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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1991)
Complete terms and conditions of this travel offer will arrive with your certificates Continental Airlines alone is responsible for fulfillment of this offer American Express assumes no liability for Continental Airlines’ performance © 1991 American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. ? Sports , Tuesday, February 19, 1991 radio. “Sin® hoax calls al dine stadoiii g service tk i to the capiu! 'ictoria blasi busiest, wat ter police rr t, an airpon earched anil All we are saying is give Tommy a chance X ommy Preston can run a 4.640-yard dash. He is tall and well-built, at 6-3, 187. He is the No. 10 recruit in the Houston Chroni cle top 100, and the fifth recruit in the Austin American-States- man’s Fabulous 55. As a high school quar- terback he passed for almost 5,000 yards at a 50.5 Craig Wilson Sportswrlter l/The Battate the Texas ing. ng rfare tales, Gallip. positive lijl attempting ■ole for iut. ms of possik that D to the: that; ; to seize a:: he corps rtrine andt inied landic . aircraft i It also k landing esc , all of this *: alcanal in f s and the N; : : in a series most of tk ijoanese tree o surrendes ias( ante to M said Peg; seat Ridge F ed the Quet hutch just; andyman a: diioners uf ?w year's cei it the chun- le attack. Di 1 was in serin 1 Hospital C< : e treated! al-whippek card news" and shootk there. aercent completion rate in two-and-a- aalf years. He even directed a two-minute, | shotgun offense. Recruiting guru Max Emfinger said I he is “the best quarterback to come out of Texas in about 10 years.” He has chosen Texas A&M to hone I his remarkable talents. His name is Tommy Preston. And he is black. So what? Who cares? If he can play it doesn’t matter what color he is, right? True, but not everyone thinks the same way. Several blacks feel that mainstream America has branded the quarterback that is black as not being able to lead, call plays efficiently enough, or play well under pressure situations. And many blacks feel doubts, suspicions and changes are the result of those mainstream feelings. Too good for defense Tommy Preston may end up being the next big Aggie changeover from offense to defense. Hopefully, he won’t be. William Thomas did quite well as a changeover from offense to defense, but who’s to say he wouldn’t have been a fine quarterback? He was recruited for that. Next year, the multi-talented Preston will compete against quarterbacks Jeff Granger, Steve Emerson and new recruit Mike Miller from California, who was touted as one of that state’s top three signal-callers. Bucky Richardson is, and should be, the top Aggie quarterback. He is a proven winner and has an unusual knack for getting the Ags out of tough spots, especially against Texas. Preston should already be second on the depth chart. His credentials are unmatched, his size is perfect for the position. And he is a proven winner. “I thought it was ajoke for Tommy Preston to be considered anything but a quarterback,” Aggie head coach R.C. Slocum said. “Him playing another position has never, ever been mentioned in any of our meetings at all.” It happened before That statement, however, does not convince all blacks that Preston will not be the next Chris Osgood. Osgood was considered by many to be a fine quarterback. And many blacks expected Osgood to see action when Lance Pavlas threw some key interceptions in some Aggie contests. But it never materialized. The fact that Kevin Murray did well here in the mid-1980s has not seemed to matter. A lot of blacks see that as just one example of what Osgood, or any other black signal-caller could do if given a fair chance. Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Doug Williams are usually the names of black tossers that come to mind on the pro level. When Houston loses, Moon takes the heat. When Tampa Bay lost, Williams took the heat. When Philadelphia loses, fortunately there was a media goof like Buddy Ryan around to take the heat. But, ironically and not surprising to many blacks, no one has blamed Bernie Kosar, Dan Marino or John Elway for not producing any championships between them. The reason has most often been a lack of a solid defense or of one key player to take a team over the hump. So, some black Aggies have expressed doubts about the Aggie coaching staffs intentions concerning Preston despite Slocum’s comments. A team can never have too many quarterbacks, some say. But I find it irregular that the Ags need four high school all-state quarterbacks to compete for a Cotton Bowl berth. In other words, somebody’s either switching positions or riding the bench for at least three years. Give Tommy Preston a fair chance at See Wilson/Page 9 The