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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1988)
Sports Ags survive Baylor, themselves The Battalion Monday, Oct. 17, 1988 Page 7 \ yJarw :S ies they #a laraiiKra elsch. in froni it.lnth Lardne: is is eicqu m. is h t ivl By Jerry Bolz Sports Writer Jackie’s Aggies survived an attempt to self destruct in the first half and came back to rough up the Baylor Bears 28-14 at Kyle Field Saturday. Baylor had the top-ranked defense in the nation coming into the game. That didn’t seem to affect the Aggies once they got settled on running the ball against the Bears’ nine-man defensive line. Head Coach Jackie Sherrill said quar terback Bucky Richardson was the an swer. “We ended up going with our strength against their strength,” he said. “Bucky finds a way to win, and he did it this game.” Richardson completed only two of seven passes but ran for 86 yards and a touchdown. The Aggies’ problem was they were killing themselves. A&M got on the scoreboard first mid way through the first quarter on a dive over the hefty right side of the line by Robert Wilson. That was all the Aggies could come up with in the first half. On the other hand, the Bears, who had lost the last two meetings of the teams, weren’t laying down for A&M. Quarterback Brad Goebel hit his fa vorite target, Bobby Jack Goforth, four times for 77 yards and two TD’s in the First half. The first came on a seven-yard toss to the back of the end zone at the start of the second quarter. The touchdown topped a 36-yard drive, the result of a grounding penalty against Richardson and a 31-yard punt by Sean Wilson. When the Aggies got the ball back — they were penalized for illegal procedure ■twice before Osgood even took a snap. [On the day, A&M gave up 115 yards on 15 penalties compared to Baylor’s seven fouls for 66 yards. They punted again and Baylor took it from their own 29-yard line and tailback Anthony Ray took it straight down A&M’s throat for 34 yards on the series. Goebel topped the drive with a 13-yard TD pass to Goforth. Richardson said the Aggies were clearly beating themselves in the first half. Running back Darren Lewis, who had his fourth straight 100-yard game with 138, said the team was trying too iard. The Aggies were still a little sluggish See Aggies, page 8 Photo by Dean Saito Robert Wilson plunges over the goal line for the Aggies’ first touchdown Saturday. Wilson scored two TDs on the day. Hershiser lifts LA to 6-0 win, 2-0 lead LOS ANGELES (AP) — Orel Hershiser did it all, holding Oak land’s big bashers to three hits and getting three himself Sunday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Athletics 6-0 and took a stunning 2-0 lead in the World Series. Hershiser’s super season, which ended with a record 59 consecutive shutout innings, got even better with his most incredible performance of the year. He became the first pitcher to get three hits —^including two dou bles— in a World Series game since 1924 and the first ever to throw shut outs in both the playoffs and the World Series. He even threw in a fine fielding play. The Dodger Bulldog, who has worked almost half his team’s innings in the postseason, now has allowed just three earned runs in his last 92 in nings. Mike Marshall contributed a three- run homer and a triple as the Dodgers again did everything right against the heavily favored Athletics. This time, Los Angeles didn’t need miracle man Kirk Gibson, who won Game 1 with a two-out, two-run homer in the bot- tom of the ninth but did not play Sun- day because of hamstring and liga ment damage. Gibson’s status remained day-to- day going into Game 3 Tuesday night in Oakland when Bob Welch opposed Los Angeles’ John Tudor. Of 38 teams that have won the first two games in the World Series, 28 have gone on to win the championship. The victory marked the 12th con secutive game the home team has won in the World Series. But the Dodgers didn’t require the home-field advantage; they had Hershiser. Baseball’s most dominant pitcher showed baseball’s winningest team something it hadn’t seen. Only Dave Parker could solve Hershiser, getting three singles, but twice Mark McG wire followed by grounding into dou ble plays, and Hershiser evened that one by striking him out to end the game. Hershiser struck out eight, includ ing Carney Lansford, Dave Hender son and Jose Canseco in the fourth, walked two and allowed only three runners to get as far as second base. He threw just 104 pitches, 20 in the See Hershiser, page 8 Scott Slater may fall heir to Eric Franklin throne ring iteil onth s' | y compffl ample:; T