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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1995)
Wednesday • April 19, 1995 S * The Battalion • Page 9 A&M track team signs nine runners The Texas A&M track and field team signed nine women to national letters-of-intent Tuesday. “This class is by far the best, as a group, that we have ever signed, “ A&M head track coach Ted Nelson said. “It certainly is a national top 10 class and possibly a top five class, depending on what everyone else around the country does.” Eight of the nine recruits are from Texas, with the ninth, distance runner Marisa Tuzzi hailing from Dayton, Ohio. The big recruit of the bunch is Rosa Jolivet from Odessa Junior College who is regarded as the top junior college hurdler in the nation. As a freshman, she finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles at the national JUCO meet. Other highlights of this year’s recruiting crop are Adrien Sawyer, also from Odessa Junior College, who is regarded as the premiere junior college performer in the long and triple jumps this season and Kelli Schrader from Bellville, who is ranked as the top discus thrower in the state this season. Aggies sign top Idaho golfer Lee Reed of Rigby, Idaho, signed a national letter-of-intent Tuesday to play college golf at Texas A&M. Reed won the 1994 Idaho state junior title and was the runner-up at the 1994 state high school tourna ment. He also placed third at the 1994 Doug Sanders Invitational and fin ished seventh at the 1994 Junior World tournament, "Lee has demonstratecl the ability te play well in national tournaments, " A&M head golf eeaoh Bob lllie said, "He wanted to come down south where it’s warm and get out of that cold North country. I think his ability will blossom in an area where he can play year round.” Mavs keep playoff hopes alive Aggi es tune up for Tech with 6-1 win over Lamar DALLAS (AP) — Jamal Mashburn, Roy Tarpley and Popeye Jones led the Dallas Mavericks to a 104-91 romp over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, keeping their scant playoff hopes alive. Dallas went into the game facing elimination from the playoff race with any combination of a Denver victory over San Antonio and a Mavs loss. Denver lost 107-96 at San Antonio. The Mavericks trailed Denver, holding their eighth spot in the conference, by three games. Mashburn scored 20 points and Tarpley had 19 points and 13 rebounds. Jones contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Lucious Harris had 14 points and Jason Kidd chipped in nine points and nine rebounds. Loy Vaught paced the Clippers with 28 points and 16 rebounds. Eric Piatkowski added 13. Thurman, two more declare NBA eligibility Three more prominent underclassmen — Scotty Thurman of Arkansas, Rodrick Rhodes of Kentucky and Chris Carr of Southern Illinois — decided on Tuesday to declare for the NBA draft. The possibility that any collective bargaining agreement reached between the NBA and its players might include a salary cap for rookies has spurred a number of college stars to announce they were coming out. Earlier, Joe Smith of Maryland, the college Player of the Year, Corliss Williamson, who was Thurman’s teammate at Arkansas, Gary Trent of Ohio University and Mario Bennett of Arizona State, announced they would pass up their remaining college eligibility for the NBA. Players have until 11:59 p.m. May 14 to announce for the draft which is scheduled for June 28 in Toronto. Last year, 20 underclassmen declared and 12 were selected. □ The baseball team extends its winning streak to 14. By Robert Rodriguez The Battalion A five-mn second inning helped Texas A&M baseball team continue its winning ways as the Aggies defeated the, Lamar Cardinals 6-1 Tuesday night at Olsen Field. With the victory, the 17th-ranked Ag gies extended their winning streak to 14 games and improved to 31-13-1 for the season in front of a crowd of 1,627. Texas A&M head coach Mark Johnson said he was pleased with the team’s per formance in the game. ; “We really made some hard outs tonight, ” Johnson said. “We hit the ball hard and I was real pleased with that; Every pitcher was real sharp and they had their-stuff. This was a good out ing for us.” Everything worked to perfection for the Aggies on this night. Five pitchers com bined on a six-hitter and the offense con tinued to produce. A&M scored all its runs in the early in nings to put the game out of reach quickly. Junior Dean Mitchell picked up the vic tory for the Aggies, pitching three innings and giving up just two hits and the Cardi nals’ lone run. Juniors Chad Alexander and Paul Bar ber and senior John Curl supplied the bulk of the hitting attack as each went 2- for-4 and scored a run. “Lately, it doesn’t really seem to matter who seores first ©r what, we are going to win the game, ” Barber said. “Right now, we have the feeling that any person we have on this team is going to come through for us." The second inning was the deadly blow for the Cardinals. A&M sent nine batters to the plate, scoring five runs on four hits in the inning. Curl led off the inning with a double to center. After walks to the next two hitters, senior Robert Harris knocked Curl in with a sacrifice fly. Big hits kept the inning alive for the Aggies. A double by Barber scored Jason Stephens and Ryan Huffman to make it a .3-1 game. One out later, Chad Alexander .hit a home run to left field to increase the lead to 5-1. Alexander’s home run was his eighth of the year, compared to his total of just one from last season. “The pitch before was a slider and I pulled off of it, ” Alexander said. “The one I hit was a fastball and I saw it pretty well. I just happened to hit it pretty well.” The pitching was also very strong for the Aggies as they walked only one batter and struck out six Cardinals in the game. Spencer McIntyre struck out all three bat ters he faced in the eighth inning and Shane Ring got but of two potential jams by get ting the Cardi nal batters to ground into two double plays. “The pitchers were not sloppy at all tonight,” Johnson said. “Coach Lawler had them hooked up and ready to go. We got the guys in that we wanted, and they got their work in.” The