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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1979)
THE BATTALION P*®* FRIDAY. MAY 4. 13 WStH A CUP •* *£A A WIT## •*£ i OR tWO. dpi«7t Ags battle Horns , By DAVID BOGCAN Battalion Sports Staff It has been a long season full of heartache and rain for the Texas A6t M . baseball team. The Aggies will host the Texas Longhorns in the final series of the 1979 regular sea son, which has been postponed until Saturday becat^se of the weather. Eleven Texas A& M seniors will see their last action befqre the home crowd that they have entertained for so many seasons. The Longhorns, who have already clinched the Southwest Conference title that belonged to the Aggies the two previous seasons, bring an im pressive 20-1 conference record into the series. That record has earned the respect of Aggie coach Tom Chandler. "I think they 11 win the national championship. I’ll tell you that right now, ” Chandler said of the Homs.' ! Of course. I’m not saying we re > throwing in the blanket.” Chandler said that the Long-« horns pitching has been the decid ing factor in the SWC pennant race this season. "They have outstanding pitch ing, the Aggie Yoach said. "Their three starters, Ricky Waight and (Keith) Creel and Jerry Don Cleaton were all second round draff choices out of high school.” Wright, Creel and Cleaton have impressive season records of 9-2, 9-1 and 9-0, respectively. “They haven’t scored a whole lot of runs,” Chandler said. “But they’ve had timely hitting and with that pitching staff, they don’t need a lot of runs. ” Texas A6tM second baseman Randy Woodruff, who is leading the team with a .362 season batting av erage, compares the Longhorns’, pitching staff to the Arkansas pitch ers who the Aggies faced last weekend. "Arkansas has impressive pitching but Tex^s just, has the raw talent," Woodruff said. "(Arkansas’s Steve) Krueger has great finesse. But they (Texas) just come out and try to blow it by you. “That makes it easier in one sense WHY RENT? Franklin’s foot goes to Philadelphia because yoij know you can look for the fastball. That’s their best pitch. But that sure doesn’t make it any easier to hit.” W'hile the Longhorns have al ready laid claim to the conference crown, the Aggies decide in this se ries if they finish in third or fourth place in the SWC. The Razorbacks are in second and Baylor has ended its season one game behind the Ag gies. The Ags need two victories in this series to finish third. ”Everything is pretty much set tled, Woodruff said. “We re just getting geared up for the (SWC post-season) tournament. I just hope we can be more mentally pre pared (for this series) than I think we have been in the past.” Woodruff will return next year for one more try at another conference ring, but as he admits, there will be a lot of new faces in next year’s start ing line-up. A tremendous nucleus is leaving this ball club,” Woodruff said em phatically "Well be up there next year but it will be different.” The Aggies will lose six starting seniors off of this year’s team, in cluding pitcher Mark Thurmond, third baseman Mark Warriner, catcher Buster Turner, pitcher Mark Ross, right fielder Shelton McMath and ‘first baseman Kyle Hawthorne. Also departing will be second baseman Steve Robinson, pitcher John Pockrus, outfielder Gary Bryant and pitcher Alan Buonasera. - These seniors were members of two SWC championship teams. They also leave their mark in the record book, accounting for 10 indi vidual records and helping set 14 team records at Texas A&M. There is another senior leaving the Aggies this season, but he never spt a record. He never caught a game-winning catch. In fact, in four years at Texas A&M, he never even went to bat for the Aggies. He is Larry Naylor, student manager, and according to Coach Chandler, “Well miss him. too.” Saturday's nine-inning game .will start at 3 p.m. Sunday’s double- header will begin at 1 p.m. Staff and wire reports Tony Franklin, the place-kicking wonder from Texas A&M Univer sity, became the third draftee of the Philadelphia Eagles and the 74th player chosen in this year’s pro