THE BATTALION P*®*
FRIDAY. MAY 4.
13
WStH A CUP
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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.
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