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SPORTS 11
Monday, April 9,1990 Sports Editor Richard Tijerina 845-2688
Aggies sluggers, not slugg/s/i, in sweep of Owls
By ALAN LEHMANN
Of The Battalion Staff
Rice flew into Olsen Field in an
unfamiliar way — as contenders for
the Southwest Conference crown.
But it was the Aggies who brought
out the big guns this weekend as
they swept the Owls 10-0, 13-5 and
10-7.
“I was worried that we might
come out sluggish after the (two)
losses to Baylor last weekend,”
Coach Mark Johnson said. “We
made a statement with our bats to
day and swept them.”
The Aggies looked more like slug
gers than sluggish. A&M hitters
smashed 35 hits off the highly-
tauted Rice pitching staff this week
end— 14 of them for extra bases.
Almost lost in the weekend of big
hits was a hitting clinic by third base-
man Travis Williams. The sopho
more from Austin overcame a 0-for-
4 outing in the first game to go 3-
for-4 in the nightcap and 4-for-5
Sunday. In the series, Williams
smashed three doubles, a home run
and collected eight runs batted in.
“I hit some hard the first game,
but they didn’t drop,” Williams said.
“I was seeing the ball well and I was
confident. It didn’t matter where
they threw the ball, I knew I would
hit it.”
The Aggies struck first Sunday
with two runs in the first inning. Af
ter Brian Thomas drew a one-out
walk, Williams blasted a two-run
home run that hit the scoreboard in
left field. The homer, Williams’ sev
enth of the year, gave him the team
lead.
The Owls answered with three
runs in the third inning on an RBI
single by catcher Jamie Cook and a
two-run homer by first baseman Ja
son Ogden.
Williams tied the game at 3-3 in
the third when, he doubled home
Thomas. A&M scored a pair in both
the fourth and fifth innings.
Chad Broussard doubled home
Blake Pyle and Trey Witte with a
smash that hit the chalk of the left
field line.
In the fifth, Rollen clouted a two-
run homer to build the lead to 7-3.
Men’s drive, his seventh of the sea
son, was a majestic shot that easily
I cleared the fence in left-center field.
The Aggies scored three more in
the sixth, as Holt, Thoipas and Wil
liams each had RBI singles.
A&M starter Pat Sweet went five
innings to pick up the win. Brent
Gilbert pitched the sixth but gave up
a run in the seventh and was relieved
byBoSiberz with only one out.
Rice victimized Siberz with a
three-run outburst in the eighth that
Photo by Scott D. Weaver
A&M second baseman Trey Witte slides safely the throw in the first inning of Saturday’s 10-0
into third as Rice infielder Greg Duran bobbles win. The Aggies swept the three-game series.
cut the score to 10-7. Second base-
man Taji Garcia’s bases loaded dou
ble was the big blow.
Kerry Freudenberg pitched a
scoreless ninth inning to earn his
first save of the season.
The Aggies showed the Owls the
ropes Saturday, or rather showed
them the lines. A&M used six extra
base hits — five of which hit on or
near the foul lines — to smash Rice
10-0.
Freshman Brian Thomas stroked
three doubles and David Rollen
ripped a two-run homer that almost
hit the left field foul pole.
Ronnie Allen went the full seven
innings for the Aggies to raise his re
cord to 6-1. It was Allen’s sixth com
plete game and third shutout of the
season.
Allen was dominating, yet not
overpowering. He allowed only
three hits, but didn’t strike out a sin
gle Owl batter. It was the first time
this year that A&M pitching failed, to,
record a strike out.
“I looked up in the fourth inning
and didn’t see any Ks (strike out
markers) on the screen,” Allen said.
“I tried for a strike out later, but
didn’t get it.”
The Aggies gave Allen all the sup
port he needed in the third inning
when they scored four runs to break
a scoreless tie.
Thomas lined a double down the
left field line that landed squarely on
the chalk. One out later, Rollen teed
off on his sixth homer of the season.
First baseman Pyle lined a single
over the shortstop and moved to sec
ond on Trey Witte’s infield hit.
One out later, Marshall blooped a
double that scored Pyle. The ball
dropped just inside the foul line and
between two fielders. Witte took
third on the play and scored when
the rightfielder’s throw was wild.
