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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1995)
July 5,19 The Battalion • Page 3 Wednesday • July 5, 1993 ! 1 semester, opened art-time fc; Tiger Woods ready to eitthenee play after wrist sprain center wj ■■■■■ r , n re playit LEMONT, III. (AP) — With four lit- assroome: tie words. Tiger Woods gave golf fans ris saiffiand PGA Tour officials reason to smile: an expect:®"The wrist is good." sors to gf Woods, who at 19 years old has Iso felt o become one of his sport's most popu- as indepe T ar figures, said Tuesday the two-week his technr ^ rom an ' n j ur V tbat forced him to + u • Iwithdraw from the U.S. Open cleared PBhis mind and helped his game. , SRI "I feel like I'm playing better now," eater, as* said the reigning U.S. Amateur cham- design m pion, who tees off Thursday in the ir user, sa: Western Open. "I haven't had time to abs a pro Jl rest up and get my mind clear because the onesr M sc b 0 °l ar| d all the studying I had to ture Cents 1^°' Tb en 1 b a< ^ to 8° straight to the Open, so I haven't had a break. That two-week break really felt good." , _ Woods, who just completed his idents. |freshman year at Stanford, sprained a problem ti: ligament in his left wrist while trying to r centers o: hit out of the deep rough during the ledter said second round of the U.S. Open, thenewcer skipped the following week's jeneficialft Nodheast Amateur and just resumed ing or visnjP ra ^! cin ?' , , , . ^ Woods expects no problems this week at the $2 million Western Open Olsen Field, fans spark A&M s winning seasons SPORTS RIEFS pus Librar mmodatioi: ^he need ■at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club. , so will tk ;ure such: iThreatening fan to receive psychiatric exam and were TORONTO (AP) — The woman will take |pfi ar § e d with threatening to kill Rober- p . „„„ po Alomar of the Toronto Blue Jays was ' ordered on Tuesday to undergo a hree-day psychiatric exam to deter- ine if she is fit to stand trial. Justice Tom Mercer of Ontario ourt's general division ordered the ssessment for Tricia Miller, 31, at a earing after a request from her awyer. Police said a woman carrying a gun They rei In a bag told staff at the SkyDome Ho- ■cl on Sunday that she wanted to kill of the Ee jMomar. They said she was frustrated Lenbach,si PV P ast attempts to "develop a rela- for womW ons b'P' anc * intended to shoot Alo- some oft, t. kelson st didn’t co: cenbach a: c are sort □ The Aggie baseball team completed their 1 7th consecutive winning season at home with a 25-6 record. The following story is the second in a series of features on Texas A&M's athletic facilities. By Nick Ceorgandis The Battalion Why can’t Texas A&M baseball opponents ever win at Olsen Field? True, the Aggies continuously put together a winning product on the field, but at home, they dominate like few other teams in the nation. Is it the overtly-obnoxious crowd that voices itself on every pitch? The hot Texas sun beating down on oppo nents as the games drag on? The memory of stars like Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Livingstone and Jeff Granger that recall of glories past? Mark Johnson, Texas A&M’s head baseball coach since 1985, says he thinks the Aggie crowds are a big part of A&M’s successes at home. “Our crowds are always magnificent,” Johnson said during the 1995 season. “Everybody gets excited about playing here.” Everybody who is rooting for Texas A&M, that is. Since the stadium was dedicated in 1978, the Aggies have a record of 492-135-1 at home, a .784 winning per centage. Included in that figure is the Aggies’ 25-6 mark during the 1995 regular season. Last season was A&M’s 17th consecutive winning season at home. The facility is named for C.E. “Pat” Olsen, a 1923 Texas A&M graduate who played in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees. Although he played with the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig several times in spring training, Olsen never was able to break the Yan kees’ powerful roster and stay on the major-league level. Olsen was involved in baseball throughout his life and threw out the first pitch of Game One of the 1984 World Series, a game started by then-San Diego Padre and for mer A&M star Mark Thurmond Although the dimensions of Olsen Field are equal to those of most major league ballparks, it has gained a reputation as a hitter’s ballpark. A lot of that reputation came about in the 1989 season, in which the Aggies com piled a 58-7 overall record, including a staggering 38-4 Photo courtesy of Texas A&M Sports Information C.E. "Pat" Olsen Field opened in 1978. The Texas A&M Baseball Team has compiled a .784 winning percentage in its 1 7 seasons there. Such professional stars as Roger Clemens and Chuck Knoblauch have seen action there. mark at home That season, the Aggies scored in double digits in 17 homes games, and scored 20 runs or more four times. Two