Monday, March 6,1989
The Battalion
Page 9
No.l-ranked Aggies get ‘Sweet 9 16th as pitching stops CMU
Duke’s two-run double makes difference
Photo by Jay Janner
A&M’s John Byington connects with a pitch during the Aggies’ 3-2 win over the Central Michigan
Chippewas Friday. A&M tied a school record by recording its 16th straight win.
By Doug Walker
SPORTS EDITOR
A strong pitching perf ormance by
starter Pat Sweet and a clutch relief
appearance by Scott Centala earned
the top-ranked Texas A&M baseball
team its 16th consecutive win in a 3-2
verdict over 30th-ranked Central
Michigan Friday afternoon at Olsen
Field.
The Aggies tied a school record
for consecutive wins and victories at
the start of a season. The Chippe
was, on a season-opening 11-game
road trip, fell to 0-3 with the loss.
Sweet, whose longest previous
outing lasted seven innings, worked
eight and 1/3 innings in moving his
record to 4-0 on the year. He al
lowed four hits and two runs (one
earned) while striking out six. He
showed excellent control as he didn’t
allow any Chippewa hitters to reach
base via a base on balls.
Centala picked up his fourth save
by stopping a Chippewa rally in the
ninth.
Sweet had cruised through eight
innings without much trouble. With
one out, CMU shortstop Brian Van-
dermoere connected on a slider for a
solo home run over the left-center
field wall to draw CMU to within 3-
2. Chippewa catcher Clark Huntey
followed with a sharp single to left to
chase Sweet from the mound.
Sweet didn’t blame fatigue for his
ninth-inning lapse and said he made
a costly mistake on the home run
pitch.
“I didn’t really get tired in the
ninth,” Sweet said. “I tried to come
inside with a slider and got it out
over the plate.
“I was pleased with my command
of pitches. I was hitting my spots.”
Centala got off to a shaky start by
tossing a wild pitch on his first deliv
ery to Chippewa designated hitter
Rick Sellers. Centala eventually
walked Sellers before getting Brett
Hansen to line out to third baseman
Aggie Baseball
• ScorefFexas A&M 3, Central
Michigan 2.
• Record: 16-0.
• Ranking: First.
• Next game:Tuesday, double-
header vs. Hardin Simmons.
John Byington, who threw to second
to catch Huntey off the bag for the
double play to end the game.
Tim Driscoll (0-1) took the loss for
the visiting Chippewas of the Mid
American Conference. Driscoll
worked live and 1/3 innings giving
up six hits, three runs (all earned)
and walked three while striking out
three Aggie hitters.
The two teams were scheduled to
play a doubleheader Saturday. How
ever, bad weather caused the twinbill
to be cancelled and the games will
not be made up because the Chippe
was had to travel to Edinburg for a
tournament.
The game was the first real test
the Aggies have had at home this
year as Driscoll pitched well for the
Chippewas and the Aggies stranded
several baserunners in scoring posi
tion.
A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson
said the Aggies needed a tight game
for the experience to help them later
in the season.
“Coaches don’t like it, but you
need to get experience in tight situa
tions like that,” Johnson said. “From
a fan’s standpoint this was a great
game. The pitchers did a great job,
there were a couple of real good de
fensive plays and some clutch hit
ting.”
Right fielder Andy Duke pro
vided the clutch hitting for the Ag
gies with a two-run double in the
fourth inning which was the differ-,
ence in the game.
Duke slapped a ball off the left
field wall to score John Byington
and Eric Albright to give A&M a 3-0
lead. Duke said he got the pitch he;
wanted and put it in the right place.
“In that situation, with runners on
base, I’m trying to put the ball in
play,” Duke said. “(Driscoll) got a
fast ball up in the strike zone and I
was fortunate to hit it in the alley.”
Albright started the scoring in the
second inning with his third home
run of the season, a solo shot to right
field.
Sweet induced 16 ground-ball
outs from the Chippewas as he had
good control and kept his pitches
low.
“He would have been tough for
anybody to beat today,” Johnson
said. “I don’t know if we could ask
him to be any better than he was to
day.”
“When I’m doing good I just go
out and keep the ball down,” Sweet
said. “I concentrate on that and let
my defense do the rest. I got a lot of
help from the defense today.
“Andy (Duke) and Chuck (Knob
lauch) made a couple of great plays.”