A&M added six more in the
fourth on four hits and three Rice
errors. Tim Holt led off with a solid
single to left, and scored on Thomas’
double into the left-center field gap.
Thomas moved to third on Wil
liams’ fly out. Rollen walked and
Pyle followed with a double past the
first baseman that scored Thomas.
The throw to second got away from
Garcia, allowing Rollen to score.
Witte Tollovyed with a walk and
moved to third when Pyle scored on
Broussard’s single. With two outs,
Witte scored when John Wood
reached on an error. Broussard put
the Aggies into double digits when
he scored on a wild pitch.
It didn’t take the Owls long to
score in the second game.
They scored two runs in the first
inning on three hits, the key hit com
ing when pitcher Rich Robertson
couldn’t pick up Jamie Cook’s bunt.
A squeeze bunt and an RBI single
gave Rice the 2-0 lead.
It was a short-lived lead, however,
as A&M took a 3-2 lead in the bot
tom of the first.
Holt ripped a double to left field
and scored one out later when Wil
liams doubled to right field. Rollen
grounded out to the shortstop, but
Pyle reached second base on a
throwing error by the first baseman
that allowed Williams to score. Witte
followed with a single that scored
both runners.
After a scoreless second, the Owls
got two runs for a 4-3 lead — their
final lead of the day. First baseman
Lee Kushner singled and moved to
third on a double by Chris Feris.
Kushner scored on a sacrifice fly by
Mefritt Robinson and Feris scored
when Wood misplayed the throw to
the plate.
The Aggies grabbed the lead for
good in the third, when they sent 12
hitters to the plate and scored eight
runs.
With one out, Witte started the
rally with a walk. He moved to third
on Broussard’s single to right. Mar
shall followed with an RBI single,
and Wood loaded the bases with a
Photo by Scott D. Weaver
Shortstop Jason Marshall tags Rice’s Chris Feris out at second
base after an unsuccessful steal attempt in A&M’s 10-0 victory.
single to left.
Holt continued the hitting string
with a two-run single to make the
score 6-4. Thomas walked to reload
the bases, and Williams promptly
cleared them with a single off the
glove of the first baseman. Wood
and Holt scored easily and Thomas
scored when the throw from the
right fielder sailed wide of the plate.
Rollen slammed a single to score
Williams. One out later, Witte
doubled in Rollen to cap the inning’s
scoring.
The eight-run monster was the
biggest Aggie inning this season, and
the 13 runs were the' most in a single
game for A&M in 1990.
A&M scored its final two runs in
the fourth on yet another Williams’
double.
Robertson allowed the Owls an
other run in the ftflb inning after
the Aggies. Robertson gave up ten
hits — the most he’s given up this
season. Still, it was good enough for
Robertson’s eighth win of the sea
son.
Jason Bullard came on the to
work the final two innings and held
the Owls hitless.
Ag netters catch Owls, Cajuns
leaders
flip
JigrTu T,T
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
Senior Shaun O’Donovan, A&M’s No. 1 singles player, hits a return against
USL’s Curtis Hollinger in Saturday’s match at Omar Smith Tennis Center. The
Aggies beat USL and Rice over the weekendto improve.to 16-5 on the year.
From Staff and Wire Reports
The Texas A&M’s men’s tennis team
proved that home court advantage is a
major plus, winning both of their games
Friday and Saturday.
The Aggies defeated Rice 6-3 in
Southwest Conference play on Friday at
the Omar Smith Tennis Center and
went on to dominate Southwestern Loui
siana 7-2 on Saturday.
With the two wins, A&M improves its
overall record to 16-5, 3-3 in SWC play.
The Aggies’ Shaun O’Donovan shined
once again as he picked up his ninth win
in 10 singles matches. He went three sets
to claim his victory over Rice’s Larry
Pearl 6-4, 4-6,. 6-4. O’Donovan is ranked
48th in the nation as a collegiate singles
player.
“This is a big win for us,” Coach David
Kent said. “Shaun just never ceases to
amaze me.”
But in Saturday’s game, O’Donovan
came up short against USL’s Curtis Hol
linger, breaking his winning streak, 6-3,
2-6, 7-5.
Despite losing its opening match, the
team rebounded and won the next six.
