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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1979)
THE BATTALION TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1979 Page 9 the sports I ustafsons ’Horns ham it up in SWC ut this time every year there’s ,ivakhmg that is as consistent as Bdinner on Easter — the Texas kolgborns sitting atop the South west Conference baseball standings. * As Dad was carving Sunday, the Longhorns were enjoying the holi day by celebrating their latest series sweep The ’Horns took three games from the TCU Horned Frogs ^maintain their IV2 game lead over the [Arkansas Razorbacks. The Loighoms are 14-1 in conference gon with Arkansas second at 14-4. The Razorbacks handed the LoEhorns their only conference ■ loss of the year, a 2-0 setback in their first conference game of the year !The loss to the Razorbacks also marks 1 the first loss of the year for Texas The Longhorns now stand ^Hfor the season, with three losses to the University of Arizona and a loss to the University of Min- But how are the Longhorns able to consistently challenge for the con- ferlnce title each season? One rea son is the pitching talent head coach Cliffi Gustafson recruits year after Such names as Jim Gideon and Hooton have climbed the d for Longhorns the past few ns. ie talent that Gustafson has re- Jed in his 12 years at Texas has [he Longhorns to 10 conference championships. is year’s pitching corps is living the reputation set by its pre- sors. Led by Jerry Gleaton’s cord and 1.24 ERA (3-0 in con- ce with a 0.39, allowing one (innings pitched), the staff has bined ERA of 3.00 on the sea- ^Hand a 1.64 ERA in conference play ^ Keith Creel leads the staff in victories, collecting eight while los ing one this season (4-0 in confer- tnat ence Kem Wright is 4-0 in confer- : fast ence, 7-1 on the year, while his —u-iWOMicer brother Ricky is 7-2. ^■expected to have good pitching W ^Bseason,” Gustafson said. “Last year, because of injuries, 1 was ational forced to start two or three iwarc-(freshmen pitchers each series. They d En : (got the experience they needed.” eWayl Injuries to shortstop Ronnie Gar- best tdenliire and the Wright brothers indigent the Longhorns tumbling to a 12-12 conference mark and as spec ial's to the conference tourney. insight By MARK PATTERSON Battalion Stall But this season the team is playing to its potential. “We re getting consistently good pitching this season,’’ Gustafson said. “So much so, I don’t know who I’d start if we had to win a game. It so happens that two of our pitchers are also two of the top hitters on the club. “I’ve been starting Ricky Wright on Friday so he is available to play in the outfield on Saturday. Gleaton has been starting the first game on Saturday and starting as DH in the second game. Creel has been pitch ing the third game for us in the last few series.” With SMU, Texas Tech and Texas A&M left on their schedule, the Longhorns feel assured of collecting another conference championship. But this year’s challenge has been a different one for the team. “I don’t want to count our chick ens, but I’m pretty happy with where we are now,” Gustafson said. “This season has been as exciting, personally, as any good season I’ve been through. We re winning this year with the same nucleus of people we had last year. That makes it all the more satisfying.” Keith Walker leads the team in hitting, carrying a .359 average into this weekend’s series with SMU. Sophomore first baseman Terry Salazar leads the Longhorn batters in most other offensive categories, batting .358 with five doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 46 RBIs. As a team, the Longhorns are batting .306 on the year. “Our hitting has been a pleasant development this season,” Gustaf son said. “Our team average has dropped down to .279 in conference games (compared to a .359 average in non-conference games), but the hits these guys are getting seem to come when we need them.” A first-place finish for the Long horns would match them against the conference’s fourth-place finisher, either the Baylor Bears or the Hous ton Cougars, in the first round of the post-season tournament. The double-elimination tournament. May 10-13 in Austin, matches the second-place finisher against the third-place team. The losers of the first-round games meet Friday to eliminate one team from the tour nament. The two winners from Thursday’s games meet Friday to determine which club faces the survivor of Fri day’s knockout game Saturday morning. The winner of the Satur day morning contest faces the unde feated team in the tournament. A win Saturday afternoon by the morning survivor would force a Sunday playoff to determine the NCAA representative from the SWC. “The tournament is a pretty long way off, but I expect Arkansas to lose two or three more games before it starts,” Gustafson said. “They have to play Houston this weekend and the Cougars are playing some good baseball. They lost their first six (to Texas and Texas A&M) but have won 11 of their last 15 games. After the Houston series they have to go down and play the Aggies. “And I sure hope A&M losses a couple of games before we come there to play them (May 4-5). It could easily boil down to that last series to decide who finishes where this season. “It’s not over yet, but I would be foolish if I wasn’t happy with the po sition we re in now. After we lost that first one to Arkansas, we’ve won our last 14 (conference) games. There’s no way I could have projected us to be in the position we re in now. 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