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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1983)
Texas A&M ullaj The Battalion Sports Monday, March 7, 1983/The Battalion/Page 9 L!!!i Igs sweep fifth-ranked Titans landler says key to victories -4|V/ it Hb\ John P. Lopez Battalion Staff pring break hasn’t been a experience for the Califor- ^Btate-Fullerton baseball n. He Titans headed south i otily two losses and a No. 5 onal ranking in their back ket but by Sunday evening ' found live more marks in "loks” column. First, the titans lost three les Friday and Saturday to owMly-ranked I exas — no n isi. The Longhorns are al- s tough to beat and are near- npossible to beat in Austin. 10 the Titans headed to Col- Station hoping to take out t li ustration on the Aggies. ' v were quick to find out, ever, that Texas A&M is just ospitable as the I loins when lint s to baseball, he Aggies used solid pitch- and clutch hitting to defeat State twice Sunday, 6-1 and ex, s A&M head coach Tom ndler said the big difference jii^lames was el fective pitch- b\ the Aggie staff. Rick ckm went the distance for as A&M in the first game, ng up only two hits to the ins. ' n jthe second game, the ;ies Phillip Taylor was the o,met, with help from Sher- - t ( orbett, who entered the d ie in the fifth inning and got n.. l ve tot 1 exits A&M. !5<Mr pitchers did it reiil good hlus today," Chandler stiid. ie\ Cial Stitie) had it very un- 11 offensiv e pattern and we “Hood job with it. They take 1 t 8l pitches itnd bunt it lot. wete forced to defense them loving in on them. All in all it a Brood day for us.” Cal State-Fullerton outfielder Tom Thomas is tagged out, at left, during Sunday’s double-header. At right, staff photo by David Fisher Thomas argues the call with an umpire. The call stood, and A&:M went on to sweep Cal State 6-1, 7-5. Titan head coach Augie Gar- rido agreed: "I was very impressed with their first pitcher (Luecken),” Garrido said. “He was in total command of the game and of us. He hits a good fastball and has the ability to throw the slider. That was his best pitch today.” Luecken said that even though he started the game a little shaky, giving up two walks and falling behind six hitters in the first two innings, he was pleased with his performance. “Since one (preseason) scrim mage. this is the best game I’ve had this year," he said. "I guess I was a little nervous because 1 heard so much about how good they hit. Pitchers don’t like to hear things like that. But once I settled down, I got some confi dence and my slider started working.” The Aggies were also produc tive at the plate. Texas A&M tapped the Titan pitching staf f for 17 hits in the two seven inning games, including two home runs in the second contest. Bobby Beach gave the Aggies a 3-2 lead in the third inning of the second game with his shot over the lef t field fence. Later in the inning, Todd Edwards added to that total with a two-, run homer over the right field wall to bring in Kevin Smith. Beach finished the day with three hits in six appearances at the plate. The rest of the hitting honors were spread throughout the Aggie squad as every Texas A&M starter got at least one hit. Aggie second baseman (Tint Heard wasn’t surprised. “We weren’t intimidated by them,” he said. “We didn’t know what to expect, but we knew we could hit them and a lot of balls did fall in for us. “This (sweep) was a real confi dence-builder for us. We thought we had a real good ball: club going into these games and \>;e proved it today." Garrido said he knew all along the Aggie's were a/first- rate team. “I’m not surprised with the loss,” he said. “I think we could have played better, but I don’t want to make any excuses. We got beat by a very line team. They had strong pitching in the first game and clutch hitting in the second.” The Aggies host North Texas State on Tuesday in a double- header that starts at 1 p.m and again on Wednesday in a single game beginning at 3 p.m. The next big test for Texas A&M will be over spring break when the Aggies travel to Coral Gables, Fla., to take part in the Miami Hurricane tournament. Miami and Maine, both College World Series participants a year ago, will lie in the tournament, along with Southern Illinois. A&M races past Tech by Frank L. Christlieb Battalion Staff LUBBOCK — Sherlock Holmes, you can go home. The mystery’s been solved. Case closed. The Texas Aggie basketball team, which earlier in the season lost its way during a downpour of grueling non-conference games, has discovered itself. And what a time to come in from the storm. In a string of recent strong performances — including three straight victories over TCU, Texas and Texas Tech — the Aggies have put nearly every aspect of their game into synch. Against Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock, when Texas A&M had to win to clinch third place in the Southwest Conference, the Aggies hustled until the final buzzer and wound up winning 93-70. As a result, Texas A&M, which finished 17-13 on the season and 10-6 in the SWC, will enter this week’s league tournament as one of three teams playing their best basketball of theseason. The Aggies will open quarterfinal play Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Dallas’ Reunion Arena against the winner of tonight’s TCU-Rice game in Fort Worth. Although it goes without saying, the regular-season cham pion Houston Cougars have played in the stratosphere all sea son — and they still are after Saturday’s 93-64 thumping of the Baylor Bears. The SMU Mustangs, who finished fourth after winning a coin flip with the TCU Horned Frogs, won 17 games to finish with their highest victory total since 1966. The Mustangs host Texas tonight in Dallas in an effort to qualify for the league tournament quarterfinals Thursday night. And the Aggies. What can you say about a team that traveled more than 20,000 miles to compete in tournaments and road games in November and December, lost five of its first eight games and had its leading scorer out of action for two weeks? And to top it all off, Saturday’s 56.3 percent field-goal accuracy gave Texas A&M a 50.8 percentage for the season, which repre sents the best total in the school’s history. Shelby Metcalf , Texas A&M’s coach for the past 20 seasons, knows what he thinks about the 1982-83 team. “We never got enough practice in December to put a team together,” Metcalf said after the Aggies scored 59 points in the second half to bury the Red Raiders Saturday. “We never had a chance. That’s why I think so highly of these young men, because they’ve stuck with me through the toughest season of my life.” Fhe Aggies, who led 34-26 at halftime, outscored Texas Tech 25-5 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to build a 59-31 lead. Metcalf said his players seemed to be a changed team in the second half. “We came out as ready to play in the second half as we have been all year,” he said. “I didn’t realize how important third plnce'wasTo them until the second half. They really wanted it." Several times during the game, Texas A&M players scram bled for loose balls, came up with steals and passed the ball to open teammates when they could have shot instead. That kind See AGGIES page 11 mnasts feat Tech H exas A&M gymnastics ) I defeated Texas l ech Jr (I ay in a dual meet, 204.15 (10 20. 1 exas l ech is the de- IHg state champion, and the was the Aggies’ second i the Red Raiders this vear. Mark Mevev and (.rant (»rdale both won first ■ to lead the Aggies. I exas M will host the state cham- nsliij) meet April Kith. FIJI SPRING FLING Featuring Ultimate Force’ MARCH 25 FREE BEER Brazos Co. Pavillion Tickets s 5 00 Now Better Than Ever. You Will Be Pleased With These Carefully Prepared and Taste Tempting Foods. Each Daily Special Only $2.39 Plus Tax. “Open Daily” Dining: 11 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. — 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M MONDAY EVENING SPECIAL Salisoury Steak with j Mushroom Gravy Whipped Potatoes Your Choice of One Vegetable Roll or. 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