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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1989)
ipts pths use many clues : ancient tribes, oss of history, jnal archaeolo- lescription and ds and submit inal archaelog- ie information die Archaelogi- ory at the Uni- stin. eople fail to re ts follow scien- sts don’t ook icts — it's get what rry Shafer, 1 professor heir projects, i tedious re- 5 must exam- their projects, es, and define what will be The Battalion SPORTS 9 Thursday, April 13,1989 Aggies have good first signing day Ryan hurls 15 ‘K’s Peters chooses A&M baseball; track and basketball also prosper ^ W1U Ox er BrCWCrS By Steven Merritt ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Wednesday was the initial signing date for all spring sports, and Texas A&M fared well in the signing of let ters of intent for the baseball, track and basketball programs. The Aggie baseball team, cur rently No. 1 in the nation, didn’t hurt their future chances any today with the signing of Brenham High pitcher John Peters. Up until a week ago, Peters was thought to be leaning toward the University of Texas. However, the righthander announced last week his intentions to be an Aggie, and he followed through with his decision today. Peters has won 48 consecutive games at Brenham and is only two short of tying the national record of 50. A&M signed two highly recruited junior college track athletes in De rick Thomas and Gregory Williams. Both are from Kingston, Jamaica, and were standouts at Southwest Christian Junior College. Thomps, a 5-11, 160-pound sprinter, ran the leadoff leg on Southwest Christian’s 400-meter re lay at the Texas Relays last week, which posted a lime of 39.86. Thomas participated in Jamaica’s Olympic trials last summer and has recorded personal best times of 10.15 in the 100-meter dash and 20.43 in the 200-meter dash. “He’s a great relay man who will help us keep our tradition of great relay teams at Texas A&M,” said A&M Head Coach Charlie Thomas. “Derick should also be able to help us in the sprints.” Williams, a 6-1, 172-pound hurdler, missed a chance to qualify for the Summer Olympics by one place after finishing fourth in the 110-meter hurdles at the Jamaican Olympic trials. Williams owns the Southwest Christian school record in the 110- meter hurdles with a personal best of 13.71 and also won the event in the Texas Southern Relays earlier this spring. “Gregory, along with Derick, will be able to come in and give us a boost immediately in conference and national competition,” Thomas said. “He almost made the Jamaican Olympic team last year and is a very talented athlete.” A&M is expected to sign several other track athletes today and Fri day. Basketball signees include Darrin Terry, a 6 foot 6 inch guard from Hughes Springs, Texas, and Brooks Thompson, 6 foot 4 inch guard from Littleton, Colo. Terry averaged 19.2 points and 12.1 rebounds per game in his se nior season at Hughes Springs, lead ing the Mustangs to a 35-1 record and a second place finish in the state tournament in 1986-87. He shot 46.3 percent from the field and 72.2 percent from the free throw line, while averaging 3.3 steals per game. Terry has spent the past two seasons playing football for Tyler Junior College. Thompson, named the Colorado Player of the Year in Class 4A, aver aged 27.6 points per game during the regular season and led his Little ton High School team to the state championship with a 24-0 record. The left-hander led the Continen tal League in scoring, assists (109), steals (84) and finished second in the league with 44 three-point goals. Thompson shot 57.7 percent from the field and hit 78.4 percent of his free throws. He tied a league record with 39 points in a game, a feat which he accomplished twice, while also setting league records with 15 field goals and 14 free throws made in separate contests. Thompson and Terry join early signees James Cooper and David Harris, both from Mississippi County Community College in Bly- theville, Ark. MILWAUKEE (AP) — Nolan Ryan allowed one hit in eight shut out innings and struck out a team- record 15 batters Wednesday night as the Texas Rangers beat the Mil waukee Brewers 8-1. Ryan, who has pitched a record five no-hitters, did not give up a hit until Terry Francona singled in the eighth after a walk to Glenn Braggs. Ryan retired the next three batters. Reliever Craig McMurtry gave up a run on three hits in the ninth. Ryan, 42, raised his all-time strike out record to 4,798. He surpassed the Texas single-game mark of 14 strikeouts by Bert Blyleven and Jim Bibby, the only two Rangers to pitch no-hitters. Ryan, who has never pitched a perfect game, did not permit a run ner until Robin Yount walked on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the sev enth. Braggs walked on a full-count pitch in the eighth and Francona, just l-for-14, followed with a line- drive single to left field. With temperatures falling into the upper 30s, Ryan had his fastball crackling and a sharp curve! He tied a team record by striking out six straight batters, starting with B.J. Surhoff in the first inning. Ryan struck out every Milwaukee starter. It was the 23rd time he has fanned 15 or more in a game, and just 7,590 fans saw it on a chilly night. k In the fifth. Rangers shortstop Scott Fletcher momentarily mis judged Rob Deer’s towering popup before making a lunging catch. Julio Franco drove in four runs and Ruben Sierra got four hits, in cluding his second home run. Sierra doubled home a run in the first and scored on Franco’s single off Bill Wegman, 0-2. Sierra homered to make it 3-0 in the fourth and then doubled in the sixth and scored on another single by