The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 08, 1986, Image 9

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    Wednesday, October 8, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 9
Sports
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Angels bomb
Sox in Game 1
Witt throws 5-hitter in rout
BOSTON (AP) — Mike Witt
pitched a five-hitter and the Cali
fornia Angels jolted Boston ace
Roger Clemens for four runs in
the second inning Tuesday night
to beat the Red Sox 8-1 in the first
game of the American League
playoff's.
Clemens, pitching for the first
time since being struck on the
right elbow by a line drive last
week, could not find his rhythm
early on the clear, 50-degree
night.
Brian Downing drove in four
runs for the Angels who scored
more runs against Clemens than
any team tfiis year. They
pounded him for 10 hits and
eight runs, seven earned, in 7‘A
innings.
Witt, meanwhile, flirted with
the first no-hitter in playoff his
tory, holding the Red Sox hitless
for 5% innings before Wade
Boggs beat out an infield chopper
for a single. The hit broke a
string of 16 straight batters re
tired by Witt af ter walking Boggs,
the major-league batting cham
pion, leading off the first.
When Boggs got his hit, how
ever, Witt and the Angels had the
game in control and they coasted
the rest of the way in the the
opener of the best-of-seven se
ries. Game 2 was scheduled for
3:05 p.m. ED I' today.
Clemens, the most dominant
pitcher in baseball this season
i a 24-4 record including a 3-0
mark against the Angels, came
out throwing hard with fastballs
exceeding 95 mph. He escaped a
two-on, two-out jam in the first
inning by retiring Doug DeCinces
on a drive to the center-field wall,
and opened the second by easily
striking out Rob Wilfong and
Dick Schofield.
But then Clemens, averaging
just over two walks per game this
season, suddenly ran into trouble.
He walked Bob Boone on a 3-1
pitch and narrowly missed on a
full-count delivery to Gary Pettis.
Ruppert Jones followed with a
line single up the middle and
rookie Wally Joyner, who had
doubled in the first inning, sliced
an RBI double into the left-field
corner that made it 2-0.
After Clemens threw ball one
to Brian Downing, Red Sox pitch
ing coach Bill Fischer walked hur
riedly to the mound to talk with
his struggling ace. As soon as the
visit was over and Sammy Stewart
began warming up, Downing
lined a two-run single into the
left-f ield corner.
By the time Clemens finished
striking out Reggie Jackson, he
had thrown 45 pitches in the sec
ond inning and had been rocked
for four runs in an inning for
only the second time this season.
While the crowd of 32,993 sat
in stunned silence, the Angels
scored again in the third. Short
stop Spike Owen made a high
throw for an error on Wilfong’s
one-out grounder, and singles by
Boone and Pettis increased the
lead to 5-0. Pettis had been 0-for-
9 against Clemens until the hit.
Witt, given a big cushion,
breezed through a Boston batting
order that had only a collective
.178 average against him in his
career. The 6-foot-7 right-hander
was 18-10 this season, yet was
only 1-2 against the Red Sox de
spite a 2.66 ERA against them.
Witt walked Owen with two
outs in the sixth, snapping his
string of 16 consecutive batters.
A&M’s Gildner playing for memories
By Danny Myers
Sports Writer
Texas A&M outside hitter Stacey Gildner is making her
final volleyball season one to remember.
Gildner was the Southwest Conference player of the
week last week, and was named to the all-tournament team
at the Colorado State tournament Saturday along with
teammate Margaret Spence.
The Aggies, 14-4, finished second in the tournament
with their only loss to 15th-ranked Colorado State.
A&M defeated 17th-ranked LSU in the tournament and
that victory helped boost the Aggies into NCAA Top 20
poll for the first time this season.
This was the second week in a row for Gildner and
Spence to be named to an all-tournament team; they were
also selected at the Oklahoma tournament.
Gildner, a senior exercise technology major, said her play
at Oklahoma was more consistent than usual, and that may
be why she was named SWC player of the week.
“My (jump serve) was a lot better and I served a lot more
than normal,” she said.
The 5-foot-8 Gildner began playing volleyball as a sopho
more at Alberta Lea High School in Minnesota where she
also ran track and played basketball.
She decided she liked volleyball more and played her
freshman year at the University of Minnesota at Duluth
where she was named Rookie of the Year. But she didn’t
stay.
“I didn’t like the program there,” she said, “I was looking
for a different style of play.”
So Gildner said she took a magazine with the Top 20
teams listed and wrote letters to all of teams on the bottom
half of that poll.
“They (A&M) wrote me back and I came down here for a
visit and ended up playing for A&M,” she said.
“When I came down here (ex-Head Coach Terry Con
don) had never seen me play and I asked her to take a
chance on me and she did,” Gildner said.
Gildner and her teammates will face the 7-5 Houston
Cougars in Hofheinz Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
The Aggies are 1-0 in SWC play with their victory over
Texas Tech, and their next six games are all against SWC
opponents.
Head Coach A1 Givens said this is the most important
phase of the season for the Aggies.
“Our conference play is tough and we have to take each
match one game at a time,” he said.
“Houston has some talent and we’ll have to go to their
place and play well.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we have the better
team, but we’ve all been in sports long enough to know that
just having the better personnel doesn’t necessarily dictate
the outcome of a match . . . but if we play to our potential,
we should win the match.”
A&M comes home Oct. 13 to face Baylor and Oct. 15 to
take on seventh-ranked Texas.
“It’s great to play at G. Rollie White, especially with a lot
of fan support,” he said.
“I hope the fans will come out and support us in this very
important part of our season,” Givens said.
Hilt®
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:
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*
•
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■
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1 ®
A&M’s Stacey Gildner (9) prepares to
spike the ball as Margaret Spence (6)
Photo by Anthony S. Casper
fakes the attack. The Aggies play the
Cougars tonight in Houston.
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'
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SC GREAT ISSUE!
Gramm-Rudman
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and
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Featured Speakers:
Phil Gramm-United States Senator
James E. Miller Ill-Director,
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John Anderson-Former Presidential
Candidate
Wednesday, October 22,1986
2:30 p.m. J. Earle Rudder Auditorium
Reserve Tickets Available Oct. 8 in the
MSC Box Office
$3. 50 Students, $6. 00 Public