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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.