Friday, April 18, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 11
Sports
Aggies look to qualify more for NCAAs at Baylor meet
By Ken Sury
Assistant Sports Editor
I The track season may be start
ing to wind down, but Texas
A&M is winding up for today’s
Baylor Invitational in hopes of
qualifying more Aggies for the
NCAA Championships in June.
I A&M Head Track Coach
Charlie Thomas said he’s looking
jo r solid,
land hope
fully NCAA-
qualifying,
Track
and Field
performances from the mile
(1,600-meter) relay team, Matt
Dunn in the 800-meter dash and
Randy Barnes in the discus.
1 All A&M’s men’s relay teams,
except the mile group, have qual
ified for the NCAAs, and
Thomas said he thinks trying to
keep pace with Baylor’s relay
squad should be added incentive
to crack the qualifying mark of 3
minutes, 5.72 seconds. Baylor
owns the Southwest Conference’s
fastest time this season at 3:01.45.
I Thomas also is changing the
lineup a bit in order to help the
team qualify. Kendric Wesley will
start from the blocks and Gary
Pervis will run on the second leg.
Thomas will also insert Floyd
Heard in place of Maurice Holt,
who has a sore leg. Matt Washing
ton will anchor the team.
I “With Heard’s speed, I think
he can outrun anyone they can
put on the third leg, so we should
be going into the anchor leg with
Bavlor even,” Thomas said.
I Thomas said he expects a “hot”
■00-meter dash, in which Dunn
|ias a good chance to break the
qualifying mark of 1:48.11. His
current best time is 1:49.33.
H Randy Barnes, A&M’s shot put
sensation, has already qualified
for the NCAAs in the snot, but
will try to do the same in the dis
cus.
A&M’s Dean Stone leads the pack during the 800-
meter dash at the A&M Relays Saturday. The
Photo by Greg Bailey
men’s and w omen’s track and field teams are in
Waco today to compete in the Baylor Invitational.
I Barnes owns the conference’s
tpp put this season at 69 feet, 2'/i
inches, and Saturday at the A&M
Relays threw the discus 185 feet,
I'/a inches for the SWC’s current
top toss.
Thomas said Barnes has been
throwing the discus about 200
feet in practice this week, and if
he can remain in that range he
should qualify Ibi the NCAAs.
live discus qualifving mark is
190-1 'A.
In addition to Holt, onlv long
jumper Ian James will not com
pete in the meet. James slightly
t e-injut ed his heel as he leaped to
an NCAA-qualifying 26-3% at
the A&M Relays.
A&M ‘pepped’ up
for duel with Rice
Schow: Ags can't look past Owls
By Tom Tagliabue
Sports Writer
Some people like salt, Texas
A&M’s Jeff Schow likes “pepper.”
Not pepper the seasoning, but
pepper as in the game baseball play
ers play.
Schow said he and his A&M team
mates play pepper to help loosen up
bef ore a game.
“I have a tendency (before a
game) to get a little bit nervous, so
what we have been doing is to play a
little pepper to kind of loosen our
selves up . . . kind of get a little com
petitive atmosphere, yet still have
fun while you relax and get ready
for the game,” Schow said.
In pepper, one hitter stands in
front of several players lined up
across from him. A player flips the
ball to the hitter, who taps the ball on
the ground to the players, who then
flip the ball around to each other to
see how long they can keep it going
without allowing the ball to hit the
ground.
After warming up with pepper to
night, the senior left fielder and the
rest of the Aggies will try to salt the
tails of the Rice Owls as the teams
start their Southwest Conference se
ries at 7:30 with a single game at Ol
sen Field.
The No. 12 Aggies, 33-18 and in
first place in the SWC at 10-2, will
complete the three-game series
against the last-place Owls, 28-22
and 3-12, with a double-header Sat-
urday night at 5:30.
Schow, who is hitting .322 for the
season and .333 in the SWC, said
A&M shouldn’t looking past the
Owls to next weekend’s series
against the second-place Texas
Longhorns.
“1 don’t think we’re feeling pres
sure that much,” said Schow, the Ag
gies’ left fielder. “That’s one of the
better things we’ve been doing.
We’ve been playing the conference
games one at a time. We haven’t
looked forward (to our next oppo
nent) at all. I’m personally not going
to look over Rice.”
Schow, a 5-foot-9 Idaho native, is i
one of A&M’s top hitters. As the Ag
gies’ leadoff hitter, Schow leads
A&M in runs scored (50) and walks
(34); and is second in batting aver-
Baseball
age, doubles (10), home runs (8) and
stolen bases (11).
“I’m not a natural leadoff hitter,”
he admitted. “I have a tendency to
strike out more than a leadoff hitter
does because I have a lot more
power ....
Statistics back up Schow’s assess
ment.
He is second on the team with 33
strikeouts, but is also second in home
runs with eight. Half of Schow’s
round-trippers have led off innings
for the Aggies.
And in all of those games, A&M
has won.
Schow said he is a shy, quiet per
son off the field, but at game time he
becomes more outgoing and aggres
sive.
“I guess I’m a real competitive-
type athlete,” he said. “I like to be
aggressive on the base paths. I like to
steal bases. I’m not a guess hitter. I
just look for fastballs and adjust
from there.”
Schow said the Aggies need no ad
justments defensively, since A&M
leads the SWC in fielding percent
age with a .980 mark ahead of Texas
Christian at .968.
The Aggies have also allowed the
second fewest runs in the confer-
N'S ARROW SHIRTS
back.
ence.
“I think we are a very solid de
fensive club,” Schow said. “I don’t
even know if we have any weak
nesses defensively — our whole in
field, up the middle and everything,
fill ‘ ‘ - - 8
We’ve filled the question marks.’
off your
and we'll give you
s 5 off any Arrow®
shirt in our stock!
We'll take any old-but-clean shirt as a trade-in
worth $5 on any dress or sport shirt in our Arrow"
collection. Select from our entire stock of full fit or
fitted long or short sleeve styles. Sizes l4 1 /2-l7V2;
32"-35" sleeves, s-m-l-xl. Reg. $16 to $24... $5 off
with trade-in shirt now through Saturday, April 26.
Treat yourself to Arrow quality at
nice savings... and help some
one else help themselves! All shirts
traded in will be donated to
Goodwill Industries.
Dillards