c exams lalysis fflj is stiidja ’e for ike*" Once upon a time — not long ago, in fact — there lived in Aggieland a kicker named Eric Franklin. He was “a great practice kicker.” Of course, that is hardly a compliment. What it really meant was that Franklin was deadly all week long, but when Saturday came he was a wreck. The simplest of chip-shots was an adventure. Extra points were never taken for granted. More often than not it would be fourth and four inside the opponents’ 30-yard line, Jackie Sherrill would motion for the kicking team, and a chorus of boos would fill the air. Yes, fish — boos at Kyle, and boos directed at the home team. One day — Jan. 1, 1986, at the Cotton Bowl — he was pulled. A kicking-team specialist came in, nailed a 26-yard chip shot, and the transition was in place. The new kicker was named Scott Slater. And today he must be having an incredible and frightening case of deja vu. Incredible because of the similarities. Frightening because instead of happening to a Hal L. Hammons Sports Editor hapless Eric Franklin, now it’s happening to him. Slater started the year at the top of the world. He was headed for a third consecutive berth on the All-Southwest Conference team. He was looking to improve on the Honorable Mention All-America honors he received the year before. Sherrill said in the 1988 A&M media guide, “He’s probably as good as any kicker in the country. I have a lot of confidence in him.” But now it’s mid-season. And the situation has changed somewhat drastically. After the Baylor game Saturday I asked Sherrill how confident he was in his kicking game. He said, “Sean Wilson’s doing a fine job.” I wasn’t asking about the punter, and Sherrill knew it. When I specified the field-goal kicking, he said rather laconically, “Right now we’re not very good.” Slater’s miss from 43 yards Saturday wasn’t just the icing on the cake — it was extra hot fudge on an already-overloaded sundae. Slater hasn’t hit a field goal all year. He’s had four makeable attempts. And it’s becoming questionable if he will get many more. The cherry on top came in the fourth quarter. It’s fourth and two from the Bear 23. It’s 14-all. There’s about five minutes to go. The defense is stifling the Bear offense. And the ball is in the middle of the field. Common sense says kick a field goal. Sherrill says go for it. The message was clear. The confidence is gone. Agreed, it’s tough to put an All-Conference player on the bench. But as Sherrill said Saturday, something has to be done. That something could be Layne Anthony Talbot. Talbot was an all-state selection coming out of high school. If you watch him practice before the game you will know why. He regularly hits more of his pregame field goals than Slater and with more room to spare. If you have any doubts about his leg after watching him squib kickoff after kickoff, you should have been watching him warm up last year before the Louisiana State game. I saw him kick two or three in a row from 50 yards out — over the uprights. Not through. Over. I was thinking at the end of the first half, as the Aggies seemed to be driving for an attempt at a long field goal, that Sherrill might opt for the longer-footed Talbot, giving him a golden opportunity to steal the job from Slater. But Chris Osgood threw an interception. So I guess we ’ll have to wait until next week to see who kicks field goal number five. tions i" ; WO® older ) use iGoswitl ] dire® .udiesl 11 idicatic® t an ttr re. Jose fo^ •leased® 11 aid/TM* ; n Estnw Tine:*' 1 yinNe*^ ike resp#{ is long f Goswo it an# rte the a MSC/MBA Law Committee Presents the MBA/LAW Symposium "Destined for Success" Nov. 9, Wednesday Business & Law School Representative 10-4 p.m. 1st Floor Hallway MSC Register in MSC Hallway# Blocker, & Student Programs Office 10-3 p.m. October 31-Nov 11 $5 in advance/$8 at the door Keynote speaker: Henry Gilchrist, attorney, Jenkins & Gilchrist Also including representatives from: Harvard Business & Law Schools, Wharton Busi ness School, Chicago Law School, UT Business & Law Schools, SMU Business & Law, & all Baylor Business & Law Schools. JJL YE MBA LAW ^ C O M M I T T E ~E~ T exas A&M Flying Club ^Teaching tfie, ‘Best to BCy tfie Best Interested people are urged to attend our meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Airport Clubhouse For information Call Julie Scott 846-1279 7:00 p.m. HNBTOMV OF fl PBRTV *1 _ o Tuesday, October 1 8 Rudder Theatre 8:00-9:30 p.m. National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week 1988 Sponsored by Sigma Chi 0- Interfraternity Council Call battalion Classified 845-2611