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less Lt. g| By TRAVIS TINGLE
Ouse SpeijK Assistant Sports Eiiitni
him ilitL, , , . ,
w iUi llgI1 JYou coulcln t have written a
ien?encv® re exc ' t i n 8 ending to the
10r a | s Southwest Conference baseball
ththeP u B son -
on’s dffMli' 18 vvee l < - ent i s Texas A&M-
esternH xas se, * es could be an Aca-
jjiUionaBny Award winning movie,
luest W Iow ’ s l ^’ s l° r a dramatic
e »i -if ... . .
ns thevB^ ue ° 1 ie winningest
j ..j jJ.mches in conference history
I announces his retirement after
. 1 years. His ballcinb, ranked
Jiherel- 12 ’ th f rlati 7 n ’ s No ' 2
,, earn m tlie final reuinar season
>1 phone*. . P , ,
r Bies. I lie retiring coach s
Im must sweep all three
■lies to win the the conference
-^JL^mnpionship. His opponents
STnHvecreated a dynasty, winning
■ title outright 14 out of the
m 16 years.
■CiSlhal intriguing scenario is
id fnnfJctly the one Tom Chandler
is cominw his Texas Aggies face this
lesaid. Rhend in Austin. Texas A&M
| e the wo rave ls to Texas’ Disch-Falk
ng inio-jid'l for a three-game series
he nanJhh the Horns, beginning Fi i-
he confidS al ^ pan. and concluding
she saiipi'jrd^y with a doubleheader
wse a hJ| P' rn -
omen auK
ne in con® or the first time since 1974,
'£Mas A&M (37-14, 12-G in
'theroffoBc) and Texas (49-1 1, 14-4 in
ittriptoiMC) both come into the series
ack pla vitl a chance to clinch first
dnd thednfce in the conference,
irippircf )ou talk to Texas head coach
meandifflff Gustafson, it just doesn’t
ore I opiMany better than that,
he said Mlustafson, in his 17th year
fetus aldtli the Horns, said he can’t
hroughiffllk of a better way to end the
to haveiBson than by battling the Ag-
CemetepB for the conference title.
Oallas. Bit’s fitting that it all comes
latsinceifivn to the final series with our
have beei
garage
re they
Friday, May 4, 1984AThe Battalion/Page 17
Texas has won seven straight games from Texas
A&M since the Ags Look a doubleheader from
the Horns at College Station in 1981.
biggest rival,” Gustafson said.
“We haven’t always played each
other in the last game of the
year, but our rivalry has always
been a heated one no matter
when we play. Last year we had
already clinched the title going
into the A&M series.”
Texas has won seven straight
games from Texas A&M since
the Ags took a doubleheader
from the Horns at College Sta
tion in 1981.
But that’s all in the past.
1984 has brought the Aggies
back into contention for their
first SWC championship since
winning back-to-back titles in
1977-78. The Aggies have come
along way from last season’s dis
appointing 4-17 last place finish
in the SWC.
Credit the Aggies’ turn
around to a revitalization in the
pitching staff and more produc
tive hitting.
Junior college transfer Tom
Arrington (8-3, 3.12 ERA),
Kelly Keahey (7-2, 1.19 ERA)
and Sherman Corbett (5-3, 3.33
ERA) have been the starters for
every conference series and
have given the Aggies solid per
formances.
The bullpen is much im
proved over last season with tfte
addition of JC transfer Beje
Mahoe (2-0). MahOe has re
corded four saves on the year.
Rock King, Barry Smith and
Chris Huchingson have also
done their share of clutch relief
work.
The Aggies have also been
more productive at the plate in
’84.
In 1983, the Aggies were
sixth in the SWC in team bat
ting with a .278 average. This
year, Texas A&M is second in
In 1983, the Aggies were
sixth in the SWC in team bat
ting with a .278 average. This
year, Texas A&M is second in
the conference, hitting .320 as a
team. The Ags have also com
bined for 38 homeruns this sea
son.
Coach Gustafson, like almost
everyone, attributes Texas
A&M’s new offensive flair to
one man — Rob Swain.
“He’s just been fantastic all
year long,” Gustafson said. “His
play has been the key to A&M’s
resurgence this season.”
But Coach Gustafson’s club
has some offensive spark of its
own.
The Horns are tied for
fourth in the SWC with a team
batting average of .304, includ
ing 49 homers this year. Long
horn third baseman David
Denny leads the team with a
.366 batting average.
Hitting the ball scores runs,
but it’s been the Horns’ pitching
staff that’s brought them to the
brink of their sixth straight
SWC title.
Texas has a tradition of pro
ducing Fine pitchers and 1984 is
no exception.
Freshman Greg Swindell (10-
1, L56 ERA), Eric Boudreaux
(6-1, 3.38 ERA) and Steve La-
bay (5-3, 3.73 ERA) have been
starting for the Horns through
out the season. Gustafson ex
pects all of them to be on the
mound against the Aggies.
