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Sports
, Tuesday, February 19, 1991
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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
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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.
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