Monday, April 14, 1986/The Battalion/Page 7
f
Sports
A&M expected to announce volleyball coach
lime
De- By Doug Hall
t'lTtt- ( Sports Writer
I After almost two-ancl-one-half
1500 months without a coach, the I'exas
086. A&M volleyball team expects Missis-
COtn- sippi Coach A1 Givens to take over
nain- S the program, sources told The B;it-
ii30. ; talion -
B Givens, who posted a 28-16 re-
j cord in his second season with the
pre- Ltidy Rebels, also spent five seasons
p.m. coaching at Arizona Western and
sday will be an assistant coach for the
sdav South team at this year’s Sports Fes-
i and tilal in Houston,
vjgj, I When contacted Sunday night by
L The Battalion, Lynn Hickey, assis
tant athletic director for women,
said she had no comment on the pos-
siblity of Givens being hiring.
But Givens was wearing a Texas
A&M T-shirt as he watched the Ag
gies defeat the University of Texas
in the second game of a spring
match in Austin Saturday.
If Givens is hired, it will end a
search initiated by the departure of
Terry Condon who left A&M to be
come assistant athletic director at
UCLA. Condon’s absence since Jan.
24, combined with the hiring freeze
placed on A&M faculty as a result of
state budget cuts, had left the pro
gram with an uncertain future.
The A&M Athletic Department
reviewed more than 70 applicants
for the position and granted two in
terviews, but due to the hiring
freeze, could not officially name a
coach until given approval by A&M
President Frank Vandiver.
Many players expressed concern
over the lack of instruction during
the important spring season.
But Givens’ appearance at Satur
day’s match against Texas seems to
have answered any doubts the play
ers had.
Margaret Spence, an All-South-
west Conference middle blocker on
last year’s 26-8 team, said Givens was
at the United States Volleball Asso
ciation Regional tournament this
past weekend to scout players for
this year’s Sports Festival.
After losing the first game to the
Longhorns, Spence said Givens
walked on to the Gregory Gymna
sium court wearing his A&M shirt
during a second-game time-out with
the Aggies holding a slim lead.
When asked if that made his hir
ing official, Spence said that Givens
replied, “Just call me Coach Givens.”
Spence went on to say that the
team was so excited that “you could
hear us all over the gym.”
Despite the absence of a coach for
the two-and-one-half months,
Spence said the team was not too far
behind schedule, mainly because 10
of last year’s 12 players are return
ing, including five starters. She did
say that the freshmen probably had
suffered from the lack of coaching
during the spring season.
The Aggies are only losing All-
America middle blocker Sherri
Brinkman and All-SWC second-
team setter Lesha Beakley from a
team that was ranked as high as No.
10 in the nation during the 1985 sea
son.
In addition, A&M inked two high
school prospects, San Antonio Chur
chill’s 5-foot-7 setter Yvonne Van
Brandt and Round Rock’s 5-11 mid
dle blocker Liz Clifford, to letters-of-
intent on Feb. 12.
Spence said the reports on Givens
label him as a disciplined, yet highly-
motivational coach. Quite a change
from the easy-going style of Con
don, who was 180-102 in her six sea
sons with the Aggies.
Kelli Kellen, a freshman from
Conroe, said she also was excited
about the possibility of Givens being
hired.
“It’s been a long time coming,”
Kellen said. “We anticipated it.”
Although Kellen said she didn’t
foresee any major changes in the
program, she did say, “I think he’s
ready to do some work.
“He seemed really qualified. He
just fit the job.”
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Maroon-White game leaves Aggies optimistic about '86
By Danny Myers
Reporter
Texas A&M Defensive Coordi
nator R.C. Slocum said Saturday’s
annual Maroon-White spring
: game at Kyle Field was “a chance
[to let the teams line up against
1 each other and execute some
plays.” “
But the Ma- Football
[roon-White
^ game also provided other “chan-
[ ces.”
It gave scouts from the South-
i west Conference and LSU,
A&M’s first opponent in ’86, a
! chance to scope-out the defend
ing SWC champions.
It also gave A&M’s new fresh-
| man recruits a chance to watch
their future teammates.
And it gave the first-team of-
Ifense a chance to go against the
[second-and third-team defenses,
| while the first-team defense went
1 against the second- and third-
[team offenses.
Sound confusing? It was.
| When running back Roger
1 Vick scored the game’s first
I touchdown, the scoreboard gave
ithe 6 points to the maroon, even
though Vick was wearing white.
Then, when the second team
loffense kicked a field goal, more
Icon fusion ensued. The
Iscoreboard read 0-0.
