The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 28, 1983, Image 11

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    Texas A&M
Battalion Sports
Monday, March 28, 1983/The Battalion/Page 11
Coogs sweep three from Ags
l to remain unbeaten in SWC
by Joe Tindel Jr.
Battalion Staff
The Houston Cougars hand
ed Texas A&M three quick
Southwest Conference baseball
losses this weekend, as the
Aggies were unable to prove
that the Cougars’ No. 4 national
ranking is an erroneous one.
Houston swatted the Aggies
9-2 in Friday’s game at Cougar
Field and returned Saturday to
sweep a double-header, 4-3 and
17-2. The losses dropped the
Aggies’ conference record to 2-4
and their season record to 20-8.
The Cougars erased any
thoughts that they might not be
a hitting team, as they banged
out 41 hits off Aggie pitchers
during the three-game series.
Friday’s matchup saw Rick
Luecken, now 0-2 in conference
play, strike out only one batter in
Five innings and give up nine of
the Cougars’ 11 hits during the
game. Barry Smith finished the
game, giving up two hits.
Houston struck quickly at the
plate, bringing in three runs in
the first inning. The Aggies’
runs came on a Tony Metoyer
home run in the fifth and a Billy
Cannon double that scored first
baseman Buddy Haney in the
sixth.
Houston’s Doug Drabek, 8-0,
was the winning pitcher. Drabek
gave up eight Aggie hits
through the entire game while
striking out seven batters.
In the first of Saturday’s out
ings, the Cougars got seven ex
tra-base hits off Texas A&M’s
Sherman Corbett, 3-2 and 1-1 in
conference play. The Aggies
were up 1-0 until the second in
ning, when Houston’s Gary
Wright homered.
The Aggies came close in the
fifth inning, as Cannon batted in
catcher Mark Magee to tie the
game at three. Houston’s three
runs in the second were the only
blemishes on Corbett’s perform
ance until Cannon and left fiel
der Don Robison lost a fly ball in
the bright sun. The error pro
duced the Cougars’ final run
and sealed the Aggies’ doom.
Metoyer had two hits and two
RBI’s in the first game, while
second baseman Tim Cart
wright hit twice. Despite the loss,
Texas A&M outhit Houston 8-7.
The Cougars went wild in the
second game, collecting 23 hits,
including five doubles and three
home runs. Cougar catcher
Riley Epps provided most of the
entertainment for Houston by
slugging two home runs, knock
ing in seven runs and scoring
four himself.
Phillip Taylor was the first of
five Aggie pitchers to try and
spoil Houston’s fun at the plate,
but neither he nor Scott Deskins,
Lane Taylor or Rock King could
manage any success. Phillip
Taylor, now 5-1, gave up eight
hits and six runs through two
innings in suffering the loss.
The sun was tough on outfiel
ders during the double-header,
and one of the Aggies’ three
errors in the second game came
on a fly ball that center fielder
Cannon lost in the sun.
The Aggies had only six hits
during the second game, less
than a third of the hits the
Cougars pounded out.
Haney said even though the
series was an important one for
Texas A&M, the Aggies should
be able to bounce back with a
little improvement in offensive
and defensive execution. He
said the Aggies might not have
been up to par in the second
game of Saturday’s doublehead
er because of the disappoint
ment from the first game.
“We just had some bad
breaks,” Haney said. “We just
had a bad series all around. I
think it kind of took the wind out
of us when we lost that 4-3 game.
“I think wejust put the press
ure on ourselves.”
The Aggies will travel to
Beaumont to take on Lamar in a
non-conference game Tuesday.
The next conference play will
come this weekend, when Texas
A&M will host Arkansas in a
three-game series.
Chandler says sweep may ‘shock’ team
photo by Scott Weeks
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Aggie powerlifting team member Patrick Talley
demonstrates his ability by lifting 633 pounds in
the deadlift competition at this weekend’s national
powerlifting meet in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Talley and his teammates scored 62 points to win
the national title for the third time in eight years.
Temple finished second in this weekend’s meet.
by John Wagner
Sports Editor
Aggie baseball coach Tom
Chandler seemed somewhat
overwhelmed by it all, but he was
still able to put the Houston
Cougars’ three-game sweep of
Texas A&M in perspective.
“Baseball is notorious for
being a game of streaks,” he
said, “and when you’re playing
well you seem to make the big
catches, get the big hits and ev
erything seems to go right for
you. Houston is certainly on a
streak right now.”
That, Chandler says, explains
the Coogs’ 9-2, 4-3 and 17-2 vic
tories this weekend over Texas
A&M, which dropped to 20-8 on
the year with the three losses.
But the Aggie coach refused to
compare UH’s sweep this year
with Texas’ sweep of Texas
A&M in a Southwest Confer
ence-opening series last season.
Last year, the Aggies went 23-
9 in non-conference play and
headed to Austin with high
hopes for a good conference
showing. They left with a SWC
record of 0-3.
Chandler said he doesn’t see
any similarities between the two
series.
“These kids have been play
ing good baseball and I just
don’t see that happening (the
Aggies taking the loss negative
ly),” he said. “Our pitching is a
little thin, but I think if it holds
out we can be a good ballclub
after all.”
The losses, he said, may have
a positive effect.
“I think it may shock us a lit
tle,” Chandler said. “I think the
boys will bounce back.”
The Cougars pride them
selves on pitching and defense
— much like the Aggies — but it
was their hitting that carried
them this time. UH pounded
out 41 hits in the three games,
prompting a new nickname,
“Phi Slama Whamma.” Chand
ler laughed, but he had to agree.
“We really got wiped out
down there. Our pitchers just
couldn’t control them,” Chand
ler said, adding that the Coogs
deserve their No. 4 national
ranking.
The Aggies play Lamar in
Beaumont on Tuesday before
continuing conference play
against Arkansas here Friday
and Saturday. Chandler said his
team is ready to come home to
play in Olsen Field.
“We’ve played our first six
conference games on the road,”
he said, “and I think the team is
anxious to play before the home
crowds.”
Barry Smith is scheduled to
start for Texas A&M against
Lamar, and Chandler said the
freshman from El Campo, along
with classmate Todd Tschantz,
will be “getting the ball” more as
the season progresses.
“We hate to just throw them
to the wolves,” he said of his
freshmen pitchers, “so we’ve
been bringing them along bit by
bit. They’re going to be getting
the ball a lot more, though.”
Friday’s game against Arkan
sas begins at 7:30 p.m. in Olsen
Field. Saturday’s double-header
starts at 1 p.m.
Monday
March 28
Tuesday
March 29
Wednesday
March 30
Thursday
March 31
Friday
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October — Pregame warmup parties
November — Bonfire bash
December — Christmas partis & contests
Brownstone
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