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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1988)
Wednesday, April 6, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9 s al Sports geo[ £ | go an ’erytlii Jttwylf,; Uhrop; 'ecial; n/’slti ; tiedif:. ;oin S {, is oat here i eninjt end:; ie tliaii ow tft d. “I: iceiki 13S - A !; ingilx is mins irst h ehifi inapn 'ideal: duett- ublici OCUK re, Ha be ; aGs iswel Someone find me a cure for Between-Playoff Blues Loyd Brumfield ^gort^viewgoin^ The Jayhawks of Kansas have once again proven that age-old adage, “Bad Guys Finish Last.” Or is that, “Good Guys Finish Last?” Fm so confused. Anyway, Billy Tubbs and his Oklahoma Sooners lost, making me an undetermined number of dollars richer. What? Bet on Kansas? I sure did, but I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I would have been much happier if I had pulled Oklahoma’s name from the box instead. Howeyer, to subtly switch subjects, The OU-KU tilt signals the beginning of the end of what is for me the “fun” sports season. Now that college hoop is over, all that’s left is for the Los Angeles Lakers to smash the Boston Celtics yet again for the NBA championship. After that, the barren season of sports really begins in earnest. Sure, I can watch the Astros all day, but other than that and that great brand of Texas A&M ball, baseball isn’t my game. The Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs pre-empt all the good TV. I’m usually enthralled with baseball season until the very last month, when Houston does its annual choke number. Okay, okay, so I watch the playoff games and the World Series. I admit it. BUT OTHER THAN THAT, I DON’T GET INTO BASEBALL. Okay, okay, so maybe,Just maybe, I may settle for a Braves or a Cubs’ game. BUT THAT’S ABSOLUTELY IT! Oh, wait, I forgot. I watch the College World Series, too. But that’s it, really. But I’d much rather watch basketball in all it’s fast-paced (except in the Southwest Conference) glory. Next to the NCAA Tournament, nothing compares to the good-old NBA brand of roundball. You’ve got heroes like Magic Johnson, Akeem Olajuwon, Alex English, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and a few others. You’ve also got plenty of villians like the entire Boston Celtics team. Have you ever noticed how Kevin McHale is Robbie Benson’s evil twin? And don’t forget Larry Bird’s satanic alter-ego, Big Bird. Forgive me for being biased. After the pro teams finish beating up on each other, it’s either baseball, tennis or golf, with an occassional “Battle of the NFL Stars” thrown in for good measure. It’s the evil twin of the “Battle of the Network Stars.” Tennis just hasn’t been the same since the decline of Johnny Mac. Jimmy Connors is a poor substitute for Mac’s antics. No offense, Boris Becker is an outstanding, if not the greatest, tennis player today. His only fault is that he’s Anthony Michael Hall’s evil twin. See? Tennis just isn’t any fun anymore. And then there’s golf. Ever since I shot that miserable 357 at the tender age of six I’ve been turned off by golf. The 52nd Masters Tournament is coming up this weekend. It’s a great opportunity to watch men dressed like opinion-page editors beat the hell out of a little white ball. Call me unsophisticated if you will, but at least I don’t work for the opinion page. Have I left anything out? Oh, yeah, auto racing. AAAAAUUUGH! sluggers keep high rankings From Staff and Wire Reports The Texas A&M baseball team re ined its rankings of last week in is week’s Baseball America and ESPN/Collegiate Baseball polls. Baseball America ranks the Ag- les third, behind Oklahoma State |id Texas. ESPN/Collegiate Base- Irank A&M sixth. [ The ESPN poll also has OSU and |T|exas ranked Nos. 1 and 2, followed by Fresno State, Miami and Loyola- Marymount. Mississippi State, Cal State-Fullerton, Michigan and Cali fornia round out the top 10. Baseball America has Loyola- Marymount following A&M in fourth place, followed by Fresno State, Arizona State, Miami, Ful lerton, Stanford and Wichita State. A&M did not drop in either poll despite two losses last week. The Ag- yflSMl IK maziB isavs- :f im rapk “cl® ;uffte IS Ilf 1 oute jinei i er’ssp* targ h suit •learn about the performing arts •get involved on campus •help bring Broadway and classical artists to A&M •have fun/keep off the streets for MSC ©PAS