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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1989)
'y. Aprihtu, luce em’ nd •‘gj? 1 tw o bunchei • 75 cents each bui lollar at the time l ! n g bring me 1 ‘ne, Travis said customers willle -xplaining they’ll i be said. Andih ei fly 20s and hoi ob al , a Papermillo; saw the land henm his ’37 pickupal 0 , nes south of Kirk,: out across the lard ld said, T sure would ’ ’ he said. “Thenl I probably couldji it. issed, but the bj le when Travis Ie . ght it and built ik, and his wife, Joj, se that has a tireoi a loose piece of i the wind. iiry cattle until 18!i, - 76, he works [I len, which stretcfe - almost tothehon- The Battalion SPORTS lionday, April 10,1989 7 No.l-ranked Aggies pluck Owls By Jerry Bolz assistant sports editor The Rice Owls came into a week end series with hopes of knocking off the No. 1-ranked Texas Aggie baseball team in at least one game. But A&M fought off the scrappy Owls and high winds to sweep the se ries^, 4-1 and 6-3. Coming into the series, the Aggies had been averaging about 10 runs per game, a mark they didn’t reach against Rice. However, each of the Aggie Update • Score: A&M sweeps a series from Rice by scores of 9-2, 4-1 and 6-3. • Record: 38-1. • Ranking: First. • Next game: Tuesday double- header against Texas Southern at 5:30 p.m. at Olsen Field. games against the Owls was plagued by high winds blowing across the field and sometimes straight toward home plate. Shortstop Chuck Knoblauch was not disappointed with A&M’s low run count. “It’s pretty hard to score a lot of runs in this park,” Knoblauch said. So I think we did the best job we could.” J A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said it would have been hard to play catch-up ball with the wind blowing so hard. b Fortunately for the Aggies (38-1, 9-0 in Southwest Conference), play- ing catch-up was not a part of their weekend. Rice (22-22, 2-10 in SWC) didn’t lead all weekend. A&M got off to a bang in Friday’s single game, getting three runs in the first inning off Rice starter and loser Mike Cooper. Kirk Thompson and I erry I aylor led off with singles and Knoblauch followed with a dou ble to score Thompson. A&M’s John Byington drove Tay lor home with a sacrifice fly to give A&M a 2-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Mike Easley hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Byington with the third run. Rice countered in its half of the first as third-baseman Mike Grace hit a solo home run over the left- field fence to make it 3-1 A&M. The Owls edged one run closer to the Ags in the fourth inning when John Eierman singled and scored on a triple by Rick Strebeck to make it 3-2 Aggies. The Aggies made it 5-2 in the fifth when Knoblauch hit a solo shot to left and designated hitter Travis Williams singled home Eric Al bright. Rice ' almost opened the flood gates for A&M in the seventh when Cooper hit Byington with a pitch and walked Andy Duke and Easley reached on a Rice error to load the bases. Cooper then hit Williams with a pitch to give Byington a free trip home and the Aggies led 6-2. Rice got out of the inning when SWC Baseball Standings Team SWC Record Pet. Texas A&M (38-1) 9 0 1.000 Arkansas (31-4) 9 0 1.000 Texas (36-10) 7 2 .777 Baylor (30-10) 6 6 .500 Houston (34-8) 4 5 .444 TCU (24-17) 2 7 .222 Rice (22-22) 2 10 .166 TexasTech (21-17) 0 9 .000 right fielder Eierman made a superb shoestring catch of a Jim Neumann line drive and threw to first base to catch Williams off the bag. The Aggies scored three more in the eighth inning while winning pitcher Pat Sweet went the distance and only gave up six hits to up his re cord to 7-1. “I got my mechanics back down and was in command of my pitches,” Sweet said. “As the game goes on, I get more in rhythm. The last two in nings I got stronger — I wanted to come out and close the door.” The second game of the series was supposed to be Rice’s best shot at knocking off the Aggies. The Owls started right hander Rob Howard who boasted a 6-2 record and shut out the Texas Longhorns the pre vious week. Johnson pitched fresh man Ronnie Allen. The Aggies came out fighting as Knoblauch singled and stole second in the first inning. Byington doubled to send Knoblauch home and give the Aggies a quick 1-0 lead. The Rice offense was adamant about keeping Howard in the game as they countered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. Donald Allen led off with a triple that caught Duke off guard and sailed over his head to deep right field. Eierman hit a sacrifice grounder to score Allen and tie the score 1-1. A&M got to Howard again in the See Baseball/Page 