t
Page 8 THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1979
Aggies travel to fun and sun of Floricls r
By DAVID BOGGAN
Battalion Sports Editor
Spring break is generally a time
when the Iranian situation and the
energy crisis take a back seat to fun
and travel.
Students tend to pack their bags
and head for one of three places.
As the dust begins to settle on the
text books, one group of students
pack their sweaters and travel to the
slopes of New Mexico or Colorado.
And then there are those pale stu
dents who pack their ice chests and
go to Galveston or Port Aransas or
South Padre. Still another group of
weary students pack their laundry
and head for that renowned vacation
resort — home.
But there is one group of Aggies
that will not be going the the
mountains or to the Gulf coast or
home this spring break.
The Texas A&M baseball team is
traveling to the sun and the fun of
Florida over spring break where the
Aggies will participate in the Hur
ricane Invitational Tournament.
Ain’t life rough?
“Yeah, it’s a killer,” Aggie outfiel
der Simon Glenn said with a grin.
“We were looking so forward to
going home.”
The Navasota native had reason to
smile. The banks of the Navasota
River have nothing to compare with
the sparkling beaches of Miami,
which are just a fastball away from
Coral Gables, the site of the tour
nament.
“There is definitely going to be
some rays getting soaked,” outfiel
der Mike Hurdle said of his spare
time plans in the land of Copper-
tone and cuba libras.
“Were also going to get to see
some of the pro teams that are hold
ing their pre-season camps in
Florida,” Hurdle added, grinning
like a 12-year-old. “I’ll get to get
some autographs and see my idol,
Reggie Jackson.”
First baseman Kyle Hawthorne
promised that the Aggies \tfbuld not
let beachcombing interfere with
baseball.
“We re not going to overindulge,”
he said, “but we re going to have a
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good time. We won’t show up late to
a game because we’ve been on the
beach too long.
“Knowing that I’ve got to come
back and do homework that I should
have done before I left makes it
kinda rough.”
Schoolwork was the farthest thing
from the Aggies’ minds Thursday.
As they prepared to load the bus
and drive to Houston to catch their
plane, the most pressing problems
of the afternoon seemed to be secur
ing suntan lotion and making sure
someone packed a week’s supply of
Copenhagen.
But it will not be all sand and
snuff for the Aggies on this outing.
Coach Tom Chandler has some
definite plans for his team, which
returns to Olsen Field to host
Arizona and Minnesota beginning
March 20.
“Our objective is this,” the Aggie
coach said. “We will use this tour
nament as a continued conditioning
program since we were set back by
10 days of bad weather earlier.
“At the same time we will be try
ing to develop a little depth in our
pitching staff. We need to find
somebody to fill those third and
fourth spots. (Freshman) Bobby
Taylor will get a good shot. He has
been plagued by a little arm trouble
recently. (Senior) John Pockrus is
nice to have in the bull pen, but I
don’t know if we can afford to keep
him in there.”
What kind of tournament does
Chandler expect?
“The Hurricane Tournament is a
tournament of champions,” Chan
dler said. “You’ve got Texas A&M,
which is the Southwest Conference
champion. There’s Oklahoma State,
which is the champion of the Big
Eight. Miami University was fourth
in the College World Series last
year. Miami of Ohio is good. There’s
just a lot of good teams in this tour
nament.”
Mark Ross will start on the
mound Saturday when Texas A&M
plays Miami of Ohio. The rest of the
Aggies’ schedule looks like this:
Florida International, Sunday;
Southern Illinois Monday, Okla
homa State, Tuesday; Miami of
Florida, Wednesday; Wisconsin
State and Southern Illinois, Thurs
day; Oklahoma State, March 17;
Bowling Green and Miami of
Florida, March 18.
The Aggies, who smoked the
Houston Cougars like a Havana
Cigar last weekend, hope that the
changes in latitude will not mean
changes in their winning attitude.
“We are a better team right now
than we were this time last year,”
outfielder Shelton McMath said of
the 6-1 Aggies. “We’ve got more
depth this year. There are going to
be some real good people sitting on
the bench this year, people who
could be starting for other teams.
This is good because it makes us
more competitive. We know if we
don’t do our job today, we ll be on
the bench tomorrow.”
No one can accuse the senior
right fielder from Houston of not
doing his job. After seven games,
McMath leads the team with a .458
batting average.
“I just hope it keeps up,” he said.
“I’m a streak hitter. I go hot and
cold. I just hope that if I do go cold,
I do it now and get hot again in time
for conference.
“Right now, everybody’s pretty
hot.”
Well, almost everybody. At the
opposite end of the batting average
column from McMath sit Hurdle
and Hawthorne.
“Everybody’s kinda leaving us
behind, ” Hurdle said of himself and
Hawthorne, who are the only start
ers batting below .300. “I started off
slow last year.”
Hurdle, who is hitting .269, ex
plained that his move in the lineup
has something to do with his slow
start. Last season he batted in the
third spot and was often in the posi
tion to knock in base runners. This
season he is batting in the second
spot, where he takes more pitches
in an attempt to get on base.
“There are going to be some good
pitchers at this tournament,” the
junior center fielder said. “Anytime
you see a good pitcher, it makes you
concentrate more. The conference
has a lot of good pitchers this year,
so the more good pitchers we see in
this tournament, the better off we ll
be for conference.”
Hawthorne, the Aggie homerun
king who is presently hitting .227,
said that his game will improve.
“I’ve been hitting the ball,” the
senior from Beaumont said. “They
just need to move the fielders
around. If they would change posi
tions, I’d be hitting a thousand.
“If I come back (from Florida) and
I’m still hitting the same. I’ll get
upset because that’s nothing but re
petition day after day. I should im
prove in that situation. But it’s too
early to lose my cool about it yet.”
It is not too early for the Aggies to
brush up their skills, find a third
pitcher and show the rest of the
country that Texas A&M knows how
to play baseball.
“This is going to be great for us,”
Hurdle said. “We will get some
good exposure and show people that
we can play well down here. We re
going to prove something.”
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Texas A&M’s Mark Ross warms up with
catcher Buster Turner during last weekend’s
series with Houston. Riding high after sweep
ing the Cougars, the Aggies travel to Coral
Gables, Fla., to participate in the Hurricane
Battalion photo by David
Invitational Tournament during springbr^R
Ross will start for the Aggies Saturdayn^B^
Texas A&M opens the tournament
Miami of Ohio. The game starts at 9a.m.(^V
and will be broadcast on Bryan’s KACCH
Rangers defeat Yankees
DC
United Press International
POMPONO BEACH, Fla. —
Top rookie prospect Billy Sample,
who had doubled earlier in the
game, delivered a two-out, two-run
single in the 11th Thursday to bring
Texas a 3-2 victory over the New
York Yankees in their opening ex
hibition game.
During the game New York cen
ter fielder Juan Beniquez broke a
bone in the small finger of his right
hand and will be lost to the Yankees
for at least two weeks.
New York had gone in front in the
top of the 11th, 2-1, but Tim Lollar,
the fourth Yankee pitcher of the
day, walked Mike Bucci to lead off
the bottom half of the inning.
Bucci moved to second on a
ground out, but Lollar walked
Marty Scott and Mike Heath to load
L
the bases. Then, after Oitl
struck out. Sample lined a si
left.
Both teams played youngl
the most part and among A B
Texas reliever Jim Ken ( 31
the sharpest. Kern, acquired IF -
the offseason from Clevelat
up two hits over three
shutout pitching, walking a
striking out three.
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