Battalion Sports Editor Alan Lehmann 845-2688 Hickey assaults record book Ags ambush outmanned Westmont Iff TTYflS WsSmci Home Run Heroes The Aggies pounded four home runs Monday. Mike Hickey (left) hit two, Mike Ingersoll hit a grand slam, and Brett Weinberger (right) hit his second of the year. By Craig Wilson The Battalion 31-2. No, it’s not the final score at Kyle Field or a halftime score at G. Rollie White. It’s the runs and hits of the Texas Aggie baseball team in Monday afternoon’s messy, ugly, and sometimes hilarious destruction of the Westmont College (CA) Warriors. The final score of 31-2 marked the eighth win of the season for the Ags (8-2) but, more significantly, it showed this team’s raw power that will be useful later this season when powerhouse teams play A&M. The Ags came up short by a run in their quest to break their single-game scoring re cord of 32, set against the SMU Mustangs in 1936. They also had a team-record 63 at-bats. Westmont (7-5) simply could not handle Aggie pitching, hitting, or any other part of the game’s essentials. Of the several heroes one could pick as a standout, the biggest is undoubtedly sopho more shortstop Mike Hickey. Hickey went on record-setting rampage Monday. He had two doubles in the first inning alone, driving in three of the Ags’ eight first-inning runs. He drove a Brent Overfelt pitch over the left-field wall for three more runs in a six- run second inning. He had a sacrifice fly for another RBI in the third inning, as the Ags scored twice more. He singled and eventually scored in the Ags’ four-run fifth inning. Then Hickey hit a towering two-run homer in the sixth inning for his eighth and ninth RBIs, tying the A&M single-game re cord. And in grand fashion, he broke the RBI record in the bottom of a three-run eighth inning with an RBI double in his last at-bat. Hickey’s 10 RBIs broke the former mark of nine set by Mark Hurdle against TCU in 1978. His six-hit day broke the record of five shared by many players, most recently Scott Livingstone of the 1987 team. His eight at-bats tied the record set by three former Ags, John Byington (1989), Jeff Schow (1985), and Mike Scanlin (1984). And his 21 total bases shattered the for mer mark of 13 set by Kirk Campbell in 1976. “I just had a good day,” Hickey said. “You have to take your good days with your bad days, that’s how baseball is. “Things just happened right. The pitches I saw today I haven’t seen all sea son.” With 27 hits, the Ags had plenty of peo ple to spread the wealth. And seven Warrior errors didn’t hurt the Aggie cause, either. Junior outfielder Tim Holt, junior third- baseman Travis Williams, and sophomore centerfielder Brian Thomas all doubled Monday. Junior Brett Weinberger hit his second homer of the season, a tnree-run drive, in the fifth inning. And senior catcher Mike Ingersoll hit his first home run of the year, a grand-slam shot in the seventh. “These games are good because a lot of guys get to play. We got to see some things on the mound that we hadn f t got to see. We weren’t anticipating that, but as it turned out that’s how the flow of the game went.’’ — Mark Johnson, A&M baseball coach “These games are good because a lot of guys get to play,” Aggie head coach Mark Johnson said. “And we got to see some things on the mound that we hadn’t got to see. “We weren’t anticipating that, but as it turned out that’s how the flow of the game went. “Mike (Hickey) had a great day, I mean that’s a career day. You don’t get to match those very often. Those two home runs weren’t cheap, he jumped all over them. I’m happy for him.” To the Warriors credit in the big loss was a long, first-inning four-bagger by junior first baseman Jeff Kliewer. He also reached base first three other times during the game. Freshman pitcheV Kelly Wunsch (2-0) went four innings for the win, as the Ags used three pitchers. Freshman Bart Reichert pitched an in ning, while junior Trey Witte closed the contest. Westmont returns to Olsen Field tomor row for another 3 p.m. start. Announces A Great New Travel Program. Now students can get the Card and get 3 roundtrips on Continental Airlines, for only $129 or $189 each. There’s only one way to cover a lot of territory without spending a lot of money. And that’s by getting the American Express® Card. It’s the only card that offers an exciting new travel program exclusively for students—including three roundtrip certificates on Continental Airlines. Just look at the map and pick the place you’d like to visit. If it’s on your side of the Mississippi River, you can use a certificate to fly for only $129 roundtrip. Or, you can cross the Mississippi for $189 roundtrip. You have your pick of more than 150 cities in the 48 contiguous states. 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