8 Far-fetched rumor of SEC expansion won’t fly — or go away ness Week dent Y will meet .day in 604A/B nmittee provides s to local elderly sits retirement kins, vice-presi- it services, will idem Y’s “Food ogram at 7 p.m, ie Red Lobster College Station, dinner is $6 for d $5 for mem- > week will con- id with Student ents. Youth Fun ie Fun Begin!" iturdav at Kyle i Day is a semi- >r Olympics for t and fifth-grad- for Youth Fun ill be 8:30 p.ra. SC. t Aggieland,” a raise food and izos Food Bank, Sunday at the will end the dder p.m. at the Dixie p.m. in the Coon- Rudder fountain. Johnson and Dr ig heads and the IcDonald through .P.E. at 845-0280 available in 216 and Staff appUM' officers at 7 p-H' 1 ficers at 7 p-m-i" officers and eat iristian fellowship f hite. i day counselors, have an inforfl 13 5076 Rudder. jnities for women ir chairman P^ )08 Rudder. - 5 p-m- m 16 aseball/homemP P E at 845-026° needMcDon^ WeonlyP" s s0 . What s UP l missions areV try will run-Hr There’s a rumor making the rounds that just won’t die. It all started when an athletic director at a Southwest Conference school stated his unhappiness with the league in wake of the scandals of recent years. This rumor says that Texas A&M, Texas and Arkansas will leave the SWC in the future to become part of an expanded Southeastern Conference football league. This new SEC would consist of 14 or 16 teams, depending upon which version of the rumor you hear. The SEC would divide into two divisions, East and West, with the winners of the divisions meeting in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. About eight schools have allegedly been contacted by the SEC about joining up. However, SEC Commissioner Harvey Schiller hasn’t even formed a committee to look into the possibility and no official proposal has been made. Nonetheless, the rumor won’t die. Word of it supposedly reached officials at the universities of Florida State, South Carolina and Miami. Supposedly, all three schools have expressea interest in the idea. This rumor is probably just that — a rumor. It just makes no sense to me. Why would three of the SWC’s charter schools — A&M, Arkansas and Texas — leave the league to wither and die in a league where they would have a tough time treading water? According to the rumor, money is a big reason for a possible SEC expansion. A new television pact for the expanded SEC allegedly would bring in a huge sum. However, it doesn’t make any sense to me. The big three of the SWC wouldn’t be helping themselves by joining this new version of the SEC because they would only be splitting up their new-found riches in several more pieces than in the current SWC plan. A&M, Texas and Arkansas are by far the main benefactors of any television and gate revenue generated within the SWC. The big three are supposedly tired of giving up bigger cuts of their gates than they get on the road. It seems even less logical for the independents — Florida State, South Carolina and Miami — to join. Right now, each team keeps all their television revenues. By joining a conference, they would be hurting themselves. As for the SWC situation, I don’t think it’ll ever happen. If the big three ever decided to bolt from the SWC, there would be such an outcry from fans, administrators and politicians that it would be stopped. A&M wouldn’t be doing itself any favors by joining the league. The Aggies, only recently big winners, would have a hard time reaching the top of the SEC as it currently is. Imagine what it would be like with Miami, South Carolina and Florida State! If A&M, Arkansas or Texas really want to explore the possibility of leaving the SWC, the best alternative would be to become an independent. College sports is big business and independents get to keep all their television money while picking their opponents from a larger pool. Jackie Sherrill apparently discussed the possibility of A&M leaving the SWC in the future and created a bit of an uproar. However, he was just being realistic. A&M loses money when it plays Rice in Houston. It makes perfect sense for a team which is beating up the competition in its own conference to start questioning the possibilities, financial and competitive, existing elsewhere. This current rumor seems to me a far fetched one. However, I have little doubt that some day some form of alteration will occur in college football for the simple fact that there’s big money to be made. NAIIONAl JlWEitftS CRIDit ASSOCIATION.UD 000 000 000 __ s I smith BANKS ONE. An Invitation to Luxury... The Jewelry Express Card The Jewelry Express CarcL.Sheer Brilliance! 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