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Monday • March 27, 1995
The Battalion • Page 7
I Mi ' -
Gonzales finishes
first for fourth time
LAREDO (AP) — Texas A&M
senior Anthony Rodriguez fired an
even-par 72 Sunday to capture the
Border Olympics golf tournament with
a 3-day total of 211, five under par for
the tournament and three shots
ahead of the next two finishers.
Bud Still of Arkansas and Scott
Rowe of Northwestern tied for second
at 214.
Rodriguez became the nation’s
first collegian to win four tournaments
this year. It was his second straight
triumph, following his victory March 6-
7 in the Louisiana Classics.
Arkansas defended its team
championship, finishing 13 strokes
ahead of Texas A&M. Three shots
farther back were Kent State,
Southwest Louisiana and
Northwestern.
Lakers win lOOth
game over Rockets
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The
Los Angeles Lakers, playing with their
regular starting five healthy for the first
time in 7 1/2 weeks, used 27 points by
Vlade Divac and three clutch jumpers
by Sedale Threatt down the stretch to
beat the Houston Rockets 107-96
Sunday night for their fourth straight
victory.
Two games after Cedric Ceballos
returned to the roster from a 22-game
stay on the injured list, the Lakers
welcomed back top draft pick Eddie
Jones after he missed 18 games with a
sprained right shoulder.
It was the first time Ceballos, Jones
and their combined 36-polnt averages
were In the same game since Feb. 1.
Ceballos had 20 points and Jones
added 12, as coach Del Harris used
both players in a reserve role.
-Clyde Drexler scored 21 points and
Hakeem Olajuwon added 20 points
and 12 rebounds for the Rockets, who
absorbed their 100th career loss to the
Lakers — including eight in the
playoffs.
Ex-Baylor basketball
coach goes to court
WACO (AP) — Former Baylor
basketball coach Darrel Johnson heads
to court Monday, but it’s not for a game
of roundball.
Johnson goes on trial in federal
court with five co-defendants on
charges of participating in a mail and
wire , fraud scheme involving
recruitment of five junior college
basketball players.
Johnson is accused in the multi
count indictment of rigging
correspondence-course exams and
fixing grades to help five basketball
players gain eligibility to Baylor.
He has pleaded innocent.
"I don’t feel like I’ve done anything
wrong,” Johnson told the Waco
Tribune-Herald last year. “I’ll leave my
fate to the collective judgment of the
people involved.”
Johnson’s attorney, Garvin Isaacs,
doesn’t deny that the Baylor program
may have violated NCAA rules or that it
could have broken federal law. But he
said Johnson was unaware of any
wrongdoing.
The indictment last November came
a day after Johnson, 39, was fired as
basketball coach by Baylor
administrators.
Lady Aggies capture NWIT
□ Lisa Branch scores
28 as A&M comes
from behind to defeat
Northwestern State.
Staff and Wire Reports
Texas A&M junior point
guard Lisa Branch added an
other line to the resume Satur
day night.
Branch scored 28 points, her
third-highest point total ever,
as she led the Lady Aggies to
an 85-81 victory over North
western State in the National
Women’s Invitational Tourna
ment championship game.
At one time down by as
many as 16 points, the Lady
Aggies rallied to within one
point at 35-34 at halftime.
Branch also added eight as
sists and six rebounds as A&M
won their third game in as
many days before a crowd of
2,550 at the Amarillo Civic
Center.
The Lady Aggies finished
the season with a 21-9 record
while Northwestern State end
ed their year with a 25-7 mark.
Branch made four free
throws in the final 23 seconds,
including two with two seconds
remaining to ice the champi
onship for A&M.
Also turning in key perfor
mances for the Lady Aggies
were sophomore center Mari
anne Miller hit for 17 points
and hauled down nine re
bounds and junior post
Martha McClelland who added
12 points.
Senior forward Debbie Biermann (#41) and sophomore Mari
anne Miller (#51) celebrate one of Lady Aggies regular season
victories. The team won the NWIT title on Saturday.
Hatchell named as
Big 12 commissioner
□ SWC commissioner
is chosen over Kansas'
athletic director Bob
Frederick.
IRVING (AP) — The South
west Conference’s Steve Hatch
ell was named Sunday the new
commissioner of the Big 12 con
ference, which will begin play
in 1996.
Hatchell and Kansas athletic
director Bob Frederick met a final
time with presidents and chief ex
ecutive officers of the urdversities
on Sunday at a hotel near the
Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
Hatchell, 48, was sports infor
mation director at the Universi
ty of Colorado and later was di
rector of the Big Eight Confer
ence’s service bureau and associ
ate and interim commissioner.
His strengths are his bowl
ties, marketing, and television
and broadcast contacts.
The interviews Sunday were
the deciding factor in what Jon
Wefald, Kansas State president
and search committee chairman,
had called a “close race.” Seven
votes were needed to select the
new commissioner.
The schools of the Big Eight
plus Texas, Texas A&M, Texas
Tech and Baylor of the Southwest
Conference will create the Big 12.
The Big 12 will begin business op
erations on July 1, 1996.
The 12-member screening
committee that interviewed
four semifinalists unanimously
recommended Hatchell and
Frederick Wednesday to the
university presidents. The two
dropped off the final list were
Dan Beebe, Ohio Valley com
missioner, and Patty Viverito,
Gateway commissioner.
