Sports
Wednesday, March 10,1993 The Battalion Page 7
Money is the
reason for post
season tourney
w s?
the major con
ferences crank
ing up their
basketball tour
naments this
week, we get to
revel in the
most exciting
part of the col
lege hoops sea
son. Competi
tion in these
tourneys regu
larly reaches a
fever pitch,
with upsets and
last-second wins becoming almost
commonplace.
The qualities of conference tour
naments that make them appealing
also hurt them, however, because in
so many cases, the postseason des
tinies of several teams often ride on
the outcomes of their respective
tournament performances.
Realistically, the worst thing
about conference basketball tourna
ments is the motivation behind them
- money. Squeezing several games
into a three-day span at the same site
is almost assured of at least above-
average attendance. That means
more money for the conference.
Take the Southwest Conference,
for example. When Arkansas was
still a member, the legions of fans
that made the trek from Fayetteville
to Dallas poured in money to the
SWC through ticket sales, to Re
union Arena through concessions,
and to the city of Dallas through in
creased use of hotels and restau
rants. Any SWC official who says
that he or she doesn't miss Arkansas
S^e .Norwood/Page 8
DON
NORWOOD
Sports Editor
Aggies pummel Illinois State 12-3
Aggie second baseman Eric Gonzalez takes a cut Tuesday night against Illinois
State.Gonzalez hit a homerun in the 12-3 A&M victory.
Lady Aggies ready for tournament
By MICHAEL PLUMER
The Battalion
Southwest Conference women's bas
ketball starts its second season today with
the tipoff of the postseason tournament in
Dallas.
Texas A&M opens against the Baylor
Bears at noon, a team the Lady Aggies
defeated twice during the regular season
by scores of 89-73 in Waco and 92-72 at G.
Rollie White Coliseum.
A&M head coach Lynn Hickey said
she has some reservations about playing
the Bears for a third time.
"We have had good success against
Baylor and the kids are loose," Hickey
said. "But you always hate to play a beam
again for the third time, especially .ai r this
.. . , ,,
time of the year when so much can hap
pen."
A&M is the fourth seed in the tourna
ment and a third win over the Bears
could set up a possible showdown in the
second round with the top seed, the sev
enth ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. The
Lady Raiders, who are led by consensus
SWC Player of the Year Sheryl Swoopes,
face eighth-seeded Texas Christian at six
p.m.
"Texas Tech is probably the class of
the league and we know we will have to
beat them at some time," Hickey said.
"First, we have to beat Baylor but so far
we have come out on top when we have
played them."
, m otfier action, third-seeded Southern
" / See Lady Aggies/Page 8^
Cf A P • . • 1 <4 # »
Curl, Gonzalez go deep for A&M as
Codrington racks up second victory
By MICHAEL PLUMER
The Battalion
Illinois State's first ever game against
the Texas A&M baseball team will not be
one the Redbirds remember with fond
memories.
Fifth-ranked A&M used a balanced of
fensive attack Tuesday night to knock the
Redbirds off their perch at Olsen Field by
a score of 12-3. Paced by Eric Gonzalez
and John Curl, the Aggies unleashed a 16
hit attack, scoring runs in every inning
except the third
and sixth.
A&M moved
its overall record
to 18-2 while Illi
nois State
dropped to 0-7.
"I was pleased
with our offen
sive output,"
A&M head coach
Mark Johnson
said. "We hit a
lot of hard outs.
Right now, we
need to get the
guys who are slumping into a groove and
this was a good start."
The fireworks started early for A&M.
After Illinois State scored a run in the top
of the first inning, A&M answered with
two in its half. The Aggies added another
run in the second on Eric Gonzalez's sec
ond home run of the season.
Gonzalez said he had a feeling it
would be one of those nights.
"I had a great pregame batting practice
and 1 just carried that into the game," the
junior second baseman said. "Getting
three hits is great, especially since the
whole team hit well."
Illinois State would not go away until
the Aggies dropped the hammer, which
ended the Redbirds' chirping.
Clinging to a 5-3 lead in the fifth, A&M
put the game away with the one swing of
first baseman John Curl's bat. Third base-
man Lee Fedora walked to start off the in
ning and then Curl hit his third home run
of the season over the the center field
fence to give A&M a 7-3 lead and control
of the game.
Curl, who had four runs batted in, said
the homer might get him straightened out
at the plate.
"I haven't found my swing yet like I
want but hopefully this will get me out of
my slump," Curl
said. "Right now, I
am swinging bad
in batting practice
but this game
could be the end of
it. I hope so."
Freshman
righthander John
Codrington got the
win for the Aggies
to move his record
to 2-0. Johnson
said he was
pleased with Co-
drington's effort.
"I thought he pitched well and he es
tablished himself," Johnson said. "He got
his rhythm and took control of the game.
We needed him to come through for us,
which he did."
Codrington said he thought the going
was tough at times.
"I was satisfied with it even though I
kept getting behind batters," Codrington
said. "They hit the ball hard, which sur
prised me, but I had a rhythm going for
awhile which made it easy."
A&M continues its series against Illinois
State with a doubleheader that begins to
day at five in the afternoon. Junior left
hander Jeff Granger is scheduled to start
the first game with sophomore
righthander Chris Clemons getting the
call in the second game.
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