“This team has improved more than
any team I’ve had here at A&M,” Kent
said. “We’ve had quite a turnaround this
year, and things are looking good for the
rest of the season.”
Editors’ Note
Several readers have called or written
to comment that a column by a Battalion
sportswriter in the Monday, April 2 Bat
talion was similar to a column by a dif
ferent author in the Saturday, March 31
Houston Chronicle.
A review' and comparison of the two
columns concluded that the columns
were indeed overly similar. The late,
partial attribution does not allow a writer
to take such liberties.
The Battalion sportswriter has been
suspended without pay for two weeks.
When he returns to The Battalion, he
will be barred from writing columns.
The Battalion sincerely apologizes to
our readers and to the Chronicle, and
we thank those readers who took the
time to bring this unfortunate situation
to our attention.
Scot Walker, editor
Richard Tijerina, sports editor
Second time’s a charm ...
Faldo wins back-to-back
Masters in sudden death
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Nick Faldo be
came only the second man to win consec
utive Masters, beating Ray Floyd on the sec
ond hole of a sudden-death playoff
Sunday.
Faldo, who beat Scott Hoch on the 11th
hole of a playoff last year, duplicated that
feat to join Jack Nicklaus as the only winner
of successive Masters. He was helped
greatly by Floyd, who missed a makeable
birdie putt on the first playoff hole, then
put his second shot into the water on No.
11.
The Englishman made par on the 11th,
turned to shake Floyd’s hand and then
hugged his female caddy.
Faldo had to rally from a terrible start.
He put his second shot in a bunker on the
first hole, came out weakly and then three-
putted for double bogey that dropped him
five shots behind.
But he climbed back to get into the play
off with Floyd, who, at 47 was seeking to be
come the oldest player to win the Masters.
Floyd was victorious here in 1976.
Nicklaus, now a 50-year-old grandfather
but a still-dangerous Golden Bear, won the
Masters in 1965-66.
To match those consecutive triumphs,
Faldo had to climb out of a tie with Nicklaus
and then make up three strokes on Floyd
on the last four holes.
All of that he accomplished.
He came back from the potential dev
astation of the first-hole double bogey,
climbed back into contention and caught
the front-running Floyd on the 17th hole.
Both finished regulation play at 10-un-
der-par 278. Floyd had a closing round of
par 72. Faldo displayed enormous patience
and perserverance in a comeback 69.
On the first playoff hole, the 10th at Au
gusta National, Faldo put his approach into
a bunker on the right and Floyd threw his
some 15 feet below the cup.
Faldo’s excellent sand shot came out
some three feet below the cup. When Floyd
left his birdie putt short, Faldo calmly
rapped in his shorter effort and they went
on to the 11th.
From the fairway, Floyd aggressively at
tacked the flag, tucked on the left near a
pond. He pulled it. Just a bit. Just enough.
Water splashed. In effect, it was over.
Faldo went through the formality of
playing his second safely to the green. After
Floyd dropped and pitched short, Faldo
two-putted for the winning par.
Valvano leaves NC State,
search for successor starts
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jim Valvano
cleaned his office Sunday, marking the end
of his coaching tenure with North Carolina
State and paving the way for the school to
find a successor for the embattled basket
ball program.
Supporters and officials echoed the opti
mism Valvano displayed Saturday after he
agreed to leave and not sue the school in ex
change for $238,000. Valvano also stands to
be paid $375,000 by the university’s booster
club, one of Valvano’s attorneys said.
“It’s just the passing of a baton,” Charlie
Bryant, executive director of the Wolfpack
Club booster organization, said Sunday.
“Losing Jim is a big loss. However, we
have a lot of tradition here. It might have a
temporary setback, hut ... we will continue
to have a tremendous program.”
The school faces not only the task of hir
ing a new coach, but must first choose an
athletic director — a position Valvano gave
up in August after the program first came
under fire.
“This is a very critical and difficult time
for us,” said William Burns Jr., co-vice
chairman of the N.C. State Board of Trust
ees. “But I think the university is strong
enough. I don’t see any problem getting
good people to fill these positions.”
“I would hope that the new coach would
be a man of high principle, one who be
lieves in working with young men and en
couraging their development, and at the
same time winning some games.”