e Battalion
PORTS
Wednesday, February 21,1990
7
Sports Editor Richard Tijerina 845-2688
Vince
Snyder
Sports Writer
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Women’s sports
need some Aggie
oving also
I just realized something is
wrong with society’s acceptance of
professional women’s sports.
Why do we pay to watch two women
hit a little fuzzy ball back and forth
across a net, when we wouldn’t pay to
watch a woman hit a home run?
There are certain sports we do accept
like women’s tennis, golf and bowling.
But what about professional women’s
basketball, softball and volleyball ? I
mean these are legitimate sports
recognized throughout the high school
and collegiate levels. But that’s about as
far as it goes, besides a one-in-a-million
:hance of going to the Olympics.
Why is that?
Is it because no one wants to pay to
iee a woman shoot, hit or spike a ball ?
3r is it because people think there are
nough sports to worry about already ?
Whatever the reason may be, it seems
little unfair.
These women have worked just as
ard in some of these sports as the men
mve, and possibly even harder in the job
)fpromoting their image as competitors.
And yet, all for what ?
A chance to sit back one day and tell
heir grandchildren that society only
illowed them to play sports in school
nd not on a profesional level?
Maybe it all falls back on the little
support shown or given to the women for
their efforts in college.
e tombi.'iK
ba’s arsenal
e than 1,
>de ! s ', , 1 I can contest to the lack of fanfare at
ter had ici; 1
s durinn j° me t* 12 women s sporting events
weeks V l ere at T exas A&M. Maybe this is the
;s has dill pin reason why women’s basketball,
r whv (In joftball and volleyball teams have a
i send M;.piling chance of making it in the
r|yatai!H*rofessional sports market.
socritiakB It seems that the only time the stands
hail S. (si»Q > Roilie White Coliseum start to fill
u t .Mpforn women’s sporting event is when
‘Here is a gimmick involved, and even
vi Mat is a dismal half-hearted try. Take for
of activilisW stance t ' ie *- )orm show your support
the Unitf P rt h e Lady Aggies” contest at a Lady
(annulio fggies’ basketball game.
P Boy, what support. It’s like taking a
dismissediffid to the dentist, and then promising
■stion as i him ice cream afterward. They should
t wasnafiBake the contest last all season during
he laterssB) me g ames an< j not just for one night,
’ir ; And then for a real kicker, bonus points
mil refots'a 011 ^ awar d 2 d to the group of people
s'lluTiib r uni a dorm who go to a road game.
B A more recent example for the lack of
ms appe t^PPOrt toward A&M women's sports
dating il: took place last Friday when the Lady
le-partv'iwgies hosted the Lady Longhorns. The
See Snyder/Page 8
it, Ttitwik
ba from d
9-0 Ags sweep twinbill
Photo byjayjanner
Relief pitcher Steve Hughes (21) comes in for starter Brent Gilbert (30) in
Tuesday’s 10-5 victory. He pitched two innings to give Gilbert the win.
ByALAN LEHMANN
Of The Battalion Staff
T he Texas A&M baseball team got by
with a little help from their enemies
Tuesday.
Thanks to Lamar’s generosity, A&M
swept a doubleheader 10-5 and 2-1 at
Olsen Field. With the wins, the No. 8 Ag
gies stay undefeated and are 9-0 on the
season..
In the first game, Lamar out hit A&M
nine to live, but walked seven Aggies -—
six of them scored.
Lamar was slightly less gracious in the
nightcap — walking only two hatters —
but one of them scored on a sacrifice fiv
in the bottom ot the ninth inning to give
the Aggies the win.
In fact, both ol the Aggie runs in the
second game were gifts.
T railing 1-0 in the bottom of the
eighth inning, A&M got a baserunner
when pinch hitter Scott Daniels was hit
by Lamar reliever Bill Keenan. Daniels
moved to third on Tim Holt's perfectly
executed hit-and-run single through the
t ight side.
T hen Keenan started the gifts. On a
routine pickoff plav. he faked a throw to
third and turned to first. Holt was lean
ing toward second, but Keenan's throw
saded over first baseman Bobby Stroth
er’s head, allowing Daniels to score the
tying run.
Coach Mark Johnson said he didn’t
mind winning ugly.
“We’ll take it," Johnson said. “Errors
are part of the game.”
In the ninth inning, senior right
fielder Dan Robinson worked a leadoff
walk from reliever Mike Ondiias, and
stole second base one out later. After
catcher Blake IMe was intentionally
walked, Travis Will-aims hit a ground
ball that should have been a double-play.
But luck was again on A&M's side,
and shortstop Chip Kirk hobbled the ball
so badly that he didn't get either runner.
Sophomore first baseman Jeff Bernet
then lifted a flv frail to right field. It was
deep enough to score the speedv Robin
son.
“I was just trying to make sure that 1
got the ball out of the infield,” Bernet
said. T was looking for a pitch up in the
strike /.one.”
Senior pitcher Kerry Freudenberg
pitched 3.2 innings of sparkling relief to
pick up the win. After coming in for
starter Sean Lawrence, Freudenberg
struck out nine hitters, and allowed only
one hit.