Franco. Ex-Texas fan hopes consistency becomes part of team’s game ogical field students to ruins in New ummer, gives e tedious and goes into ex- sorted that vallet from ide the rac- Ware Field veral pieces ler seating ena. Kjrted that purse from in the Ster- jorted that in-up pants acher at the I Fields, wo mirrors e Northside on resident r obtaining dining halls at the Uni- ame. EF: >orted that in the hood seeing three into Rudder ding to a er an emer- Fficers were es that two ng a prank. .SS: idents, two College Sta- riven verbal r fishing in reservoir on eported re- ne calls, it reported one calls, nt reported n calling his “Aggie War N RDS l fto... >5 ■! lion's ie! wble" 3 ANA As incredible as it may seem to those who occasionally follow Texas Rangers baseball, the team has won six of seven as of Wednesday and is enjoying an early lead in the American League West. What’s even better is that Texas has the best record in the majors — that’s right, after seven games, a feat that should be savored by die hard Ranger fans everywhere. Let’s see, the regular season consists of 162 games, and Texas is leading after seven. So, with a little help from the abacus, the Rangers can actually boast having the best record in Major League Baseball for approximately 4.3 percent of the entire season. Cynical, you say. A bit sarcastic. For the most part, these assumptions are true. But this attitude comes from a former die-hard Ranger fan who saw the light several years ago and decided to throw aw ay the Maalox and the nervous stomach medicine and go with any team that knew how to spell consistency. 1 was nine years old when I saw my first Steven Merritt Assistant Sports Editor Ranger game, an experience which fittingly exposed me to what was to come in the future of following the club, but I was too naive to realize the pain and suffering that would follow. It was a Saturday night game against the Chicago White Sox, and three things about the game stood out the most: Texas blew a six-run lead in the eighth inning to lose, the left field crowd poured six gallons of beer on Chicago outfielder George Orta and some loud, obnoxious woman caught a foul ball that should have been mine. So they choked off a win, it really didn’t matter to me. It was my first major league game and I was more taken with the atmosphere — this was before the dot races in the seventh inning — and the thought of seeing players like Bump Wills, Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah. But as I grew older, a winning Ranger team began to mean more to me, and it seemed as if Texas was losing more close games and making more stupid trades each year. The manager situation was not much better, as it began to take a score card to keep up with Billy Martin, Pat Corales, Doug Rader, Don Zimmer, etc., etc., etc. Then, in the sixth grade, I defected to Detroit. I liked Sparky Anderson when he was at Cincinnati and thought he could do things with the Tigers. They are 1-4 right now, however. Besides, it was a new team to me, I could now spend my time learning things about the new players instead of watching veterans with the Rangers getting traded away. I know there was some spring training recording, used by Texas every year, that detailed how the club was new and improved and would be in the hunt when pennant time rolled around in the fall. They probably just slowed the tape down each season to make the voice sound different. Maybe this year is different, maybe the recording has been changed and they really mean it this time. The front office has definitely tried to make the right moves in the off season by actually letting go of some money to get the top players as well as making the right trades at the right time. Bobby Valentine has also made what has to be one of the better pitching moves of the season thus far in moving Jeff Russell to the bullpen, which has notched three wins and two saves in 22 innings. The Rangers are also learning how to come from behind to win, which they did only 30 times last year, down from 42 the year before. In four of the six victories so far this season, Texas has come from behind in the seventh inning or later. Maybe we’ve seen the last of leaving the tying and winning runs stranded at second and third while the fans are treated to a series of shallow fly balls and pop-ups that make the opposing pitcher look good and secure the win at the same time. Hopefully the days of falling apart after the All-Star break are gone for Texas, a habit which has been hard to break the past few years. I hope for the sake of Ranger fans who really get excited about those spring training tape recordings that this is the year. Anything can be better than 70-91 and a sixth-place finish in the A.L. West last season, a whopping 33 Vs games behind Oakland. Maybe the word consistency will creep back into the Ranger vocabulary and that 4.3 percentage will keep growing for a while. "Ecstasy for the ear!" The Swingle Singers April 15 Rudder Auditorium 8pm Imagine an entire orchestra, played on the human voice. And imagine that vocal orchestra playing the full range of music, from Bach to the Beatles. You have just imagined the Swingle Singers, "the world's most unique vocal group" (Boston Herald). The Singers use only their voices to create the full range of musical sound, from strings to percussion. Don’t miss this finale to the 1989 MSC OPAS season. 'The most extraordinary musical event of the year...The sound of this group is simply ravishing. n -- St. Louis Post-dispatch Tickets on sale in the MSC Box Office 845-1234 and through Dillard's Ticketron This season ive bring you the world. MSC. 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