final run the Aggies scored came in the fourth inning. A single by Chad Allen plated Matt Garrick, who reached base on a walk. “The feeling we have now is like the feeling we had in 1993(when A&M reached the College World Series,) ” Alexander said. “We go out and we know that we are going to win. We have no doubts in our minds,” Next up for the Aggies will be a erueial four-game homestand against the eighth- ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Red Raiders are in second place in the Southwest Conference standings, 1 1/2 games behind first-place A&M. The series starts on Friday at 4 p.m. at Olsen Field. "The feeling we have now is like the feeling we had in 1993 (when A&M reached the College World Series). We go out and we know that we are going to win." — Chad Alexander, junior outfielder Roger H»leh/TnE Battalion Junior second baseman Paul Barber throws to first base trying to complete a dou ble play against Lamar Tuesday night. Making A&M athletics a family affair □ Bill and Lynn Hickey share lives and love of Aggie sports. By Shelly Hall The Battalion * The name “Hickey” is more than a family tradition, , it’s also an Aggie traditibri around the Texas A&M athletic department. Assistant baseball coach. Bill Hickey and Senior Associate Athletic Director Lynn Hickey have more in common than their employment with the athletic department; they are also mar ried to each other. The Hickeys said thby sacri ficed a lot to come to A&M be- - cause of their coaching* positions at Kansas State. ■ , “ “I had a good team at Kansas State,” Lynn Hickey said. “We felt it was the right direction to go.” Although Bill Hickey also enjoyed a head coaching job at KSU, competition from out side sources was driving down his teams. “I was head coach at Kansas State,” Hickey said. “We had six scholarships and it was becoming increasingly difficult to compete with teams like Oklahoma.” It was her husband who encouraged Lynn Hickey to ap ply for the head women’s bas ketball coaching position at A&M, despite her success at Kansas State. “Lynn was at the Final Four when I saw in the paper that the Texas A&M head women’s basketball coach had resigned,” he said. “I encouraged her to look into it.” Through her years as the women’s head basketball coach, Hickey said her most memo rable moments stem from the athletes and their successes. “There have been a lot of ex citing times,” she said. Last spring, when' we beat Florida here and went on and beat San Diego State to get into the Sweet 16 {was a highlight.) The kids made it even more special.” Coacb Hickey said the 1989 baseball.team, especially the players, made an impact on his coaching career at A&M. “The ‘89 se ries against UT was memorable because they beat us on a Friday night 6- 2 and we beat Texas the next night twice,” Hickey said. “(We) won 26 games in a row and the commu nity went crazy with that team. It was unbeliev able.” Lynn Hickey said it has been tough at times juggling family and career. “Scheduling with a child has been difficult at times,” Hickey said. “I would six-year old daughter) to the basketball game and drop her off at baseball practice.” She said the various aspects of coaching have made family life even more difficult. “It’s tough with a family when you both have careers,” Hickey said. “Weekends are work days. We have games and recruits we are both trying to call.” Hickey said there has always been kind competition but sup port from her husband toward her career goals. “There’s always been compe tition,” Hickey said. “When we See Hickey, Page 1 1 Desperately seeking Seles: tennis needs a boost Photographer/THE Battalion bring Lauren A&M head coach Bill Hickey coaches sophomore (the Hickeys’ Rich Petru at first base . F or all you sports en thusiasts out there, here’s a little question for you. What do Michael Jordan, Tom Watson, Mike Tyson and Bo Jackson have in common? Answer: Each sports star has or will return to his re spective sport following a lengthy absence. Whether it was sickness, in jury, or in Tyson’s case, jail time interfering with their dreams, these athletes have attempted comebacks to amaze and excite fans once again. Now to the more important question at hand. When will former women’s tennis stand out Monica Seles join this elite group and return to the game that she temporarily ruled? If you recall, as the world’s No. 1 women’s player in 1993, Seles was plugging right along until she was stabbed in the back by an avid Steffi Graf supporter during a break at a match in Germany. Over two years later, Seles has yet to return and the game of women’s tennis has suffered in her absence. Since Seles’ untimely exit, Graf has turned the game into a one-player show, domi nating the circuit and leaving little doubt as to who the top dog is now. The 25 year- old German has an 18-0 match record and has n’t lost a set in 1995. With four tournament ti tles this year and 90 in her career, Graf is simply sleepwalking through her inferior competition and there are few obstacles left for her to overcome. There is sim ply no suspense in the game. How do fans spell tennis these days? B-O-R-I-N-G. A decent threat to Graf’s supremacy might come from Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. The Spaniard has won three of the last four meetings between the two, but Graf was said to have an ailing back during that span. However, Graf’s biggest challenge and the game’s best hope for revival still lies in Se les. The successful return of one of the game’s premiere players would definitely drum- up more interest in the sport. With the queen mother of women’s tennis, Martina Navratilova, retired from sin gles play, the game could use another marquee name, and Seles’ is just that. Plus, a Graf-Seles rivalry could generate more excite ment for women’s tennis like the newly emerging Andre, Agassi-Pete Sampras rivalry See Day, Page 1 0 Your memory may fail you but your Aggieland won’t O RDER YOUR COPY of one of A&M’s most: beloved -traditJons when you register for fall classes. Don’t miss the chance to own the nation’s largest yearbook — an <364--page record of the 1995-90 Texas A&M school year. Simply select fee option 10. Just $30 + tax.