seasons later, A&M set an Olsen Field record for runs in a game when the Aggies crushed Westmont Uni versity, 31-2. Former A&M first baseman John Curl, who was re cently drafted by the Oakland Athletics, said the team has been so successful over the years because of the fa miliarity the hitters have with the park. “Everyone just feels real good when they’re up at the plate (at home),” Curl said. Curl seemed comfortable at the plate throughout the 1995 season, finishing second in the Southwest Confer ence in batting average and leading the SWC in home runs with 18. See Olsen, Page 4 d (about t; and herself. Police seized a loaded .22-caliber revolver. Miller sat expressionless with her Graf’s run keeps her unbeaten in 1995 y J* *' 1*11 II I J Cl l /X I C7 ^7 I VO III J J V V III I sy re aOlnJB rms crossec | a t Tuesday's hearing, laid. j Defense lawyer Toomas Ounapuu sople goit[ jj.,jd he consulted with Miller about today k the assessment and she understood of the yei’ what it involves. *k duringth Miller will return to court July 1 1, off to seetfc when the jydge will decide whether a further SO-day assessrn,ent is needed. “ L Miller, a" factory worker from Port Ontario, is charged with threaten- ng death, carrying a concealed weapon, jssession of a dangerous weapon, pos- ssion of a restricted weapon and pos- ssion of stolen property. ilbury signs on as New ork Islander coach UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Mike lilbury is back coaching hockey again ™nd this time the New York Islanders Biope he sticks around for a while. ■ Milbury walked away from his last ■ wo coaching jobs, one after two lyears, the other after two months. He emained a hot property, though, and ill be introduced Wednesday as :oach of the Islanders, equipped with multi-year contract. He replaces Lome Henning, who vas fired after one season as the Is- anders finished last in the Atlantic )ivision. "I'm grateful for the opportunity," tilbury said. "It's exciting and I look brward to the challenge." It will be the second NHL coaching ob for the Milbury, the former de- enseman who played 11 seasons with he Boston Bruins. He coached the Bruins to consecutive 100-point sea sons and Adams Division titles in 1990 and 1991, losing in the Stanley Cup fi- aals in his first year and in the semifi nals a year later. (ING i/ING □ The German tennis star is within two victories of her sixth Wimbledon title. WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — In a zone of her own and still unbeaten in 1995, Steffi Graf surprised even herself with a stunning performance that led a march by the top four seeded women into the Wimbledon semifinals. Graf slugged so many clean winners with her forehand, her backhand and her volleys she might as well have been playing against a ball machine as she stretched her record for the year to 30-0. She jumped on Mary Joe Fernandez’s serves as if they were traveling in slow mo tion. From the end of the first set through the first three games of the second set, Graf won 14 consecutive points en route to a 6-3, 6-0 romp. “Perfect,” Graf said, abandoning her usu ally harsh self-criticism as she assessed the second set. “I felt I could do anything that I wanted to.” It didn’t worry the top-seeded German that she might have peaked too soon as she pursues her sixth Wimbledon title. “Whenever I play that kind of tennis, it doesn’t matter — first round, last round,” Graf said. “It’s really special to be out there. It’s such a joy that it doesn’t really matter to me when it is. That’s what I’m playing for.” Next up for Graf on Thursday is Jana Novotna, the player who virtually handed Graf the winner’s silver platter two years ago in one of the worst chokes in Wimbledon history. Novotna, a 6-2, 6-3 victor over Kimiko Date, will have to overcome the memory of that capitulation to Graf after coming within a point of a 5-1 lead in the WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINAL SEMIFINAL third set. “I tend to think that she can,” Graf said, sounding not at all certain. “It’s difficult to say because you can never put yourself into somebody else’s mind.” Novotna, who choked even worse in the French Open last month when she blew a 5- 0, 40-0 lead in the third set against Chanda Rubin, brushed aside concern about the 1993 Wimbledon final haunting her. “Really, not at all,” Novotna said. “We are two years further ... It’s going to be great to be back on the Centre Court again playing Graf, and well see.” While Graf and Novotna won so eas ily, Spaniard’s Con- chita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario took tougher paths to reach the semis against each other. Martinez’s reign as Wimbledon cham pion teetered precari ously, like a ball atop the net cord, until it landed luckily in her favor in a nervous struggle against Gabriela Sabatini that ended with a 7- 5, 7-6 (7-5) triumph. Throughout the tour nament, Martinez has sort of drifted