“1 had all tny good stuff tonight, and
Blake was giving me a good target,"
Freudenberg said. “The slider, my bread
and butter pitch, was working good, but
what made the difference tonight was
See SweepTage 8
A&M loses Ryan’s son to Texas
FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS
If heredity has anything to do with base
ball prospects, Texas A&M Coach Mark
Johnson may just have missed a near sure
thing.
The Texas Longhorns, a perennial col
lege baseball power with a tradition of turn
ing out major league pitchers, offered Reid
Ryan of Alvin, Texas, a scholarship without
ever seeing him pitch.
But they certainly have caught an eyeful
of his father, strikeout leader Nolan Ryan.
“Every high school kid is a gamble,”
Texas recruiting coordinator Deron Gus
tafson said Tuesday. “You don’t know how
mature they are physically or mentally, or
what they might do a year or two from now.
“But Reid’s a pretty good one to take a
chance on.”
Ryan, a 6-foot, 170-pound right-hander
with an 86-mph fastball has committed to
play next year for Texas, according to Gus
tafson, son of head baseball coach Cliff
Gustafson.
Johnson said Tuesday that Ryan com
mitted to the Longhorns two'weeks ago. He
chose Texas over A&M, which also wanted
him to play baseball.
“We made a run at him, but we knew it
would be tough,” Johnson said. “He’d al
ways wanted to go to Texas. He and Nolan
both told us that up front.”
The Ryan family visited A&M earlier this
year, and Johnson said that although they
enjoyed the campus and the Aggie baseball
staff, the senior had his heart set on playing
for the Longhorns.
“You don’t get all the guys you look at,”
Johnson said. “He hasn’t arrived yet, hut
he’s got potential. Obviously, there’s pretty
good blood in the family.”
Years ago, when Nolan Ryan was pitch
ing at Alvin, near Houston, Texas also of
fered him a scholarship. Ryan, however,
signed with the New York Mets and is now
the all-time major league strikeout leader,
topping 5,000 last season with the Texas
Rangers.
Ryan said his son, who also plays basket
See Ryan/Page 8
Ags hoping date
with Hogs isn’t
another war story
By CLAY RASMUSSEN
Of The Battalion Staff
Old generals often sit and swap war sto
ries. And even though Texas A&M men’s
basketball coach John Thornton has led his
Aggies only a month, he too has tales to tell.
A&M travels to Fayetteville, Ark.
Wednesday to battle Arkansas in Barnhill
Arena, a coliseum Thornton dubbs as
“Fayette-Nam.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
“My first experience in Fayette-Nam was
back in ’74,” Thornton said. “At that time,
Barnhill Arena was an indoor pavilion for
rodeos. It was covered with sawdust, dirt
and had a sidewalk you had to walk on to
get to the floor so that we didn’t get our ten
nis shoes dirty. It even had portable bleach
ers.
“That’s when basketball was wild —really
wild.”
Thornton said it wasn’t so much the at
mosphere as it was the hostile surround
ings.
“You had to actually take your bench and
go to midcourt because there would be peo
ple hanging over the rails trying to grab you
and throw stuff at you,” Thornton said.
“We got hit with coins, snuff cans, ice ...
anything.
“It’s just a basketball hotbed.”
And after more than 15 years, things
haven’t changed much.
The Razorbacks are 12-2 in the South
west Conference and can wrap up at least a
share of the league title with a win over the
Aggies. Overall, Arkansas is 21-4. A&M is
12-14 overall, 5-7 in SWC play.
Despite beating the Aggies 100-84 a
month ago at G. Roilie White Coliseum, Ar
kansas coach Nolan Richardson is expect
ing a battle from A&M. ^
“This is the same A&M team that beat
Connecticut,” Richardson said. “Connecti
cut is ranked sixth in the nation and is tied
for the lead in the Big Fiast.”
Richardson went on to say the Aggies
haven’t been dominated by anyone they’ve
met this season.
The only SWC game the Aggies were
overpowered in was against Houston last
January and their previous meeting with
Arkansas.
Arkansas hasn’t been without problems,
though. The Razorbacks were 1 1-0 in SWC
play until they met up with the Iba cousins
earlier this month. Richardson’s squad lost
to Baylor’s Gene Iba in Waco, then lost to
Texas Christian’s Moe Iba in Fort Worth.
Arkansas returned to Fayetteville the next
week and, with a new offensive scheme,
trounced Southern Methodist 77-46.
“Earlier this year, they went with a
quicker, smaller lineup,” Thornton said.
“(Mario) Credit and (Oliver) Miller would
alternate, but after their SWC losses they
started both Miller and Credit.”
But they continue to press opposing of
fenses and Thornton doesn’t expect
Wednesday to be any different. He said
that the Aggies must control the ball and
not allow the Razorbacks’ defense to throw
their offense off balance and force careless
turnovers.
“The relentless pressure is what we have
to handle to win the game,” Thornton said.
“We have to handle the press, handle the
half-court traps, handle the double teams.
They will keep the pressure on and rip you
and convert, rip you and convert and soon
See War Stories/Page 8
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