The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 17, 1979, Image 9

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    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. After 15 games, I
would have been happy being 10-
5.”
We’ll buy the Gas J
We realize that y—
most convenient
' student - but we feel
our location is not
for the average
that we have thej^ best selection of
those item^that most of you are willing to
drive many miles to get like:
DOCKSIDES
ELK TANNED DECK SHOE
TVz-llVz N,M
36
00
Well give you a 3.00 gas rebate with the purchase of each pair of Docksides this week
only.
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The Corps of Cadets gets its news from
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