through, overlooked because of the domi nance of Graf. ‘T’m the defend ing champion,” Martinez said defensively when asked if she felt Graf moving toward another title. “I’m the Wimbledon champi on. Nobody can take it away from me.” Sanchez Vicaro rallied from a break down in each set to beat Brenda Schultz-Mc- Carthy 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). The tiebreaker went with serve until Shultz-McCarthy mis-hit a volley to give Sanchez Vicario a 6-4 lead. The match end ed on the next point with another error by S chultz -McC arthy. Women’s singles FINAL CHAMPION Boxed numbers indicate seed Texas Rangers end losing streak, beat Cleveland 7-6 k Centet AVE ?ry With three home runs in the burth inning, the Indians be- ame the first team to hit 100 omers this season. CLEVELAND (AP) — Mark McLemore it a two-run double in the eighth nning Tuesday as the Texas Rangers, ho had blown an early four-run ead, came back to beat the Cleveland ^Indians 7-6. Texas ended its three-game losing »; treak while handing the Indians their ■second loss in nine games. ■ Carlos Baerga, Jim Thome and f Ruben Amaro homered during a . _ — -"'lsix-run fourth inning that tmade Cleveland the first jteam to reach 100 home runs ©IIVC /■thin •this season. I’; With 100 home runs in 62 I'games, the Indians are on a pace I to hit 232 during this strike-short v!ened, 144-game season — eight away '.'from the 162-game record of 240 hit by the 1961 New York Yankees. Projected v;over 162 games, the Indians’ pace would * ; produce 261 homers. ’■ The Rangers trailed 6-5 entering the '^eighth, but Eric Fox drew a one-out vlwalk from Julian Tavarez, and Rusty ► ’Greer’s pinch single off Paul Assen- Jmacher (2-2) sent Fox to third. Otis Nixon’s sacrifice bunt moved Greer to second — Fox held at third — before McLemore slapped his two-run double off Eric Plunk. Roger McDowell (4-0) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings, and Matt Whiteside got three outs for his first save. After spotting the Rangers a 4-0 lead in the fourth, Cleveland came back with six off rookie Terry Burrows in the bot tom half. Baerga led off with his 11th home run, Thome drove in three with his team-leading 17th homer, and Amaro finished Burrows with a two-run shot, his first. Burrows, making his first career start after 21 relief appearances, gave up five hits and six runs, one of them unearned, in 3 1-3 innings. Ivan Rodriguez started the Rangers’ four-run fourth against Bud Black with a single that extended his career-best hit ting streak to 15 games. It was the first of five hits off Black in the in ning, which featured an RBI groundout by Mickey Tettleton, run-scoring singles by Luis Ortiz and Jack Voigt, and Este ban Beltre’s RBI double. Rodriguez doubled and scored on Mike Pagliarulo’s single off Grimsley in the fifth. Pagliarulo had to leave the game with an injured left arm after col liding with Cleveland’s Wayne Kirby at first on Kirby’s grounder in the eighth. AP Photo Texas Rangers' catcher Ivan Rodriguez tries to tag out Oakland's Rickey Henderson in a game against the Athletics last week. Rodriguez was chosen to start in the All-Star game. Cedeno remembered as Astros’ fallen star Nick Ceorgandis Sports Editor O n Sunday, Astros sec- |ond baseman Craig Big gie was voted in as the starting second baseman for the National League in next Tuesday’s All-Star game. Biggio, who will turn 30 in December, has established himself as one of the most consistent performers in the National League. The last time a Houston player started the All-Star game was more than two decades ago when 22-year old Cesar Cedeno got the call. The Astros’ 1973 slogan was “It’s in the stars,” and Cedeno was one the best in the business. But it didn’t last. Cedeno debuted for the Astros at age 19 in 1970. He paid immediate dividends in half a season, batting .310 and stealing 17 bases, and the Astros had found their new centerfielder. Cedeno played in a time when No. 1 draft choices from high schools and col leges weren’t given $1 mil lion signing bonuses before they even took the field for the team that was wooing them. Cedeno was born in the Dominican Republic, but Astro scouts saw so much raw talent in him that they brought him to Texas while he was still a teenager. In 1971, he played in every game but one for Hous ton, leading the National League in doubles with 40. The Astros finished in fourth place in 1971, 11 games out of the pennant race. Besides Cedeno, the Astros’ only real stars were second baseman Joe Morgan and Jim my Wynn, both of whom were traded within a few seasons. As the 1972 season dawned, Cedeno appeared ready to capture the natipnal spotlight. Sports Illustrated lauded him in its annual baseball preview, saying “For added power, there’s Cesar Cedeno, the centerfielder who had 81 RBIs, 10 home runs and a league-leading 40 doubles, and who, at age 21, is just learning how to play 'f- - ■ See Ceorgandis, Page4