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Just a week ago, the bookies had
! the odds in the Texas A&M baseball
team’s corner. The Aggies were fa
vored to take at least two of three
from Texas and move a step closer
to the Southwest Conference
Championship.
Now, a week later, the Aggies
don’t have roses wrapped around
I their necks. They aren’t the front-
running team. Shoot, they aren t
i even ranked in the Top 20 anymore.
“That’s the structure of athletics,”
[said A&M Coach Mark Johnson.
“One week you’re a hero and the
next you’re a bum.
After a disappointing three-game
S sweep by the Horns, the Ags (37-15,
10-8 in SWC) can only hope for help
I in order to even get to post-season
play.
The Ags must count on arch-rival
Texas to provide assistance. Texas
i must sweep Houston in their three-
game series, which begins Saturday.
The Ags must also take care of their
| own business in a three-game series
with the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort
Worth that begins Friday.
That would move the Ags to
fourth in the SWC, allowing them to
host the conference tournament.
“I think our chances are good,”
said Johnson, the Ags’ first-year
coach. “Texas is hot. Houston isn’t as
hot as they once were.”
But, the Ags aren’t as hot as they
once were either.
“Losing three (games to Texas)
certainly crushed any momentum
we had,” Johnson saia. “We have to
play our ball game and take them
one at a time.”
The TCU series won’t be a “gim
me.”
“Their real power is in their right
handed pitcher,” Johnson said. “The
(Major League baseball) scouts are
real interested in him. He will be
tough for us.”
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Gegan heeds Roosevelt’s wisdom
By KENNETH SURY
Sports Writer
Fred Gegan must live by a
slight variation to Theodore
Roosevelt’s famous words.
With Gegan, the phrase its
"Talk softly and carry a big stick,”
because that’s just what he’s been
doing this season as the Texas
A&M baseball team’s top hitter.
This soft-spoken transfer stu
dent from Kennewick, Wash.,
leads the Aggies with a .378 bat
ting average going into this week
end’s series against Texas Chris
tian in Fort Worth.
The Ags must win all three
games and hope league-leading
Texas sweeps Houston this week
end to qualify for the Southwest
Conference Tournament.
If the Ags sweep the Frogs, Ge
gan said he and the rest of the
team will have an anxious Satur
day and Sunday since the Hous-
ton-Texas series won’t be over
until late Sunday afternoon.
Even with the impending anxi
ety, Gegan is pleased with the Ag
gies’ season thus far.
“I think we’ve had an excellent
season,” said the 5-foot-11 first
baseman. “We had a really good
season, if you take away those last
three games against Texas. If we
would have won two out of three
or all three of those games, this
would have been one of the best
years that A&M’s had because we
would have been sitting in first
place.
“We’ve played 55 games (in
cluding the TCU series) this year
and it came down to three games
(against Texas). That was really
the turning point (of the season).
“We’ve still got a chance, but if
we would have won those three
games we would have been sitting
in the driver’s seat.”
Gegan feels comfortable in the
driver’s seat.
Last year at Lower Columbia
Junior College in Washington, he
helped lead his team to the
Northwest Junior Co liege
Championship in addition to be
ing named an all-state player.
So how did Gegan end up at
A&M?
Pure chance.
Texas A&M’s Rob Swain (left) congratulates
teammate Fred Gegan (left) after one of Ge-
gan’s ten home runs this season. Gegan, a
Photo by ANTHONY S. CASPER
transfer from Lower Columbia Junior Col
lege in Washington, and Swain lead the Ag
gies in nearly every hitting category.
“It was really a fluke that I
came here because I was re
cruited to go to the University of
Texas at El Paso by our (A&M)
pitching coach, (Jim Lawler),”
Gegan said.
“(Lawler) recruited me for
UTEP, but, at the end of the year,
he found out he was going to get
the assistant coaching job here, so
he found out from (A&M Head)
Coach (Mark) Johnson that he
could bring me in here, so I got a
lucky break there. I had no idea
that I’d be coming to A&M.”
But Gegan said he hasn’t re
gretted the move to A&M.
“Yeah, I like it a lot,” Gegan
said. “There’s all kinds of things
to do and the weather’s real nice.
People are more' friendly down
here. I really noticed it.
“It’s like they try to say, ‘hi’ to
you instead of passing you by.”
The warm weather was one of
the reasons Gegan considered a
move to Texas from his home
state of Washington.
“My arm couldn’t handle the
cold,” he said. “I couldn’t get
loose there. I came down here
and it’s been a whole different
ball game.”
Gegan’s other reason for head
ing south was to become more no
ticed in the college baseball scene.
“I came down to start over, es
tablish something down here,” he
said. v
“Fredgie”, a nickname pinned
on Gegan at Lower Columbia, has
definitely established himself in
his first year in maroon and
white.
Gegan currently leads the Ags,
not only in batting average, but
also hits, runs scored, RBIs and
walks. He has already broken or
tied some of A&M’s season and
individual game hitting records
and should set more records dur
ing the TCU series.
Gegan attributes his hitting
style as the reason he leads the
team at the plate.
“I’m a picky hitter,” Gegan
said. “I always look for my pitch.
I’ll go up to the plate looking for
a pitch in a certain zone, usually
in the middle of the plate or to
the inside of the plate. Anything
that’s outside or a little up or a
little down I’ll let go, until I get
two strikes, then I battle (the
pitcher).
“1 always like to try to hit my
pitch. Doing that has given me a
lot of walks.”
But Gegan said he has changed
his style since coming to A&M.
“When I was playing at junior
college, I was more of a spray hit
ter — batting for average,” he
said. “When I came down here, I
noticed that most of the hitters
down here are more power hit
ters, a lot more pull hitters.”
Gegan now tries to hit the ball
harder and farther. He has 10
home runs this season, which is
one more than the record he set
last year at Lower Columbia.
For Gegan, and the rest of the
A&M baseball team, next season
will see major changes.
Several key players will be
graduating after this season, in
cluding outfielders Buddy Haney
and Shawn Choruby, pitchers
Tom Arrington, Kelly Keahey
and Phillip Taylor, catcher Steve
Johnigan and last season’s All-
Southwest Conference shortstop,
Rob Swain.
Swain will especially be missed
by the team.
Swain currently is batting .339
for the season and is second only
to Gegan in RBI production this
year.
Even though these players will
be missing from next year’s
lineup, Gegan is optimistic.
“We’ve got a good base (to
build from),” Gegan said, “with a
lot of guys that did a good job this
year. And then, with some of the
recruits that we’ve got coming in,
we should be all right next year.”
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