Swindell pitched a no-hitter
against Texas Wesleyan, while
Labay recorded one in a 5-0 vic
tory over Baylor.
Although his young pitching
staff is considered to be one of
the best in the SWC, Gustafson
doesn’t like to brag much.
“I don’t like to compare our
staff to others in the confer
ence, but I’ll just say they’ve im
proved greatly since the begin
ning of the year,” he said. “I
guess you’d call them a pretty
good staff right now.”
Gustafson was more honest
with his comments directed to
wards his long-time coaching
adversary, Tom Chandler.
“I feel a certain sadness about
his retiring because he’s con
tributed so much to the sport
and so much to Texas A&M,”
he said. “It’s a just a shame that
college baseball has to lose
someone of coach Chandler’s
caliber.”
It’s all quite simple. This
weekend’s Texas A&M-Texas
series will not only determine
the SWC champion, but also the
pairings for the conference
tournament next week.
The tournament format isn’t
complicated: first place plays
fourth place; second place plays
third place. But deciding who
finishes where in the standings
makes things difficult.
If Texas wins just one game,
the Horns are the SWC champs.
If Texas A&M sweeps all three
games, the Ags win the title.
Simple, right?
But if Texas sweeps Texas
A&M, the Aggies fall into a
third place tie with Arkansas at
Texas A&M’s Tim Cartwright tries to
turn a double play against Rice’s Jeff
Photo by DEANSAITO
Tousa. The Ags will attempt a “triple
play” this weekend against Texas.
12-9. Since the Hogs took two
games from the Ags, Arkansas
would place third.
Rice (13-8) needs Texas
A&M to win only one game
from Texas to ensure them a tie
for second with the Aggies. Be
cause the Owls took two games
from the Ags, Rice would place
second all alone.
Confused? Don’t be. The
only .thing certain is that Texas,
Texas A&M, Rice and Arkansas
will gather in Austin for the 8th
annual SWC baseball tourna
ment on Friday May 11, and it’s
anybody’s guess who will play in
the opening games.
Metcalf sees bright future
By DAVE SCOTT
Senior Sports Writer
Intensity, desire, hustle and
other cliches were all coach
Shelby Metcalf could use to de
scribe his basketball’s team sur
prising success this past year.
“They played hard,” Metcalf
said, “and they were excellent
competitors. I thought they
were overachievers.”
It might be difficult to think
of a fifth place finish in the
Southwest Conference with a
record of 7-9,, 16-14 overall, as
acheiving much of anything, let
alone success. But because of
their inexperience, the Aggies
were picked to finish eighth in
the conference. So finishing be
hind Houston, Arkansas, SMU
and Texas Tech can be consid
ered success.
For most of the season, the
Aggies, with no seniors on the
team, started two freshmen
(Todd Holloway and Winston
Crite), two sophomores (Jimmie
Gilbert and Kenny Brown) and
one junior college transfer
(Darnell Williams). The Aggie
players coming off the bench
didn’t have much experience ei
ther. Mike Clifford, a red-shirt
freshmen, AI Pulliam, a sopho
more transfer student from the
Air Force and sophomore Doug
Lee were three important play
ers coming off the bench.
Now Lee and teammate
Roger Bock have both decided
to transfer out of A&M and
play next season at other uni
versities.
The Aggie’s season was a
study in inconsistency. The
team could play well one game
and then be blown out the next.
In the non-conference sched
ules, A&M was beaten badly by
Indiana, 73-48, but they re
bounded to defeat Utah State,
an eventual NIT team, 78-73.
However, the Dr. Jeckyll-Mr.
Hyde routine became more ap
parent during the conference
games. The Ags played horribly
against Arkansas, losing 54-77
in Fayetteville. Texas A&M
then won two games in a row
before losing a tough game to
the Cougars, 64-70.
But then A&M fell back on its
face losing to SMU, 56-83. The
Aggies then got back on track
by beating TCU, 68-62, and
Texas, 68-52. But Texas Tech
derailed the surging Aggies,
humiliating them, 49-74.
A&M next played Rice, who
they had beaten the first time
around. But the Owls walked
out of G. Rollie White with a
one-point win, 43-42.
The next two games at G.
Rollie were heartbreakers for
the Aggies. After being de
stroyed by both Arkansas and
SMU, A&M lost by one-point to
the Razorbacks and by two-
points to the Mustangs, in over
time.
At the SWC tournament it
was the Aggies turn to heart
some hearts. In the opening
round, the Ags beat the Long
horns for the third time. Next
the team shocked SMU beating
them with an overtime Hail
Mary shot. Arkansas squeezed
by the surprising Aggies, 47-49.
Looking back at the blow
outs the Aggie suffered and
their come-back ability, Metcalf
chalked it up to inexperience.
