Page 8
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1978
No place like home; just ask A&M
By DERRICK GRUBBS
There's no place like home — but
the Texas A&M baseball team
wouldn t know much about that sort
of thing.
For the fourth time this season,
the Aggies are forced to move a
home series to Bryan s Travis Park
— be it ever so humble.
The Ags were slated to play their
first games at Olsen Field this
weekend against the Oral Roberts
Titans, but heavy rains earlier this
week has pushed back construction
on the $2 million facility.
The latest word now is that the
stadium will be baptized March 21
when the USC Trojans come in.
That date has also been set as the
official dedication for the stadium.
The Aggies play the Trojans in a
single game at 3 p.m. following the
ceremonies.
“Were very disappointed about
not getting to play in the new
stadium as we had planned,’’ said
Aggie coach Tom Chandler. “But
considering the rain and construc
tion delays, it is more feasible that
we play these early games at Travis
Park. Not playing at Olsen Field
this weekend will prove worthwhile
in the long run I think.
The Titans come to Aggieland
with a season record of 5-0 after de
feating Southeastern Oklahoma 7-6
Monday. Their Tuesday game with
John Brown University was called
due to wet grounds.
Last season ORU finished 35-17
in Larry Cochell’s first year as head
coach. The Titans were 15th in the
nation in team scoring as they aver
aged 7.7 runs per game.
Prior to going to ORU, Cochell
served as head baseball coach at
California State University at Los
Angeles. During his five-year ten
ure at Cal State, he coached 24
players who signed professional
baseball contracts, more than than
any coach in the nation during that
period. His teams won the Pacific
Athletic Conference championship
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two years, reaching the NCAA Dis
trict 8 playoffs on both occasions.
He was also named NCAA Western
Regional “Coach of the Year.”
This year, Oral Roberts will be
led by all-America thrid baseman
Bob Volk, who hit .407 last season as
a junior. Volk also led the Titans in
home runs, RBI’s and total bases.
Another standout in the ORU
lineup is senior second baseman Bill
Springman who led the team in as
sists and and stolen bases in 1977
and was also a high pick in the pro
draft last summer.
The rest of Cochell’s lineup will
include junior Aurdie Culpert at
first base, sophomore Gary D’Onof-
rio at shortstop, senior Tim Richards
in rightfield, junior Wayne Stone in
center, junior Mark Adelmann in
left, and senior George Bjorkman
doing the catching.
Volk, Springman, D’Omofrio,
Richards and Bjorkman are return
ing starters from last year.
The pitching rotation the Aggies
will face in the three-game series
will likely include sophomore War
ren Hollier, senior lefty Ron Meridith
and Tim Richards, who does double
duty in the outfield and on the
mound.
Hollier is the only pitcher on the
78 ORU staff that faced A&M in last
year’s doubleheader played in
Tulsa, Okla. The 6-foot, 5-inch right
hander started the first game and 10
hits, five earned runs, walked six
and struck out four. The Titans won
that opener 9-8 in a game that saw
the lead change hands six times.
Hollier pitched only 6% innings of
the nine-inning affair and did not
get a decision.
The Aggies came back behind the
five-hit pitching of Mark Ross to win
the nightcap of that twinbill 2-0.
The Aggies’ starting lineup with
their ’78 batting averages will have
Robert Bonner (.325) at shortstop,
Mark Warriner (.286) at third base,
Mike Hurdle (.256) in centerfield,
Kyle Hawthorne (.382) at first base,
Robert Verde (.152) in leftfield,
Shelton McMath (.233) in rightfield,
Blister Turner (. 174) at catcher and
Steve Robinson (.212) at second
base.
A&M will platoon heavily in the
series, with left-handed hitting Gary
Bryant (.250) playing rightfield
against righthanded pitching.
The designated hitter will come
from either righthanded hitting Tim
Feickert (.286) or lefthanded hitters
Rodney Hodde (.250) or Wayne
Meason. Hodde will also see time at
first base when Hawthorne is catch
ing.
The Aggies will bring a 7-4 season
record into the Oral Roberts series
after dropping two-out-of-three to
Houston last weekend in their SWC
opener.
“The Houston series was disap-
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A&M shortstop Robert Bonner tags out Hous
ton Cougar centerfielder Jay Beard. A&M will
need plays like this one this weekend against
Oral Roberts. The first game of the
game series begins at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Buttiilion photo by Ann Riikw!
pointing in a sense, says Chandler.
“We couldn’t come up with the big
hit and we have to improve our bat
control. That is moving runners
up, like on the hit-and-run.
“Our pitching against UH was
good. Thurmond wasn’t at his best
in the first game Sunday but he got
them out and that’s what counts. In
tlie second game of the doub
leheader, Pieezynski was a little
wild but deserved a better fate than
having to come out after six innings.
Jim McWilliams came on in relief in
two of the games and gave a steady
performance.
“Our defense broke down in that
second game Sunday and cost us the
ballgame, but that’s just part of
baseball. Warriner had to sit out the
doubleheader Sundav with a knee
injury and we had to shuffle our
lineup at the last minute, but
Tommy Larsen came in and did a
tremendous job for us at second
base.”
r
Bad weather caused the first
weekend of SWC play to be spread
over three days instead of the regu
lar two. On the first two days, there
were six one-run games played around
the league. Sunday saw a complete
turnaround as Texas rebounded
from their doubleheader losses to
Arkansas the day before and
smashed the Hogs 18-3. Up in
Waco, Baylor and SMU played to a
wild 27-i8 finish. Chandler be
lieves, however, that these kinds of
afternoons will be scarce as the sea
son goes along.
“At this point, there willlxtj|
be a greater balance arounJt
league. So far the weather hast#
horrendous, not just for AWL
for everybody. The kids areii
very good shape yet and tlei
and cold has been somewhalfj
equalizing factor in thatnoi
really reached top form yet. 1
though, the cream will come|j|
top and I hope A&M willbei
tin
try m:
Carter
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dn f
: lines
ljudge
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[[today
|Mond
MW of
»
T Off Campus Student Assn.
I Open to the Public
| Revisions to the
I constitution and proposed
f by laws will be discussed
| at this meeting.
| Regular Representative
Meeting.
I 5:30 p.m., March 20
| Room 216 MSC
| Conference Room
ATTENTION:
Any Phi Delta
Theta Fraternity
Members, Please
Contact Emil
Studinka
(693-1918)
After 6 p.m.
For Organizational
Meeting
We Pick Up & Deliver
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VOLKSWAGEN IK
693-3311
ll
Attention Students: Trai
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