The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 11, 1991, Image 15

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Aggie Ace
remembers
big pitch
" It feels great to know
that you’re the No. 1
pitcher and you’ll be out
there every Friday
night, squaring off
against the other guys’
No. 1 pitcher.”
— Ronnie Allen,
Aggie pitcher
By Steve O'Brien
Of The Battalion Staff
A pop fly to first base helped bring
junior pitcher Ronnie Allen
home his freshman year.
Only one year out of Lake Washington
High School in Kirkland, Wash., Allen
was called on by A&M head coach Mark
Johnson to throw against Arkansas for
the 1989 Southwest Conference
championship.
Allen was asked to pitch the game of
his life, and he did.
He hurled a three-hit, complete game
shutout to give A&M a share of the con
ference crown.
Allen fondly remembers his final pitch
of the game.
“It was a slider, low and away, - ” Allen
said. “(The batter) popped up to the first
baseman.”
Throughout his freshman year at
A&M, however, Allen thought of his
home back in Washington.
“I felt a little homesick,” he said.
But Allen’s victory against Arkansas as
a freshman and his continued success at
A&M have made him feel right at home.
“This is my third year here and I’ve
grown pretty accustomed to it,” Allen
said. “To be choosen to do that (pitch
against Arkansas), I guess it motivated
me.”
Allen will be the No. 1 starter this sea
son. He led the Aggies in pitching last
year as a sophomore with eight complete
games in 13 starts and in innnings
pitched with 99.2.
He finished the 1990 season with a 6-4
record and a 2.35 ERA.
Allen said that he’s not afraid of being
the ace of the staff.
“It feels great to know’ that you’re the
No. 1 pitcher and you’ll be out there ev
ery Friday night, squaring off against the
other guys’ No. 1 pitcher,” Allen said.
Allen boasts great numbers and said
he’ll offer direction to a young A&M
pitching staff starving for leadership.
“I’m not really outspoken,” he said. “I
just go out and do what I have to do, and
if some of it carries over to the other play
ers then that’s great. I just try to go out
there and do the best I can.”
Allen’s leadership will be needed with a
pitching staff that carries a number of
freshmen and only two seniors.
A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said
he does not want to rely on the younger
players in crunch time.
“I kind of hate to put one of those
three left-handed freshmen out there
and call them up in the ninth inning with
the bases loaded and a one run lead,”
Johnson said. “I’m not really excited to
check their courage out at that point.”
Before coming to A&M, Allen was im
pressing college recruiters with his pitch
ing ability.
His senior year at Lake Washington
High School, Allen posted a 1.50 ERA
with 65 strikeouts in 45 innings and was
named to the All-State squad.
Allen’s talent with the bat was also no
table his senior season.
He led his league with a .340 batting
average and a .755 slugging percentage.
Besides turning the heads of college
baseball programs, Allen made an im-
See Allen/Page 10
Monday, February 11,1991
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Rollen accepts role, keeps life in perspective
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
David Rollen aims for a big season at the plate in 1991.
A fter leading his team in batting
average and tying for the
home run lead in his first year
on the Texas A&M baseball team, it
would seem that David Rollen’s path to
professional baseball already was paved.
Put Rollen’s All-League play in the
Alaskan League last year together with a
good senior year and surely he would
follow the 15 Aggies who signed pro
contracts in the last two years.
But the senior from Friendswood,
who figures to be one of the team lead
ers in 1991, has set his sights on more
important things — graduating and
finding a job.
“Right now I’m not even thinking
about playing pro ball,” Rollen said.
“I’m kind of seeing the light at the end
of the tunnel now, with graduation com
ing up, so I’m focusing in on that. Used
to be, baseball would always come first,
but now school comes first.
“I’m still going to give it 100 percent,
but even if I get drafted I’m going to
stick with school. It’s really weird. I
never thought it would be like that.”
Rollen will be 24 hours short of grad
uation after this semester, and he said
he plans on graduating in December
1991. That means he would have to go
to summer school.
Attending A&M during the summer
would mean turning down an offer to
play pro ball if he is drafted. But it
wouldn’t be the first time he put the
pros on hold.
In 1989, the Atlanta Braves drafted
Rollen in the 47th round after he fin
ished his two years at Panola Junior Col
lege in Marshall. At Panola, he was a
two-time All-Conference selection, hit
14 home runs and knocked in 69 runs.
His sophomore year Rollen was the
team MVP and also earned the Buddy
Lowery Award for outstanding studen
t/athlete.
“(The Braves) told me they were
going to draft me a lot earlier,” he said.
“Then they found out what my grades
were and they said it would take too
much money to get me away. So they
just drafted me to get my rights.”
As Rollen enters his senior year, he
finds himself in much the same situation
he was in last year — sitting around
waiting in the designated hitter slot.
