I
The Battalion • A&M Baseball ‘94 Monday, February 14, 1994
with Mark Johnson
By Mark Smith
The Battalion
Jeff Granger and Kelly
Wunsch were two of your ace
pitchers last year, but both of
them were first round draft
picks in the Major League
draft. How big of a loss was it
to lose both of them?
AI "I think both of those
players were outstanding for
us.
"Any time you lose blue-
chippers it's going to have an
effect on your ball club.
"We feel like we've got some
pretty good players returning
so that's going to help us. But,
we're going to miss those
pitchers, no doubt about it."
Q: What type of pitching
rotation do you think you will
have during the season?
"We've had some
injuries occur and everything
will revolve around whether
they're going to get healthy.
"Justin Atchley and John
Codrington both had bone
spurs removed in the fall.
They're both starting to throw
now.
"How quickly they can get
recovered and up to full speed
will determine how we set our
rotation.
"Moore will be our Friday
night starter if he's healthy.
Atchley and Codrington were
both in the hunt to be a starter.
If they're healthy then you
have Clemons and Parker as
relief. If not, then those guys
are both very capable pitchers,
so they would become
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“We * 1 've got some
good players return
ing, so that’s going to
help us. ”
— Mark Johnson,
head coach
starters. You just have to wait
and see."
"Donnie Fowler is a guy we
recruited out of Spring High
School who was a sixth round
draft choice. He hasn't been
healthy since the summertime.
He had othoscopic surgery
(Feb. 2). Now what you have
is three of what you thought
were your top seven pitchers
as a little bit of a question
mark. We're anticipating
Atchley and Codrington being
healthy and ready to go, but at
this time I can't set a rotation."
Brian Thomas was one of
your team leaders last year,
both on and off the field.
What effects are there now
that he is gone?
i \*< "That was a big loss for
us in not only the numbers
that he brought to us, but also
the intangibles that he brought
to the ball park. He was
always ready to play, a 100
percent player, a big-time
hustle guy, never intimidated
by anybody. When you have
guys like that it's really
contagious. I'm not saying we
don't have some guys that can
pick up that load, but those
kind of guys are hard to
replace. We'll have a hard
time replacing him not only
because of his physical talent,
but also his approach to the
ball game."
How do you feel about
the quality of the schedule?
B f "I feel real good about it.
It's a tough schedule. It's one
we think will be very
challenging to our team.
There's a lot of teams in there
who aren't as big of names
because they're not football
powerhouses and basketball
powerhouses. Indiana State is
a good example. They're an
outstanding baseball program.
"Then you look at Southeast
Louisiana. They won big,
McNeese won big, Sam
Houston is always good.
Lamar was in regionals last
year. Mary Hardin Baylor has
been a dominant factor in
their division. Dallas Baptist
is ranked sixth in their
division in the nation. When
you couple that with Penn
State, USC, Kansas, Arizona
and Pepperdine you may have
bit off more than you can
chew."
The Pepperdine game is
after the Southwest
Conference tournament. Why
did you pick it up on the
schedule?
A# "We're going to try that.
See Q&AIPage 7