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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1979)
THE BATTALION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1979 Page 11 the sports aiders bump Ags Hs April | casual |By MARK PATTERSON Battalion Sports Staff LUBBOCK — The Texas Tech- exas A&M baseball series last E * eektnd w f, like , a Party; it was great while it lasted, but no nan ng up afterwards. The three tames had a little bit of something "ftiTUryone. Fighting a 30 m.p.h. wind in the SrstKame, Mark Ross five-hit the (aiders on the way to 9-0 win. It ivas his first shutout of the year and * ino W the fifth of his collegiate career. The Aggies jumped on Tech some mu Steve Ibarguen in the first inin 8 u P)j lining, scoring three runs on three But we# u'ts.“ Bryan Little led off the game P ast ' irfth a single, followed by a walk to ^°' "til (andy Woodruff. rtheps After an infield out by Rodney Jodde Kyle Hawthorne slammed a indmttti jouble, collecting his 24th and 25th n inflmi (Bis of the season. Shelton fticMath knocked a single to drive in : outoftlpjawthorne. lot of (lift |The Aggies added two runs in the lospitaliaf third, solo scores in the seventh and jigthth and two more tallies in the >ital to a jjnth, giving Ross, now 7-3 on the learland 4-2 in conference, all the Centers* adding he needed. , but till! [“The wind didn’t aid me at all,” loss said. “I tried to jam them in- atastropii jde iso they would jerk it into left gotteuu jeld. I knew it wouldn’t go any- ereandl’l rhere out there. “I found the strike zone and was icus.iitt tetting ahead of the hitters so I was il injurs, naking them hit my pitches. ” roomsiw llhe party, and the wind, con- inued Saturday afternoon in Lub- ormassl Kick. But it was the hosts’ turn to lance when the band began to play Lucussii gain. thehoust [The Aggies jumped out to an larly 2-0 lead with Mark Johnston n’t goal in the mound for the Raiders. Little ys bee® fed <tf with a double in the first fol- the roufc owed by Woodruff s single. Hodde came to the plate and Lucussai bed a shot at second baseman ohnny Vestal. The Tech fielder u in atm lobbied the ball, couldn’t make a vertasf lay [and Little scored for the Ag- id felt t ies. The score remained 1-0 until the out besi bird inning when Little led off with ucussaic single and then scored on Hawth- id she* ime’s single, giving A&M starter the sir lark Thurmond a two-run cushion, ny patieii |it for only the second time this eason, the senior left-hander did raged, f ot leave the mound with a victory, idations Tech jumped on Thurmond for said, refe bree runs in the bottom of the d about, bird, sending eight men to the (late and collecting five straight nnumbi lits. Vhat alw gling,”s ■, admitit isn’t hurt e Hospiti s own d id, there y feel va accepts hem. After the leadoff hitter struck out, Jeff Harp, Kevin Rucker, Randy Newton, Craig Noonan and Larry Seldy reached base safely for the Raiders. Noonan’s single, drove in one run and Seldy plated two with his hit. “I had one bad inning,” Thur mond said. “They got three runs quick and it was all they needed. You have to pitch seven good in nings to win or it will cost you. It did today. “I threw too much straight stuff and didn’t change speeds enough. My curve ball just wasn’t breaking. I threw 50 percent fastballs and changeups the last three or four in nings. “But I gave it everything I had today. I just didn’t come up with the victory.” Tech starter Johnston got the win for the Raiders, shutting the Aggies down through the fourth. He was lifted in favor of Bobby Kohler with one out in the fifth. Kohler came on to pitch two and two-thirds innings of near perfect baseball, walking one and not giving up a hit to the nine men he faced. The victory was the 16th of the year and the ninth conference win for the Red Raiders. The Tech victory also marked, in all probabil ity, the end of any title hopes the Aggies held this season. But the Aggies and Raiders had a third game to play before the party was officially over and the third meeting proved to be the most ex citing. The Red Raiders jumped on starter Johnny Pockrus early, tally ing three runs in the second inning on two hits and an error by first baseman Hodde. Tech catcher Scott Leimgruber plated one run with a sacrifice fly and right fielder New ton, drove in a pair of runs with the double. The Aggies closed the gap to 3-1 in the fourth on a single by Hodde, an infield error, and a ground out by McMath. But starter Robert Bryant squelched the Aggie rally to preserve the Tech lead. The Raiders added to their 3-1 advantage with three more runs in the fifth. Pockrus was pulled with two out in the fifth and Alan Buonasera came on in relief for the Aggies. After giving up a single to Vestal, Buonasera got the third Tech out to end the rally. It was the last time the Raiders would threaten in the game. The Aggie bats were silent until the ninth when trailing 6-1, they started their comeback. After Gary Bryant grounded out to open the last frame, Harry Fran cis ripped a single. Simon Glenn drew a walk from Tech’s Bryant and Little followed with a single. At that point. Tech coach Kal Segrist elected to pull his starter and go with junkball pitcher Steve Dennis. Woodruff greeted Dennis with a single to drive home Francis and Hodde followed with a shot to shortstop Brooks Wallace. Wallace, who had but nine errors all season, hobbled the ball, allow ing Glenn to score. Hawthorne fol lowed with an infield grounder that Tech second baseman Rusty Laughlin kicked, allowing Little to score. McMath came to bat and, against a strong wind blowing in from left field, sent the Tech left fielder to the fence with a shot. The sacrifice fly scored Woodruff from third and set the scene for Mike Hurdle. Hurdle came to the plate with the score 6-5 and men on second and first. But Hurdle would be no hero this day as he popped up to first baseman Noonan to end the game and give Tech the victory. With the two losses Saturday, A&M fell to 11-6 in the Southwest Conference play and five-and-a-half games behind league-leading Texas. “Our title chances are more or less dead,” said A&M coach Tom Chandler. “We have to end up as high as we can, we have to shoot for the playoffs. But we re not assured of a spot yet. “We need to peak out going into the tournament. We lost the edge the last two years but I hope we can peak our last six games and into the tournament.” McMath, the leading hitter on the A&M club going into the Tech series, agrees that the Aggies’ championship hopes are bleak. “Our chances are pretty much gone,” McMath said of the cham pionship. “We blew it. We just need to get some momentum now and we’ve got to win the tourna ment.” The Aggies are not in the same position they were last year going to the SWC tournament. Last year, the Aggies had a guaranteed trip to the NCAA tournament. “The pressure wasn’t on us at the tournament last year,” McMath said. “We knew we were going to go on. But not this year. If we don’t win the tournament we go home early.” TEXAS HALL ofIFAME i BUI LT TO BE THE BEST; DESTINED TO BE THE BIGGEST GREAT LINEUP FOR THIS WEEK Tuesday April 24 — “WESTERN ELECTRIC” $ 2 per person - beer $ 1.75 pitcher Wednesday April 25 “DEBONAIRES” ALL AGGIES GET IN FREE WITH CURRENT I.D. Beer - $1.75 a pitcher Thursday April 26 “THE COUNTRY EDITION $2 per person - “HAPPY HOUR ALL NIGHT LONG ON MIXED DRINKS Friday April 27 “JESS DEMAINE & AUSTIN’ $2 per person SATURDAY 8-1 JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ s Advanced tickets on sale for $8 at WTAW, TIP TOP RECORDS and TEXAS HALL OF FAME. TICKETS AT l) THE DOOR $9. y Joraw^-ffiei/erymyr... 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