Byington’s game-ending play
along with a diving catch of a sinking
liner by Duke in the fourth and a
Knoblauch gem on a grounder up
the middle in the eighth kept Sweet
out of trouble.
Penders 9 traveling circus got what it deserved Saturday night
Saturday night the circus came to College
Station.
The event featured Tom Penders and his
self-proclaimed Runnin’ Horns against the
Texas Aggies. Penders and the Longhorns
were planning on sewing up at least a tie for
the Southwest Conference regular season
title and solidifying their NCAA
tournament hopes with a win. It was
expected to be a run-and-gun circus.
However, the circus was of an entirely
different type than what was predicted.
In this circus the main stars were three
Longhorn players who failed to live up to
their Runnin’ Horns moniker: forward
Alvin Heggs, guard Lance Blanks and
fellow backcourt man Travis Mays.
These three offensive machines
resembled clowns as they led the
blundering Longhorns to their most inept
game of the season against a fired-up Aggie
tearm
Heggs (a.k.a. “The 1 Amazing One-
Doug
Walker
Sports Editor
Dimensional Alvin Heggs”) is a talented six-
foot-eight post player whose only
dimension as a basketball player appears to
be scoring.
Alvin has this mysterious malady which
affects him when he travels to the defensive
end of the court. It seems that Alvin is
suddenly stricken with paralysis of the legs
when playing defense in the paint.
Miraculously, Alvin regains his movemetit
when one of his teammates rebounds the
ball.
Heggs had a whopping nine points at the
half and 15 for the game. He teamed with
Jose Nassar (another useless behemoth) to
form a dynamic defensive duo against
A&M’s Donald Thompson. Thompson was
so eager to get the ball with these guys on
defense that he was practically running to
the Aggie guards for it.
Blanks (a.k.a. Lance “How many layups
can I miss in one game?” Blanks) lived up to
his name by tossing several bricks on easy
layups and losing his cool at the Aggie
guards who defended him closely all night.
Blanks, a transfer from the University of
Virginia, must have felt like he was back in
the Atlantic Coast Conference as he was
three of eleven from the field in the
opening half on the way to giving a clinic on
how not to shoot three pointers in a crucial
game.
He teamed with Mays, who missed all
five of his first half shots, to be useless to
the Longhorns when the game was still up
for grabs.
Mays (whose motto seems to be: “I won’t
play defense but, gosh, isn’t the arc on my
shot pretty?”) will get a lot of consideration
for SWC most valuable player honors.
However, he scored probably the quietest
21 points of his season.
The Aggies showed how vulnerable the
Longhorns are defensively by attacking
their traps and presses and getting plenty
of layups and inside buckets all night.
Texas’ only real chance to get back in the
game came early in the second half when
A&M lost forwards Ray Little and
Thompson to foul trouble. Incredibly, the
Aggies increased their lead to as high as 31
points before the Aggies let up.
“So,” you’re wondering, “why are you
iving Texas such a hard time? They won
0 games this year.”
Well, they got what«they deserved
Saturday night.
Earlier this season Texas played and beat
Rice at Austin by about 50 points. They led
by about 30 at halftime and spent most of
the second half boosting the scoring
averages of the starters and humiliating
Rice with showboat slam dunks and taunts.
The fans loved it, but the players didn’t
show any class. Texas isn’t good enough to
get away with that. A&M turned the tables
on them Saturday night.
The Aggies have turned into a good
team but not a powerhouse.
When Texas, if they get an NCAA
tournament bid, plays a tough team and
tries to play its usual up-tempo game they
will probably be crushed the same way they
were beaten by Vanderbilt and Oklahoma
earlier this season.
The SWC isn’t going to help its
reputation by sending this team or
Arkansas to the tournament. However, this
is the best we can do fqifcB<jiW.
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BONFIRE ’88
pictures
pictures
The Fish Drill Team will be
Selling 8x10 pictures of:
• Bonfire ’88
• 5 In A Row Scoreboards
Pictures for sell in the MSC
Monday, March 6 thru Friday, March 10
Afghanistan: The Cultural & Social Implications of Soviet
Withdrawal
A film sponsored by:
The MSC Jordan Institute for International Awareness and introduced by
Dr. Manochehr Dorraj, Visiting Assistant Professor, Political Science Dept.
Monday, March 6,1989 Room 510 Rudder 8:30 PM
INSIDE AFGHANISTAN
SOVIET UNION
AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN