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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1995)
Wednesday • April 26, 1995 The Battalion • Page 9 A&M thumps SHSU, tunes up for Texas Roger Hsieh/THE Battalion Junior Jason Stephens takes a large lead off of first base preparing to steal in the Aggies’ 7-4 victory over Sam Houston State Tuesday night. Softball team to end season against SFA The Texas A&M softball team will conclude its regular season home schedule today with a doubleheader against Stephen F. Austin at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Senior catcher Beth Gerken will be playing her final home game for the Lady Aggies, 26-20 on the season, and will be recognized between games. Against the Ladyjacks of SFA, the Lady Aggies are 19-4 all time and have won eight of the last nine meetings between the two teams. Second baseman Merry Mapp has quite the team for personal reasons. The sophomore was ranked second on the team with a .319 batting average this season. In addition, Mapp was second on the team with 43 hits and 11 doubles and led the team in stolen bases with eight. On Thursday, the Lady Aggies depart on a road trip through Louisiana with doubleheaders at McNeese State, Louisiana Tech and Southwestern Louisiana. Spurs’ Hill named NBA coach of month NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Hill, who led the San Antonio Spurs to an 11-2 record in April, was chosen NBA coach of the month Tuesday. San Antonio finished the season with the best record in the league at 62-20. The team won 32 of its last 37 games. The Spurs, who will have the home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, won five straight games at the start of the month and closed the season with six consecutive wins to over take Utah for the Midwest Division title. San Antonio had the NBA’s best road record at 29-12 and won seven of eight on the road during April. □ The Aggies have won 1 5 of their last 1 7 balIgames. By Robert Rodriguez The Battalion The 17th-ranked Texas A&M baseball team finished its last non-conference game of the season with a win over the Sam Houston State Bearkats 7-4 be fore 2,111 at Olsen Field Tues day night. With the victory, the Aggies improved to 34-15-1 on the sea son. Freshman John Sneed picked up the victory while ju nior Paul Barber collected his third save. Head coach Mark Johnson this was a good victory against a team that always plays hard against Aggies. “This was a typical A&M- Sam Houston game,” Johnson said. “We would hit the ball well and then all of the sudden look up and they are right back in the ballgame. They always seem to stay in ballgames with us and we have a hard time separating ourselves from them on the scoreboard.” Hitting was the key for the Aggies on this night. Senior John Curl went 3-for-4 with a run batted in and two runs scored while juniors Chad Alexander, Ryan Huffman and Tech-hero Jeff Bailey had two hits apiece. One of Alexander’s hits was a home run, his ninth of the season. “Everyone just feels real good at the plate,” Curl said. "Hopefully, we can keep this up a couple more weeks for the tournament. ” The Aggies started the game on a tear as the first four batters for A&M got on base with hits off of losing pitcher Tim Gesino. Alexander led off with a triple that just missed being a home run and scored on a Bailey single. After a Chad Allen single. Curl hit a double which plated Bailey, making it a 2-0 game. In the third inning, Bailey led off with a single and would reach third on Curl’s second double of the game. Sophomore Jason Stephens knocked both runners in with a single to make it 4-0. While the Aggies were enter taining the crowd on 25-cent Hot Dog Night on the art of hitting, the A&M pitching staff was also working well as Sneed (5-3) would allow no hits in his three innings of work. However, he did run into some control problems in the third inning before pitch ing himself out of the jam. “I thought getting Sneed back out there was a plus,” Johnson said. “I thought he threw the ball pretty well.” Freshman Shane King came in the game in the fourth inning and struck out four bat ters in the two in nings he pitched. King was able to work out of a bases- loaded jam in the fifth inning by getting the Sam Houston centerfielder to fly out to end the inning. In the A&M fifth inning, the Aggies’ hitters were at it again as Curl got on base with a base See Baseball, Page 1 1 "Friday night will be special because it will be our final home game and our seniors will be recognized." —Mark Johnson, Aggie baseball head coach DiNardo nets respect as Lady Aggies’ senior leader □ Dinardo finished her career in the SWC Championships vs. UT. By Shelly Hall The Battalion For some, it may be lonely at the top. But for Lady Aggie ten nis player Christine DiNardo, the lone senior on the A&M team, nothing could be further from the truth. DiNardo said despite her se nior status, she has had no prob lem relating to the other players and feeds off the spirit of her younger teammates. “It has been weird being the only senior on the team,” DiNar- do said. “But, we are all pretty close. My team members moti vated me a lot.” DiNardo said has been inspired on the court by the relationships she has with her teammates. “The people on my team have been a big motivation,” DiNardo said. “When you have a bad day, they are there to pump you up.” DiNardo, who won the Penn sylvania singles state champi onship her senior year in high school, said it is her desire to win that gives her consistency on the court. “I knew it took a lot of work to win,” DiNardo said. “I’ve had some good wins, collegiately.” DiNardo said it was her par ents that originally introduced her to the game of tennis. “Both of my parents played,” DiNardo said. “They took me to lessons and I started to play.” DiNardo said she feels good about this past weekend’s Southwest Conference tennis cham- pionships even though the event marked the end of her tennis career at A&M. “I played well against Texas,” Di- Nardo said. “The team played them close. We played them better than ear lier in the season.” DiNardo said she captured most of the goals last weekend that she had set for herself this season. “I started out playing at No. 4,” DiNardo said. “I got moved down to No. 5, so I lost some confidence. But winning a match and pulling it out for the team has stood out in See DiNardo, Page 12 DiNardo Baseball team needs history repeat F or the Texas A&M baseball team and its fans, the last two years have been an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows. To show this point, let’s let history do the talking. April 30, 1993: In front of an overflow crowd at Olsen Field, Texas A&M defeats the Univer sity of Texas 6-2 to clinch its first outright Southwest Conference championship in 15 years.Aggie pitcher Jeff Granger goes the dis tance for A&M, scattering six hits and outdueling the Longhorns’ top hurler. Brooks Kieschnick. A&M, the consensus No. 1 team in the nation, will eventually advanced to the College World Series for the first time since 1964. April 30, 1994: Texas Christian University defeats the defending conference champion Ag gies 6-3 at Olsen Field to clinch the SWC title. As the Horned Frogs celebrate their title on the infield grass, Aggie fans are left to ponder what went wrong in a season once full of promise. With a fifth place finish and 6-12 conference record, A&M will not get to host or participate in the SWC Tournament. April 30, 1995: A&M defeats the University of Texas at Disch-Falk Field in Austin to complete a three-game sweep of the Longhorns. The Ag gies grab the conference lead and moves one step closer to reclaiming the SWC crown. Although the third scenario is not a reality yet, these moments define the treacherous peaks and valleys the baseball team has traveled in two years. On Sunday, exactly two years after beating Texas to win the 1993 SWC title, the Aggies have a chance to climb back on top if they can cap off a successful series against their archrivals. A&M is currently tied with Rice atop the standings with a 12-6 record, while Texas Tech is a game and a halfback at 10-7. However, Rice takes on Tech this weekend, so the Aggies could put some valuable ground between themselves and one of these teams. A&M, meanwhile, is on an all- time high in the aftermath of Jeff Bailey’s heroic, game-winning grand slam against Tech last Sunday. If the Aggies take just a shred of this momentum with them onto the field this weekend, the Longhorns could be in a lot of trouble. At 12-9, they can’t afford to lose. Looking back, A&M went from the pent house to the outhouse in just a year’s time. What happened? The departure of the All-American Granger and A&M’s other top gun Kelly Wunsch is what happened. In their absence, Aggie pitching suf fered temporarily, crippling A&M’s chances at a repeat title. But this season has been a different story, as solid pitching, timely and productive hitting and good team defense has returned to Aggieland. After a slow start, A&M rode a huge wave of momentum to a 15-game winning streak and back to the top of the conference standings. Now, the team appears poised and ready to make a final assault at the SWC championship. Based on Bailey’s miracle home run and the team’s unlikely comeback victory over Tech last Sunday, it would seem the team is des tined to win the conference and advance on to bigger and better things. With 12 players remaining from the ‘93 squad, the team has experience in winning. But weathering last season’s fall-off also taught those players nothing can be taken for granted. It’s been a wild ride of exhilarating highs and depressing lows for the Aggies and their fans. Let’s just hope the next stop is the top of the mountain. Rodriguez takes first, golf team second in Staff and Wire Reports Texas A&M golfers Anthony Rodriguez and Dru Fenimore were part of a four-way tie for the individual championship in the Southwest Conference Golf Championships held in Rich mond Monday and Tuesday. The Aggie finished in second Pi ace overall as a team, just one stroke behind the Univer sity of Texas. The Aggies had a chance to tie the Longhorns on the last hole, but Rodriguez’s 25-foot, downhill putt just scraped the hole. Rodriguez, a senior playing in the last Southwest Confer ence match of his collegiate ca reer, said that although it was a very tough loss to take, he was impressed with the team’s performance. “It’s depressing, it really is, Rodriguez said. “But we played our hearts out and no one can say anything. Every one can point to mistakes they made, so you can’t blame any one person.” Following the team competi tion, a playoff was held to break the four-way individual tie. Ro driguez birdied the first hole to take the title. “This is a dream come true for me, “ Rodriguez said. “When A&M last won the SWC in 1987, my dad told me about it and I told that someday I was going to win the South west Conference title. So it re ally is a dream come true.” A&M coach Bob Ellis was es pecially proud of Rodriguez’s gutsy effort in the final round of the tournament. “Anthony Rodriguez was very solid for the entire tournament, “ Ellis said. “He showed what a great player he is. This is his fifth tournament win this season. He is a tremendous player who has an outstanding year.” Ellis called Fenimore’s per- formace “his best tournament ever.”-Included in Fenimore’s round-low 69 was a near-ace that landed six inches from the hole and a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 17th hole. “This is the best day of my life, “ Fenimore said. “The play off was gravy, I didn’t care what happened. 1 was happy for An thony because he has had a great college career and he de served it.” Rodriguez and Fenimore each shot a 215 for the tourna ment, one shot under par. They were joined in first place by Lance Combrink from the Uni versity of Houston and Jim Skinner from Southern Methodist University. Ryan Dreyer finished in a tie for 17th for the Aggies at 225 while Jeff Brown took 21st with a score of 228. Even the Aggies’ biggest rivals were impressed by A&M’s perfor mance during the tournament. “Texas A&M really made a run and played the last five holes really well, “ UT’s Harri son Frazar who finished fifth in dividually said. “We felt like all we had to do was hang in there, but A&M is a team to reckon with every year. Texas Christian University finished third in the champi onship with a score of 879, and was followed by UH, SMU, Rice, Texas Tech and Baylor. The one thing true Aggies shouldn’t be without 1996 Aggieland Yearbook O RDER YOUR COPY of one of A&M’s most beloved traditions when you register for fall classes. Don’t miss the chance to own the nation’s largest yearbook — an <304-page record of the 1995-96 Texas A&M school year. Simply select fee option 16. Just $30 + tax. DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO TAKE A FULL LENGTH PRACTICE GMAT ►Take a full-length GMAT (including the essays). •Receive a personalized, detailed score report. •Learn your GMAT strengths & weaknesses. 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