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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1991)
1991 rfison c A sb! :h com int has Delating leeding ■testers, m only worse, budget rarse in start of t year's the fall elude a nd in- i. about should depart- •ses in k /ash i )S E Cratg Wilson Sportswriter Students need, deserve better gyms, weights Sports is a release. It's a release from frustration, from classes, and from the daily routine, which can be hellish at times. In these hours of need, Texas A&M students are unfortunately addled with the problem of poor facilities in which to exercise their athleticism. No Aggie should be turned away from the Read Building when they want to play basketball because there is oadminton club or volleyball practice on the basketball courts. This certainly is no knock on those various different sports groups, who definitely have the right to reserve the space when they need it. But the predominant sport for leisure at this school is basketball, and it is the least accessible sport at the Read Building. The majority rules in deciding who's president, so why not give the majority what it seeks in tnis instance: more facilities for basketball. Not enough time During the weekday afternoons, a handful of players seek a court to play on and usually find it on the Read Building 4th floor or somewhere else, but play only lasts for about an hour. Then it's time for intramurals. Volleyball and three-on-three in the fall, full-eourt hoop» in the spring. So those of us who aren't on an intramural team, or just want to shoot around, simply can't play. Even the intramural basketball participants don't get enough time to play. A game only lasts about 35 minutes, including timeouts, fights and showing off for the ladies during warmups. After that, it's 'AGGIE GO HOME', or stay, be quiet and watch for the rest of the night. The only way that players can compete is if a game is cancelled. Then play lasts about 30 minutes, until the next game is scheduled on that court. Bad courts When the gym has open courts, ifsusually the "hot box," which maybe familiar to most players. The badminton class gym on the third floor of the Read Building, or the "hot box," tests the heat-holding capacity of every student that dares to set foot in it. Playing there is like playing in hell. An athlete once played there wearing only Speedo trunks and low-top Nike's without socks. Ventilation, please! And another third floor gym, for some reason called Tartan, is a rubber court. Although it has the best ventilation in the Read Building, the players know that at any time, the rubber surface may cause their knee or ankle to buckle and end their playing days. The only other gym on campus is at Deware fieldhouse. It's tough to mention Deware's court without cringing in shame. For starters, the court is so long, it takes 10 minutes to get from one side to the other. But for us not-in-so-good-shape students, that may be too much of a complaint. A general beef, though, is that it is old and obsolete. It looks like a facility that probably hosted the first appearance of the Abe Saperstein- coached Harlem Globetrotters in the 1930s. Let's not forget the weight facilities. The Read Building weight room is reserved (of course) for the Weightlifting Club only. At least that's what it says on the door. The weight room at the Deware fieldhouse is ridiculous at best. Crowded, smelly and filled with °ld machinery, the weight room is a See A&M/Page 8 Aggies play Texas Southern in twinbill Wunsch, Fiveash draw starts From Staff and Wire Reports The Texas A&M baseball team winds up it longest homestand of the 1991 season tonight with a doubleheader against Texas Southern. Game one starts at 5 p.m. with the second game to begin roughly 30 min utes after the completion or the first. The Aggies, fresh off their series win over Arkansas in their Southwest Con ference opener, are 25-10 overall and 2- 1 in SWC play. Texas Southern is 8-20 on the season. A&M, ranked No. 12 by the Baseball American poll, are 11-4 on the 17-game stand, with losses to Sam Houston State (7-4), Kansas State (6-0), Arizona (5-1) and Arkansas (7-4). Starters for the Aggies will be freshman Kelly Wunsch and ju nior transfer Alan Fiveash. At presstime the starters for TSU were unknown. Wunsch, from Houston Bellaire, is 3-2 with a 3.96 ERA in 25 innings this season. Wunsch's best outing was a seven-inning com- E lete game against amar on March 5, when he gave up just five hits en route to a 8-1 win. Fiveash, who played high school at Abilene Cooper and transferred from Richland Community College, has yet to figure in a decision. In three games this year, Fiveash has pitched four and A&M pitcher Alan Fiveash, gets the cal! to start against Texas Southern in tonight’s second game. one-third innings, giving up four hits and one run for a 2.08 EFLA. The Aggies continue to hit better than last year's squad that finished with a .252 mark, by roughing up op posing pitchers at a .290 clip. Junior college transfer Conrad Colby has been leading that charge lately. Colby, A&M's 6-0, 197 pound first baseman, is hitting .436 (17-of-39) with 12 RBI over the last 12 games. "Connie Mack," as he is known by his team mates, hit pair of two-run home runs in the Aggies' first win over Arkansas, 9-3. For the year, Colby is hitting .340, with 24 RBI and four homeruns. Third baseman Travis Williams leads the team in homers with five. After the twinbill with Texas South ern, A&M will travel to Lubbock