foot ball draft Thursday. Franklin, unavailable for com ment after his selection, was one of seven players drafted from the talent-rich Southwest Conference in the first three rounds of this year’s National Football League draft. Franklin’s size 8 holds or shares 17 NCAA records, among them the most career points by a kicker (291), the most career field goals made (56) and the most career field goal at tempts (101). Franklin's SW’C rival, Russell Erxleben of the University of Texas, was chosen in the first round of this year’s draft. Dan Hampton of Ar kansas, Baylor's Greg Hawthorne and Willis Adams from the Univer sity of Houston were also first-round selections. Jerry Eckwood of Arkansas and Ron Lee of Baylor were picked in the third round, along with Franklin. Hampton was the fourth player chosen in this year’s draft, taken by Chicago on the Bears' first of two picks in the opening round. Hampton, a 6-2, &2-pound defen sive lineman, was the leading tack ier on the Razorbacks’ line this past season. Erxleben, the eleventh player chosen in the first round and the first kicker taken this year, was the 41 choice of the New Orleans Saints. Among his accomplishments, Erx- lebert holds the record for the longest field goal in NCAA history, 67 yards against Rice in 1977. He also hit on 49-of-78 field goal at tempts, with 11 from 50 yards or more and three from 60 yards or more in his college career at Texas. Erxleben led the nation in punt ing in 1976 with a 46.6 yard average and compiled a 44.2 yard average in his college career. The 6-2, 218- pound native of Seguin is consid ered the best punter/place-kicker to come out of college since Ray Guy. Erxleben sipped champagne with his parents and friends Thursday and said he is relieved he will get to play his professional football with New Orleans in the South close To his home state. Erxleben, before being chosen by the Saints, had expected to be drafted by Philadelphia, Green Bay or Baltimore. “Next to Dallas or Houston, that’s the best I could have done, he said about going to the Saints. “I’m very happy. It’s real close. It’s sure where my parents can come and watch me. It’s close to home, in the South and it’s warm.” He said New Orleans coach Dick Nolan told him the Saints will use him both as a punter and place- kicker. He said he also approached Nolan about the prospect of being the Saints third string quarterback, but received a noncommittal an swer. Erxleben was a quarterback in high school, but was used exclu sively as a kicker in college despite his occasional protests. He also said he was surprised to be chosen by the Saints. “I talked to them last night, but I never thought they would draft me,” Erxleben said. “When I played in the Senior Bowl, I was with their coaching staff, so I know them well. “They’ve got an excellent facilitv down ther^. and I’m really excited about playing there.” Adams was the first-round selec tion of the Cleveland Browns. The Browns acquired the rights to draft Adams in a deal with the San Diego Chargers, trading San Diego their first round pick for the Chargers’ first- and second-round choices in this year’s draft. After being shut out in the second round, the SWC had three players selected in the third round. Eckwood, a running back fr 01 " Arkansas and the second Razorbacx chosen in the first three rounds, was the choice of the Tampa Bay Buc caneers. Ron Lee, tight end from Baylor, was chosen bjf the Miami Dolphins. FULL M00N GRAFTS ANNOUNCES fl ^SPRING CLEANING SALFJ^ €1 20% OFF-ALL STAINED GLASS,T00L5 Si SUPPLIES ~)IF0IL - 9 2.5Q!I^ <§) 30% 0FF- ALL CLAY Si POTTER’S TOOLS <m®> BEAUTIFUL HANDMADE GIFTS FOR GRADUATION 8i MOTHER’S DAY!! | W'&Af Hay* /? * 6 *044/A i'2 mi. *<n/A of » Uo/e/ m /Ae foltxcn* , \ H: : r ~ * I ~ *. I. ..{ • Five year warranty on compressor • Fulf 2.0 cubic foot capacity • New units—not used • Pays for itself in 2 years e 2 shelves, thermostat dial, freezer, ice tray OS Delivery me each September 3rd Sand to: IX MARVEL DIVISION DIVISION OF OAYTON-M/ALTHER CORPORATION P.O. BOX 997 Richmond, Ind. 47374 P.O. 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