Information Sessions: Tues. April 5, 7:00 pm, 308 Rudder Wed. April 6, 7:00 pm, 510 Rudder Applications are also available in 216 MSC for more information call: Paul at 268-8682 or 845-1515 ^Memorial Student Center Opera and Performing Arts Society SHSU knocks off Aggies 7-5 in rain gies lost at home to OSU and on the road to Arkansas. The Razorbacks are the only other team from the Southwest Con ference in the Baseball America poll. Arkansas, after losing two of three games last weekend in Fayetteville to the Aggies, fell to No. 24. Houston is ranked 27th by ESPN, and Arkansas dropped out of that poll completely. By Cray Pixley Sports Writer A 17-minute rain delay at the start of the ninth inning wasn’t enough to stop Sam Houston State from upset ting Texas A&M 7-5 in a nonconfer ence game Tuesday night at Olsen Field. The third-ranked Aggies were be hind the Bearkats 6-5 before rain stopped play in the top of the ninth inning. SHSU catcher Joe Dixon hit to right field after the delay to score centerfielder Chris Burton and give the Bearkats a two-run lead that A&M couldn’t make up. “We had a lot of pitchers that needed to work out tonight to get prepared for Baylor this weekend,” A&M Coach Mark Johnson said. “It’s not an excuse, but it’s hard to get into the flow of the game when several pitchers need to throw.” DeLaCruz, the fifth of six A&M pitchers, got the loss, dropping his record to 3-1. Jim Crawford, 2-3, was the winning man for SHSU, and Bubba Butler picked up the save. “Not all the pitchers were sharp tonight but that why they need to work,” Johnson said. “Some of the guys hadn’t pitched very much at all.” Johnson said the team is peaking more in conference games, and it needs to be prepared to play the nonconference games during the week. “Sam Houston played a good game and deserved to win,” Johnson said. “We had a couple of opportuni ties, but we didn’t get it done.” A&M’s Tim McWilliam agreed it was difficult to be prepared for a nonconference game. “It was a disappointing loss,” he said. “After sweeping Texas Tech, it’s hard to be motivated against Sam Houston to the level we were against the conference team.” The Aggies record stands at 33-8 Photo by Mike Mulvey A&M’s Mike Easley prepares for a pick-off attempt. Sam Houston State’s Andy Been, safe on the play, homered in the second inning. and 5-1 in the Southwest Confer ence. The Bearkats move to 23-17. SHSU scored first in the second inning off of a two-run homer by first baseman Andy Been. Deen’s hit batted in Rusty Hoke. Been had 2 RBI for the night. The Aggies answered in the sec ond with two runs to tie the Bear kats. John Byington and McWilliam singled to put men on the corners. Tom Carcione hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Byington. Terry Tay lor, who had two RBI in the game, batted in McWilliam for the tie. A&M had two errors in the game, one coming in the fourth inning when pitcher Jeff Jones overthrew first baseman Mike Easley while try ing to pick off Jay Worman. Wor- man made it to second base and was batted in by Gene Kridler. The Ags first error came in the first inning when SHSU’s Dixon was awarded first base after an interfer ence by the catcher Carcione. In the fourth, singles by McWil liam and Carcione put men on first and third. Taylor’s ground out brought McWilliam home to tie the score at 3. McWilliam hit to left field in the fifth inning for an RBI scoring Kirk Thompson. The Aggies kept the hitting going but so did the Bearkats. Hoke’s home run in the sixth and two more runs in the seventh gave SHSU the lead for good. A&M scored only once more, on a hit in the eighth by Easley that brought in Carcione. The night ended abruptly for the Aggies after the rain delay. Thompson popped out to left field, but Chuck Knoblauch hit a sin gle toward third base. Scott Liv ingstone lined out to the first base- man, who quickly tagged the base to double up Knoblauch. The Aggies travel to Waco this weekend for a three-game series with Baylor. SENIOR WEEKEND 1988 Senior Bash Friday, April 15^8fPsfn^». r , Texas Hall of-farheM5/couple Saturday, April 16, 9 p.m. MSC and Rudder Exhibit Hall, $35/couple Featuring Michael, Michael and the Maxx Ed Gerlach Orchestra The Senior Weekend Package at $65/couple, includes all three events. Tickets are on sale at Rudder Box Office at 845-1234. All tickets are presale.