The 55-year-old Frederick has
been Kansas athletic director
since 1987. He also is chairman
of the NCAA Division I basket
ball tournament selection com
mittee and was involved in nego
tiating the tournament’s televi
sion contract.
Frederick has helped Kansas
maintain national basketball
prominence and improve its foot
ball program. During the 1992-
93 academic year, Kansas under
Frederick became the second
NCAA school to participate in a
bowl game, the Final Four and
the College World Series in the
same season.
In 1983, Hatchell left the Big
Eight to become commissioner of
the Metro Conference. In 1987,
he became the Orange Bowl’s
executive director before his ap
pointment as SWC commission
er. During Hatchell’s Orange
Bowl tenure, the payout in
creased to $4.2 million per team.
Hatchell represented the Big
12 in recent months during ne
gotiations for a five-year football
television contract worth more
than $100 million and for agree
ments that will guarantee the
new league berths in five Tier II
bowls — the Cotton, Holiday,
Alamo, Copper and Aloha.
Baseball team drops two of three to Rice Owls
□ Rice overpowers the
Aggies in the twinhill
on Saturday.
Staff and Wire Reports
The Texas A&M baseball
team seemed to have everything
riding for it going into Satur
day’s doubleheader against Rice
University at Olsen Field.
Not only had the Ag
gies defeated the Owls
in the series opener
Friday night but
they had also de
feated the Owls 16
straight times at
Olsen Field.
In the first game,
freshman pitcher
Shane King pitched well
enough to win, but the Ag
gies bats could not score after
putting up three runs in the
third inning. John Curl’s three-
run home run provided all the
offense the Aggies would get in
the first game.
In the second game, A&M’s
bullpen simply could not get
anyone out in a 13-7 defeat.
Starter John Sneed gave up four
runs in four innings, but he ac
tually was one of the lucky ones
on Saturday.
Spencer McIntyre entered
the game and gave up four
earned runs in one and two-
thirds innings and was followed
to the mound by senior Brian
Parker and junior Tim Clark
son, neither of whom could
get an out while giving
up a combined three
earned runs.
Offensive fire
works were provided
for the home crowd
by junior outfielder
Chad Allen who con
nected on a solo home
run and by hot-hitting ju
nior first baseman Jeff Bailey
who went 2-5 at the plate and
drove in two runs.
The Aggies now stand at 3-4
in the Southwest Conference and
will play at Houston on Friday
night beginning at 7 p.m.
Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion
First baseman Jeff Bailey reaches out to tag Rice’s Lance Berkman, who left early from first, as sec
ond baseman Mark Stratta gets out of the way.
One of baseball’s finest at Olsen Field
T exas A&M baseball fans
got to see a genuine ma
jor league baseball player
this weekend.
Well, almost.
In the great line of father-
son connections such as the
Griffeys and the Bondses comes
the one with enough local ties
to allow a ray of sunshine
through the stormy cloud of the
strike.
His name is Jose Cruz Jr.
and he plays center field for the
Rice Owls. If you went to the
doubleheader on Saturday af
ternoon at Olsen Field, you are
very familiar
with Mr.
Cruz’s work
by now. In
two games, he
lit the A&M
pitchers up
for a 5-of-6
day with four
runs scored,
five runs batted in, one home
run and one stolen base.
Just another day at the office
for the man who may very well
be the best player in the nation
and the No. 1 overall pick in the
June major league draft.
If you’re from
Houston, or just a
Texas baseball fan,
you know who old
Jose Cruz Sr. is. If
you went to a game
at the Astrodome
anywhere from
1978 to 1987, you
have heard the
chant of “Cruuuuuuuz!!! ” every
time “Cheo” came to the plate.
More often than not, Cruz
Sr. delivered, leading the As
tros in RBIs, batting average or
home runs several times, and
always leading in the class de
partment.
His last game with the As- .
tros was a heartbreaker for me.
Astros’ owner John McMullen,
the bane of all that is good in
Houston sports, had made it
clear that salary cutbacks
would include the release of
Cruz in favor of younger, cheap
er players. Did I mention they
would be cheaper?
In his final game, Cruz came
up with two outs in the bottom
of the ninth with men on base
and a chance to win the game.
See Cruz, Page 8
dp
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS:
GENERAL INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS
WANT TO BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE AND
MARKETABLE...STUDY ABROAD
Come by one of our
weekly meetings held
every Friday at 11:00
(room number will be posted
outside of 161 Bizzell Hall
West) where we will answer
questions including:
How do I plan a Study Abroad?
When should I Study Abroad?
What about Financial Aid?
- and more -
Study Abroad Programs • 161 Bizzell Hall West • 845-0544
#1 DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY
IN THE NATION
INFORMATIONAL SEMINAR: CAREERS IN ENTOMOLOGY
Sponsored by the Department of Entomology
Thursday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Room 103, Heep Center
• Concerned about employment opportunities?
• Would you like a major in which job demand at
the BS level is exceeding supply?
Academic advisors will discuss curricula offered by the Department of
Entomology leading to the Bachelor of Science Degree at TAMC1
For more information, please contact
Department of Entomology Academic Advisors at 845-9733.