A&M running backs Keith
|Woodside and Vick saw limited
Iplaying time Saturday. But Ira
1 Valentine, who figures to replace
I Anthony Toney at fullback,
I gained 30 yards on nine carries.
I Aggie quarterbacks Kevin
Murray and Craig Stump threw
f with pinpoint accuracy for the
most part, despite one intercep-
1 tion apiece. Murray completed 3-
lof-7 passes in the first half for 27
iyards, while Stump threw for 134
iyards and one touchdown in a 10-
lof-18 day.
In the A&M receiving corps,
1 Rod Harris saw limited action,
A&M quarterback Kevin Murray heads upfield
during Saturday’s Maroon and White game at
Photo by Anthony S. Casper
Kyle Field. Murray completed 3-of-7 passes for
27 yards in the first half of the spring game.
but Greg Dillon caught all five
passes thrown his way for 57
yards. Chris Ford had two catches
for 33 yards.
Defensively, the Aggies’ sec
ondary shined.
Lafayette Turner had three
tackles and returned an intercep
tion 73 yards for a touchdown.
But even after five touchdowns
and two field goals were scored,
the scoreboard still read 0-0.
Ags sweep Bears
to remain in first
By Tom Tagliabue
Sports Writer
WACO — About the only thing
Texas A&M Head Baseball Coach
Mark Johnson could find wrong
with this weekend’s sweep of the
Baylor Bears, was that his Southwest
Conference-leading ballclub could
not put any
more distance Baseball
between itself
and the second-place Texas Long
horns.
“The disappointing thing is when
you go on the road and sweep and
you don’t gain any ground,” John
son said.
The Aggies, 32-18 and 10-2 in the
SWC, stayed a full game ahead of
the Horns when they completed the
sweep of the Bears Sunday with a
13-3 whipping on the strength of
Gary Geiger’s arm and the bat of
Mike Scanlin.
“Gary threw very well,” Johnson
said. “Gary’s one of those pitchers
that can’t make any mistakes.
“(Geiger) has a tendency, (that)
when he gets the ball up, he gets
roughed pretty good. He had his
breaking stuff and his off-speed
stuff going fairly well and kept (Bay
lor) off-balance.”
Geiger, 5-4 and 3-1, scattered five
hits through seven innings giving up
one run before he gave way to Pat
Wernig in the eighth.
“It felt good,” Geiger said. “With
the wind blowing out, my stuff was
really moving. My fastball was run
ning in on their hands pretty well.
Then my change-up was going up to
the plate and dying.”
Wernig gave up a two-run home
run to Mike Malinak with two-outs
in the eighth and before retiring the
last four batters he faced.
Mike Scanlin led the A&M of
fense, which launched 16 hits
against five Baylor pitchers. Scanlin
was 4-for-6 with three doubles, a sin
gle, three runs scored and three RBI
after a disappointing day Saturday.
Pat James had three singles,
scored two runs and picked up an
RBI in the seven-run second inning.
In that inning, the Ags bombed
Baylor starter Bruce Aguilar, 4-3
and 0-3, for all seven runs on seven
hits, including Scanlin’s two-run
double to the gap in left center.
Maury Martin, Robi Chandler
and Ever Magallanes also picked up
RBI in the second.
Braz Davis, who relieved Aguilar,
recorded the final out of the second
and then gave up a solo home run to
A&M’s Jeff Schow with one out in
the third. Davis allowed two hits in
the fourth and fifth before A&M un
loaded two more runs off him in the
sixth.
A&M produced two more runs in
the seventh on doubles by Scott Liv
ingstone and Scanlin and an RBI
single by Wren.
Baylor fell to 28-18 and 4-8 in the
SWC, which kept them in sixth place
in the conference.
Last week, Johnson said the team
needed consistent pitching in order
to win, in the Baylor series he be
lieved he got some.
“The ball really rolled our way to
day,” Johnson said. “I thought (Dar
ryl) Fry (winner of Saturday’s second
game) and Geiger threw very well. I
thought Dale Barry (winner in Sat
urday’s opener) threw well.
“It wasn’t one of Dale’s best ball-
games, but I thought Fry was on top
of his ballgame. Both of those guys
(Fry and Geiger) solidified them
selves in the rotation.”
Sam Houston is the next oppo
nent for the Aggies, as they travel to
Huntsville for a Tuesday afternoon
game against the Bearkats, whom
the Aggies beat 1-0 and 4-0 back on
March 4.
The first pitch is scheduled for 3
p.m.
able
Jay
l
27
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