designated hitter, junior
Shelton McMath (.150) in rightfield,
junior Buster Turner (.188) at
catcher, and junior Steve Robinson
(.200) at second base.
Hawthorne, besides leading the
team in hitting, also leads in home
runs (five), RBI’s (13) and total bases
(28). He is also beading up the Ag
gies in another less publicized statis
tic, on-base-average. Hawthorne
has gotten on base 26 of the 32 times
he has come to the plate.
Houston is one of the teams
Chandler believes will be in the bat
tle for the SWC crown.
“There’s no doubt they’ll be a top
contender. Beard is swinging a hot
bat and Blum and Lukish are two of
the better pitchers in the league.
They may have a couple of freshman
/
/
S
/
3
A&M catcher Buster Turner beats out an
infield hit. The junior from Texarkanna is
currently batting .188. A&M opens its SWC
season against the Houston Cougars this
weekend at Travis Park.
Battalion photo by Dean Clemens
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GOOD 2 P.M.-10 P.M.
2/23/78
103 COLLEGE
in their starting lineup, but overall,
they’re a veteran ball club.
The A&M-L T H series might lack
the modern surroundings of Olsen
Field, but when it comes down to
the primary issue, the bases at
Travis Park are 90 feet apart also.
A~ywt
xA:
jSMt7 favored in swim meet
f
With one of the fastest pools in
America serving as center stage, the
47th annual Southwest Conference
Swimming and Diving Cham
pionships open a three-day run this
weekend with defending champion
SMU expected to defend its peren
nial title.
Swimmers from eight schools
dive into competition Thursday at
the Olympic Center pool on the
campus of the University of Texas,
the site of hist year's meet which saw
SWC records broken in 12 of the 13
individual events and all three re
lays. Only Baylor will be missing
among the hopefuls as the Bears do
not field a swim team.
SMU, winner of 21 consecutive
swim championships, on paper
looks to be the pre-meet favorite,
having already won one meet over
its top rivals, Texas and Houston.
Mustang coach George McMillion
Igrees his team probably should be
favored, but not because of the lop
sided scores by which his team has
been winning.
"We are awfully strong in the re
lays and when you swim relay s in a
dual meet, they count much more
than in the conference meet, he
explained. “A team that might finish
second to us in the conference meet
will not lose nearly as many points
as had it been a dual meet.
Mustang tankers have turned in
the best times in all three relay
classes to date this season, well as
claiming top times in seven of the 13
individual groupings.
Sprinters Kim Davis, Mark
Chefiier and Andy Veris will lead
the SMU assault on the SWC record
book at tins year s ine#f \vbicli, ac
cording to McMillion, may s:ee
every conference record broken
again. Davis has already swum to a
time of 20.86 in the 50 freestyle,
below his SWG record of 20.88.
Veris, who leads both the 200 free
style and 500 ffeestyde rankings has
posted a best of 1:38.29 in the 200
freestyle, lower than his loop record
of 1:39.47.
Other top Mustang entrants in
clude Ken Brenton, whose time of
53.06 in the 100 backstroke is the
league’s top time to date, and Bill
Glasstetter in both the 100 and 200
butterfly. Glasstetter s clocking of
1:49.06 in recent 200 fly competi
tion tied his SWC record.
SMU’s top challenges for the title
are expected to come from Texas
and Houston. The Longhorns hold
five individual leads and the
Cougars two, but both are stong in
the distance and medley races,
which are generally thought to be
the Mustangs’ weakest.
Top Longhorn hopefuls include
SWC record-holder John McMahon
in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke
events, as well as distance man Jeff
Krumwiede and all-around per
former Darrell Fick. McMahon has
posted top times of 58.76 and
2:07.60 in his respective events to
lead the league, while Krumwiede
will challenge for the 1650 freestyle
championship. Pick’s best 4:04.30 in
the 400 individual medley is a top
time and his time of 4:35.43 is sec
ond to Veris in 500 freestyle compe
tition.
Houston hopes are can
tance swimmer Simon
another SWC reeord-1
Peter Dawson, whose
d by dis-
Cl ray,
ilder, and
time of
1:55.86 leads the participants in the
200 individual medley category .
Gray has swam to a 15:50.71 in the
1650 competition in 1978, after tie-
ing for high-point honors in last
year's meet.
Other top entrants include Mus
tang sprinters Bill Redinger, Greg
Kraus and Hunter Richmond; Texas
Doug Harlow whose time of 1:55.60
leads the 200 backstroke entries;
Texas A&M s Bob Leland, second to
McMahon in the 100 breaststroke*
with a 59.44, and Texas Tech s Eric
Muehlberger, runner-up to Brenton
with a clocking of 53.20 in the 100
backstroke.
Diving competition is wide open
as last year’s winner, SMU s Scott
Reich, has departed, as has
runners-up Keith Ranney and Pat
Bicker of the Mustangs. Longhorn
sophomore Tony Scott will chal
lenge for the title in both one-meter
and three-meter eomptition.
mm
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Basement Coffeehouse
Outdoor Friday March 3 1:00 p.m.
Concert
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3:00 p.m.
in the Coffeehouse - Rm. 208-MSC
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Call for more information
846-4611
GREAT ISSUES
AND
CAMAC
present
LE0NEL J. CASTILLO —
commissioner of immigration
and naturalization service,
speaking on —
“Aliens and their
economic impact
Thursday, March 2
8 p.m.
Room 206, M.S.C.
Students, free
Others, 50c
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