this weekend for a three-game series with SWC foe Texas Tech. The Tuesday doubleheader will be Blue Bell Ice Cream Night with the first 1,000 fans entering the gates receiving a free Blue Bell Ice Cream sandwich. A&M Batting leaders (minimum 35 at-bats) Player BA HR Brian Thomas .359 2 13 Conrad Colby .340 4 24 Dan Robinson .326 1 19 Brett Weinberger .324 2 10 Mike Hickey .316 4 24 Travis Williams .303 5 21 Billy Harlan .294 1 6 Jason Marshall .286 0 20 S. Huckuntod .273 0 17 Blake Pyle .233 0 11 David Rollen .215 1 9 HUY THANH NGUYEN/The Battalion Aggie hurler Kelly Wunsch will start the first game of tonight’s doubleheader with Texas Southern. Gametime is setfor 5 p.m. JAY JANNER/The Battalion A&M netter Steve Kennedy returns a shot in his match with LITER’S Bob Norton Mon day at the Omar Smith Tennis Center. The Aggies won the match six matches to two. A&Mnetters split; men win, women lose The Texas A&M tennis teams split Monday, as the men beat Texas-El Paso here 6-2, and the women fell to Tennessee 5-2 in Knoxville. The men rode the strength of strong singles play to the win, improving their season record to 12-6. The match was the last non-conference affair for the Ags, who are 1-0 in Southwest Conference play. A&M coach David Kent was happy to see nis top singles' seed. Matt Zi- sette, break out of a season-long slump with a solid 6-4, 7-5 win. "Matt Zisette played the type of tennis he is capable of playing today," Kent said. "He's got all the shots it takes to be a consistent winner, and he proved that out on the court." A&M next will travel to Fort Worth to face 17th-ranked Texas Christian March 29. The women fell to the 13th-ranked Lady Volunteers despite good singles play from top seed Lynn Staley and third seed Cindy Churchwell. Staley out lasted Mandy Wilson 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, while Churchwell blasted Michelle McMil- len 6-2, 6-4. Second A&M seed Tami Agassi put up a fight before falling to Debbie Moringiello 7-6, 6-3, and No. 4 Janine Burton-Durham fell to UT's Dawn Martin 6-1, 6-4. Lady Ags' fifth seed Anna Schlumpf bowed to Wendy Anderson 6-1, 6-1, while No. 6 Joanne Maki came up short against UT's Paula Juels 6-2, 6-3. Men's results A&M 6, UTEP 2 Singles No. 1 - Matt Zisette A&M d. Patrick Ekstrand UTEP 6-4, 7-5 No. 2 - Mark Weaver A&M d. Anders Skold UTEP 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 No. 3 - Emeka Igbenebor UTEP d. Clayton Johnson A&M 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 No. 4 - Doug Brown A&M d. Qystein Ulleberg UTEP 6-2, 6-0 No. 5 - Scott Phillips A&M d. Peter Morawiecki UTEP 6-3, 6-3 No. 6 - Steve Kennedy A&M d. Bob Norton UTEP 7-5, 6-2 Doubles No. 1 - cancelled No. 2 - Weaver/Zisette A&M d. Ekstrand/ Ulleneberg UTEP 6-3, 6-3 No. 3 - Norton/Bob Bougani UTEP d. Blake Barsalou/Rick Flores A&M 6-3, 6- 2 Rockets stretch streak to 12 CHICAGO (AP) — Houston ended the NBA's second-longest single-sea- son home winning streak at 26 games and extended its own overall winning streak to 12 in a row Monday night by beating the Chicago Bulls 100-90. Kenny Smith had 25 points and Sleepy Floyd added 21 as the Bulls lost for only the fourth time in 35 games this season at Chicago Stadium. The Bulls had not been defeated at home since a 109-101 loss to Portland on Dec. 8. The 1985-86 Boston Celtics hold the NBA single-season record with 31 straight home victories. The 1977-78 Portland Trail Blazers and 1988-89 New York Knicks also won 26 in a row at home. The triumph was the Rockets' 15th in their last 16 games. They held their opponents to under 100 points for the fourth straight game and 36th time this season. The Bulls les 28-22 after the first quarter, but Smith had 10 points and Hakeem Olajuwon added 9 points and 7 rebounds in the second quarter, when Houston outscored the Bulls 29- 14 for a 51-42 halftime lead. Houston used a 12-4 run at the start of the second half to take its biggest lead, 63-46, on Smith's 21-footer with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter. The Bulls closed to 73-62 after three quarters and B.J. Armstrong scored six points in a 9-3 burst at the start of the fourth quarter that made it 76-71. But they never could catch up. Michael Jordan, who finished with 34 points, hit a basket to get the Bulls within 82-77. As the teams were head ing down court, Jordan and Vernon Maxwell got into a shoving match and both were nailed with a technical foul with 5:19 remaining. All-Pro Ronnie Lott joins Raiders as Plan B free agent EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) —Ron nie Lott, left unprotected by the San Francisco 49ers despite being an All- Pro last season, has signed a two- year contract with the Los Angeles Raid ers as a Plan B free agent. Lott said Monday at a news confer ence that the contract is not guar anteed and that he'll move from free safety to strong safety with the Raid ers. Originally drafted as a cornerback by the 49ers with the eighth overall selection in 1981, Lott switched to free safety in 1985. "I've always been committed to winning," Lott said. "If that means playing strong safety, if that means playing cornerback, if that means bringing water to my head coach, that's what I'm going to do." Lott was sidelined late last season when he strained both knees, and it was feared he had damaged liga ments. But he returned to the lineup during the playoffs and he was one of the dominant defensive players for the NFC in his ninth Pro Bowl, where he showed no effects of the knee injuries.