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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1986)
Friday, April 25, 1986/The Battalion/Page 7 Sports Ags still like chances of winning SWC title By Doug Hall Sports Writer Alter beginning its spring sea son with a lirst-. second- and third-place finish in three of its lirst four tournaments, the Texas A&M men's golf team has struggled as of late. But in spite o( the fact that the Aggies have ■ finished no M0n’S Golf higher t ha 11 seventh in am of their three lourcney’s since March 28, A&M is still optimistic about this week end's Southwest Conference tournament in Favetleville, Ark. "Our goal is to win,” said Jorge Coghlan, a 1984 All-SWC player and the Aggies' second lowest scorer. "We set that goal at the be ginning of the year." However, this weekend’s SWC tournament will take more than just promises to win. Houston, TCU. and Arkansas will give A&M its biggest chal lenge. All three teams finished ahead of the Aggies in the All- American Intercollegiate tourney in Houston three weeks ago. Bay- lot and Texas also field strong teams. A&M Coach Boh Tllis said af ter the All-American Intercolle giate that he felt any one of five teams had a shot at winning the conference title. When asked which team he picked as the favorite, Coghlan replied, “Probably Texas or L T H. Texas Christian has a good team, but I just don’t think they’ll win it." 1 he Aggies have been led this s eat bv senior Jef f Maggert who through 21 tournament rounds this spring has averaged 71.9 strokes, inlcuding an opening round 55 in the Morris Wiliams Coif Tournament. Maggert went on to win the tourney’s individual championship with a three day total of 208. Following Maggert is Coghlan who has averaged a respectable 7B.B shots per 18 holes this sea son. Coghlan, however, has not been pleased with his perfor mance so far this year. "Fve played very inconsistent,” he said, "but I’ve been working on my concentration. I think ev- ei None is ready to play (this week end)." “If we can get one guy to get out f ront and plav well, we’ll be in good shape,” he said. A&M, UT to play for SWC crown Ags need to take 2-of-3 to lock 'Horns out of title picture By Tom Tagliabue Sports Writet It’s time to “put up or shut up" in the battle for first in the Southwest Conference baseball race. Current league-leader Texas A&M, ranked \o. 9 in the nation, will face second-place Texas in a three-game series at Disch-Falk Field in Aus tin this weekend. A capacity crowd of 7,000 is expected for each ballgame — Friday’s 7 p.m. —————— opener and Saturdav’s 2 BaSGboll p.m. double-header. ■■■■hhhmhmhhbmhh The No. 5 Horns, 45-9 overall and 12-3 in the SWC, have won 16 SWC championships during Couch (Tiff Gustafson’s 18-year stint. Coach Mark Johnson’s Aggies, 36-18 and 13-2, are on a roll, winning 12 of their last 13 games, including 10-straight SWC games. Johnson said his team enjoys having control of its own destinv. “I wouldn’t trade our position rvith anybody t ight now," Johnson said. “Obviously, we’re one game up on Texas and a [ /j game up on Arkan sas. We’re in the best position of everybody. We have total control of our destiny. We can stir our own drink.” Gustafson, the Longhorns’ coach since 1968, said his ballclub is in a must-win situation if it ex pects to claim the SWC crown. “(Winning) 2-out-of-3 (games) is a must for us and, realistically, we need 2-out-of-3 because we’ve got to go to Houston next week and that’s going to be a treacherous series," Gustafson said. “All 2-out-of-3 will do is keep us alive another week. If the Aggies win 2-out-of-3, I feel like thev’ll virtuallv clinch because they’ve got TCU at home next week. "(A&M) has a real well-balanced ballclub and, has been placing extremely well. They’ve been doing what it takes to win ballgames. That’s the kind of ballclub I like. They’re winning games in a lot of different ways. They’re getting good pitching, getting the clutch hits, winning close games and winning the one-sided games.” A&M’s 1986 campaign mirrors the Aggies’ 1978 SWC championship season in which they took 2-of-3 from Arkansas in Fayetteville, swept Bavlor in Waco and won 2-of-3 against Texas in Austin. However, the last time A&M won 2-of-3 against UT was 1981. Both UT and A&M will put theii pitching aces on the hill in Friday night’s opener, Nvhich will be carried on local radio station KTAM (1240 AM). Lef t hander Dale Barry, 8-0 overall and 5-0 in conference, will throw for the Aggies against an other lefty, Greg Swindell, 8-1 for the season and 1-1 in the SWC, in what Gustafson calls the most crucial game of the series. "Well, I think (Friday’s opener) is a very im portant game of the series and I think for us, it’s probably more important than for the Aggies,” Gustafson said. “Swindell means more to our suc cess than Barry does to the Aggies’ success — and that’s not meant to underrate Barry at all, but they’ve been getting some really good pitching f rom (Darryl) Fry and the other guy's.” Johnson refused to tag the first game, “the most important,” because he fears a big letdown if the Aggies do lose the First game. "Obviouslv, vou’d love to start off the series with a win and then come into the double-header knowing vou need l-of-2 and not have to look at it and sav, ‘We’ve got to sweep today,’ "Johnson said. "If were going to be champions, we’re going to do it with Barry pitching the first ball game and we’re going to go right at them. We re not going to back off Swindell, we’re going to throw our ace against him. Johnson will use his second lefty, Darryl Fry, 9-4 and 3-1, for the first game Saturday, while Gustafson will counter with right hander Mark Petkovsek, 10-1 and 5-0. Both coaches are undecided on who will pitch the f inale. Garv Geiger and Pat Wernig are possi ble starters for A&M, while Daniel Pena or Curt Krippner could start for L I . Texas and A&M are also as closely matched in the statistics as they are in the standings. A&M has the top defensive team in the confer ence with a .975 fielding percentage, while UT is fourth with a .965. The Longhorns, who have thei second-best SWC team batting average at .309, are led by Ela- nis Westbrooks, hitting .400; Kevin Gerner, .356 with 16 RBI; and Jay Searcy, four homers and two triples. The Aggies, ranked third in the SWC at .300, are propelled by the hitting of Mike Scanlin, who as ,‘U 4 . 18 avei ; a 8 e vvith 17 RBI, 16 runs scored “ hltS ’ includln g four homers and nine dou- Shuttle Service for Sunday mornings from campus to First Baptist, C.S. Pickups at; Krueger - Dunn Baptist Student Union 8:30am 9:30am 8:35am 9:35am Petal Patch Complete Florist 707 Texas 846-6713 fxw »l 1 ||< 1 r\ I'M * Smile, your flowers came from Petal Patch Lease Cripple Creek $265 904 University Oaks# 1 764-8682 CONDOMINIUMS LOW SUMMER RATES STONEWOOD VILLAGE Preleasing Now for Summer, Fall & Spring Townhouse Style Living from $199 Tow levels • 1 Bdrm 1 Bath 2 Bdrm 1 Bath • 2 Bdrm 2 Bath Pool • Courtyard • Close to Post Oak Mall On-Site Management and Security 24 Hr. Maintenance FREE SUMMER SHUTTLE BUS 693-0077 /TM3\ 1 IniP IN THE MEN'S SPORTSWEAR SALE! savings and special purchases on casual and weekend wear from our best makers! Reg. $17 Arrow*, Van Heusen’ sport shirts. 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