He also catches, where he was All-
League last summer in the Alaskan
League, but senior co-captain Blake
Pyle and junior college transfer Ben
Blake will make it hard for Rollen to
find playing time behind the plate.
Last year, he hit .297, hit eight hom
ers and knocked in 37 runs, mostly from
the DH spot. Rollen said he doesn’t
mind his role and he enjoys'downing
around in the dugout waiting for his
turn.
“I’m not upset with my role,” Rollen
said. “I’d like to catch, but I chose to
come here and that’s the decision I’ll
have to live with. I’m just going to do
whatever’s best for the team.
“It was kind of hard on me last year
but I’ve kind of gotten to where I like to
be. I try to keep everybody up on the
bench.”
Rollen said keeping everyone on the
bench hyped not only helps the team, it
helps break the monotony of waiting to
get to the plate.
“I could sit over there and contem
plate about everytime I get to bat but I’d
go crazy,” he said. “Coach (Jim) Lawler
tells me I’m a different player whenever
I’m up than when I’m down. Whenever
I’m up, into the game, talking and yel
ling and getting everybody up, I just
play at a different level.
“Coach Lawler made me realize that
last year, so I accepted the role. I
thought it was kind of neat that the
coaches let me run free on that and let
me do what I want in the dugout.”
For his antics in the dugout and en-
thusiam on the field, his teammates
voted him the Marion Pugh Spirit
Award. Rollen said the award means a
lot because of who did the voting.
“I had never even thought of winning
any awards,” Rollen said. “It’s just not
like winning any other award. It means
a lot because your teammates voted on
it. It’s a special honor.”
Rollen holds high hopes for this
year’s team, crediting the team’s hitting
strength, new pitching talent and the
team’s overall willingness to work as
things that will carry the Aggies this
year.
Even if Rollen never makes it to base
ball’s next level, he said he’ll do just fine
and he’ll always carry with him the
memories of Texas A&M.
“I’d like to get into the front office of
a sports team or restaurant manange-
ment,” he said. “Coming to A&M was
the best decision I ever made. There’s
not a better place in the nation to play
because of the fan support.
“What I’ll miss the most is being
around the team and the fans. I’m not
going to take it for granted while I’m
here. That’s what all the guys who come
back say, so I’m going to enjoy my se
nior year.”
Hughes’ dedication sets good example
P ractice makes perfect.
When Steve Hughes first
walked onto a baseball field at
the age of six, he was just
like any other
youngster.
Hughes had all
the dreams of
making it to the
big leagues one
day and had the
untapped poten
tial that could get
him there.
All he needed
was direction.
Hughes is al- .
most 22 now, and Steve Hughes
is living proof that hard work and disci
pline are essential to success.
The senior relief pitcher from San Au
gustine enters his final season with an
unblemished 7-0 career record.
Hughes has played long enough to
know how to prepare himself every time
he walks out to the mound.
“Nobody’s perfect — you’re going to
lose some,” Hughes said. “I really don’t
want to think about that, but it’s in the
back of my mind that I haven’t lost a
game here.”
He said he tries to keep a clear head.
“You prepare yourself the day before
or right before the game,” Hughes said.
“When you go out there you’re really not
thinking about anything but the guy
you’re going to face and the job you’re
supposed to do.
“You’re really just in a blank space out
there. You don’t hear anybody. All you’re
doing is throwing the ball to the catcher.”
Statistics prove Hughes has improved
with every pitch.
Seven victories in three seasons might
sound misleading, but in 43 appearances
—all in relief, Hughes had the chance to
learn the intangibles that will help him
lead a young pitching staff this year.
Hughes grabbed the majority of his
victories, four in just 11 games, his fresh
man year. Since then he has remained a
mold of consistency in every statistical cat
egory, while improving his earned run
average each season.
A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson has
seen that consistency develop in Hughes,
one of his three returning pitchers.
“Steve Hughes has gathered some
great poise,” Johnson said. “He has been
consistent and I expect him to get in the
hunt.”
The pitcher can attribute his im
provement on the field to one thing.
“Experience,” Hughes said decisively.
“My freshman year (in college) and at my
high school, you just tried to throw
strikes. But once you get older you try’ to
spot the ball better and make it a little
harder on your hitters.”
His sophomore season was one he and
most Aggie baseball players and fans
never will forget.
That season the Aggies posted the best
record in the nation and came within one
step of the College World Series in
Omaha, Neb.
“That year we had a lot of team unity, a
lot of team chemistry,” he said. “Last year
we had a lot of new guys that people
didn’t know.”
Hughes said this year’s pitching staff is
going to have to work hard to equal the
achievements of 1990.
“This year we have new guys but they
are fitting in well,” he said. “I think it’s
just the chemistry that will make the
team.”
See Hughes/Page 9
Monday, February 11,1991
Aggie Baseball
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