“It’s all part of the learning
process,” Metcalf said. “It is
something you have to experi
ence.”
Here’s how Metcalf evaluated
the progress and contributions
made by some of the players:
• Jimmie Gilbert — “Jimmie
made the big play against SMU.
His free throw shooting has
greatly improved. With Olaju-
won gone, Jimmie has a chance
to be the best defensive post
man in the conference. I feel
good about Jimmie, I expect
him to be a better offensive
player next year.”
• Kenny Brown — “His con
fidence improved a lot. He
played better defense and had
more rebounds and steals than
last year. He did a better job
getting himself open. Kenny
shoots well under pressure.”
•Todd Holloway — “He’s a
heck of a competitor. Todd will
challenge anybody and did
challenge Olajuwon a couple of
times and (Olajuwon) ate
leather. The game here against
Houston was his best game.
He’s a good pressure player too.
He scored the winning basket
against TCU.”
•Darnell Williams — “A win
ner, a fierce competitor, but not
a great basketball player. He en
joys game. He’s always smiling,
and I think that might have
rubbed off on the rest of the
team. He anticipates real well
on defense.”
• Winston Crite — “He’s an
awesome talent, great leaper
and real quick feet.He matured
a lot during the year. He had
some games where he just dis
appeared. He was awed by
some of the people he was play
ing against, but he could make
big play like when he slammed
over Olajuwon. He helped a lot
with offensive rebounds.”
• Mike Clifford — “He’s
mentally tough. A real banger
and good defensive player. He
needs to work to on his shoot
ing, but I’m high on Mike.”
• Al Pulliam— “He’s an ex
ceptional athlete. He was in
jured for most of the year with
groin pull and hurt fingers, but
he’s got to be considered for a
starting positon.”
Aggie golfers look for NCAA title
Todd Holloway and Kenny Brown
(#32) scramble for a loose ball under
the glass during action against Texas
Photo by DEAN SAITO
Christian earlier this spring. Texas
A&M was 16-4 this past season and
was fifth in the SWC at 7-9.
By TONY CORNETT
Sports Writer
To talk to Texas A&M men’s
golf coach Bob Ellis, you’d get
the impression that he’s just a
bit frustrated with the way the
season has gone for his players.
“We’ve not all played well,”
Ellis said. “Different guys have
played well al different times,
but we have not all played well
together in a tournament all
season.”
An example of what can hap
pen when a team meshes time
and talent together is the per
formance of the University of
Houston at the Southwest Con
ference Championship Tourna
ment last month.
The Cougars blasted the
nearest opponent by 43 strokes,
while the Aggies finished a dis
appointing fourth.
A couple of things contrib
uted to the Aggies fourth place
finish in the Conference
Championship event.
The best player on the team,
Philip Parkin, had just returned
from a disappointing trip to the
Masters and was playing at an
emotional low, Ellis said. And
the rest of the team didn’t pick
up the slack.
But the biggest obstacle for
the team, according to Ellis, has
been the the rigors and anxie
ties of college life.
He feels that the pressure of
school only adds to the pressure
of playing golf.
“If I had to put my Finger on
anything,” Ellis said, “it would
have to be school. They’re con
cerned about their grades and it
creates a lot of pressure. It takes
their mind off their golf.”
So much for that part of the
season for the Aggies, but
classes are out for the summer.
The Southern Intercollegiate
Tournament is coming up on
May 17 in Athens, Ga. The big
one, the NCAA Championship,
gets under way on the 23rd just
down the road at the Bear
Creek Golf World complex in
Houston.
The NCAA Championship
will be the final event for the
personnel on this year’s squad
— a squad that may be the best
to be seen here at Texas A&M
for a while.
Ronny Byrd and Jacky Lee
run out of eligibility after this
season. That leaves sophomores
Jorge Coghlan, Paul Mayo and
Parkin.
About Parkin, Ellis can say
only great things.
“I would have to say Phil is
currently one of the best — if
not the best — players in colle
giate golf today,” Ellis said.
There’s no doubt that Parkin
is essential to the hopes of the
Aggies when talking about the
run for the NCAA title or next
year’s team.
He participated in this year’s
Masters at Augusta, Ga. and
earlier this season took top hon
ors at the prestigious All Ameri
can Intercollegiate Tourna
ment held at Bear Creek Golf
World.
Since Parkin plays well on
this course, it can only help the
Aggies as they travel there for
the NCAA Championship.
The Aggies have a young
team and when it comes to^ re
placing exiting players, Ellis
said he regrets that those who
step in will not have a great deal
of playing experience.
So, for the final event of the
season, it’s just a question of
timing.
Can the Aggies gel all of their
talent to produce at the same
time?
Coach Ellis sums it up like
this:
“We’re currently ranked 13th
in the nation having not played
well. If we can just get together
in one tournament where we all
play well, I feel quite confident
that the team is going to do very
well.”