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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1996)
rch 7,1996 The Battalion Thursday March 7, 1996 Sports Page 7 agel n, but most comes from ine the Cor- a said. “We n off will in- current vot- ifair advan- is ask what derrick said, iders to stop rther action, mously that a course be y professors at course to a student, en common nt students n a section coordinator r advantage oy professors test. ,he Senate: eption of an ail distribu- communica- late and the ge in funding for military s; currently, ely from on- sports GLANCE Rangers beat up on Minnesota, 10-1 FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — La- Troy Hawkins was pounded for three runs and five hits in 1 1-3 in nings as the Texas Rangers beat Minnesota 10-1 and sent the Twins to their fourth straight loss. "I took him out because I was afraid someone was going to get hurt," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "They hit some of the hardest shots when he was in there. I know this may sound funny, but it's true. I didn't want to.get anybody hurt." Minnesota starter Jose Parra gave up three runs in the first, including a two-run double to Mickey Tettleton. Parra wound up allowing five runs and six hits in three innings. Bobby Witt got the win, allow ing one runs and three hits in four innings. Damon Buford drove in three runs for Texas, and Darryl Hamilton and Benji Gil went 2-for-2. Minnesota managed only five singles. Paul Molitor nit an RBI sin gle in the fourth. [lowing one ouncil officer ember of the cutive Coun- ,alive of Stu- oe a non-vot- hat Univer- changed so iding 14 or oreign lan- into foreign vith prefer- ity. ass ue can gener- es, giving sci- we successful able to insert nes for old or animal, said h\ ges for study- ually produc- Rexroad, re ion and Map- ment of Agri- i Service in Indians' arsenal takes down Astros, 7-4 WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — The Cleveland Indians belted two home runs, including a three-run blast by Carlos Baerga, to defeat the Houston Astros 7-4 Wednesday de spite four errors. The victory snapped a three- game losing streak for the Indians, who have been hampered by shaky defense. They have committed 14 errors in their first six games. Baerga put Cleveland ahead 3-0 in the third inning when he clubbed a two-out, three-run home run over the right field fence off John Hudek. Three of Houston's four runs were unearned. Baerga, first baseman Her bert Perry, pitcher Jim Poole, and third baseman Scott Leius committed the Indians' four errors. Perry's error on a grounder hit by Rick Wilkins opened the door for a two-run fourth inning by the Astros, cutting the Indians' lead to 3-2. 1 But Manny Ramirez slammed a pildtfrom Mark Small over the cen- jtef'field fence in the fourth inning, giving the Indians a 4-2 lead. The Indians scored three more funs in the sixth inning, two coming on a two-run double by Jeromy Bur- nitz,who has been filling in for Ed die Murray at designated hitter. Murray has not yet played yet due to a sinus infection. ) closer to do- imals is still :he technique le Nature pa ths from hun- hnique could e. For other ooultry, the differences in i said. iw if it would ny scientists thical. ted cells from n laboratory s, which were d more cells, utilized eggs les, and fused Us. n department he University itions, not be- crong effort to ,e final analy- 3 for the job ” Perry said, ives us a way king for jobs. :rve them bet- Barkley unimpressed with GOP field PHOENIX (AP) — Charles Barkley, who has expressed inter est in running for governor in his home state of Alabama as a Repub lican, isn't enthused at all about the OOP's slate of presidential candidates. The field is so poor, the Phoenix Suns star said, he might even end up voting for President Clinton. "I wouldn't vote for any of these guys now," Barkley said Wednesday during the NBA's weekly telephone press media con ference. Barkley said conservative com mentator Pat Buchanan "repre sents the angry white male. The only problem with that is they're the ones who screwed this thing up in the first place." Barkley said he preferred Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, who dropped out of the race recently, over front-runner Bob Dole. "Dole probably is going to win (the nomination) but I don't think he can beat Bill Clinton," Barkley said. Barkley has said he's interested in running for governor after he re tires. He said Wednesday he plans to play at least two or three more seasons. Alabama Gov. Fob James, a Re publican, is up for re-election in 1998. BATE ay 12-8 SHOP ai-utpe; 'S. & SMI SCORES ROUNDUP NBA New York 89, Toronto 82 Boston 110, L.A. Clippers 97 Minnesota 103, Philadelphia 90 Washington 99, Seattle 88 San Antonio 100, Denver 90 Utah 101, Indiana 94 I UPCOMING EVENTS Men's Basketball The Aggies play Texas Tech Uni versity tonight at 6 p.m. at Reunion Arena in Dallas in the first round of the SWC Dr Pepper Classic. Women's Basketball Friday the Lady Aggies will play the University of Texas in the semifi- I nalsof the SWC Dr Pepper Classic. i NCAA bid near as Lady Aggies roll, 91-63 A&M senior point guard Lisa Branch drives to the basket during At the Lady Aggies' 97-62 win over Texas Christian University last week. □ Lana Tucker and Lisa Branch combined for 39 points in Texas A&M's rout of Rice. Staff and Wire Reports One down, two big ones to go. Texas A&M junior guard Lana Tucker and senior guard Lisa Branch combined for 39 points as the Lady Aggies crushed the Rice Owls, 91-63, in the first round of the Dr Pepper Southwest Conference Classic Wednesday in Dallas. The Lady Aggies move on to play the top-seeded University of Texas Lady Longhorns in the semifinals of the tournament, which will be held at Moody Col iseum at noon on Friday. “We are excited about the pos sibility of playing Texas again,” Texas A&M Head Wom en’s Basket ball Coach Candi Harvey said. “Texas has beaten us twice this year, and we beat them twice in 1994-95 before they defeated us in the tournament, so turnaround is fair play. This is something we have been shooting for all year, and we overcame some past prob lems that we have been having in the SWC tournament.” The Lady Aggies, who moved to 18-11 on the year. improved their chances of se curing an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. A&M won the Women’s Na tional Invitational Tournament last season, and Harvey has said that she felt the Lady Aggies’ strength of schedule should get them into the held of 48 this year. Rice, which split the pair of regular-season games with A&M, suffered from 30 percent shooting in the first half. The Lady Aggies cruised to a 42-25 halftime lead. Tucker shot just 5-of-lO from the floor, but was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. Branch hit 8-of-12 shots and also added six assists and three steals in her 34 minutes of play. The Lady Aggies also received a huge all-around effort from ju nior transfer Melissa Rollerson. The swingman scored 10 points and grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds in the win. A&M built a 32-point lead at one juncture, 74-42, before suffer ing a rash of turnovers in the middle of the second halL The Lady Aggies adjusted to a slower pace in the waning moments of the second half and controlled the halfcourt game. The Lady Owls received a game-high 14 points from guard Gina Cafagna and a team-leading 10 rebounds from forward Tam my McCallum, who played her fi- "Texas A&M took advantage of us. We self-destructed and I don't have a reason." — Christy McKinney Rice Head Women's Basketball Coach nal collegiate game. Rice’s Head Coach Christy McKinney, whose team dropped to 13-14 for the year, had no clue as to why her team fell apart in the postseason. “I’m really sorry and disap pointed for our players, our coaches, our fans and our pro gram,” McKinney said. “We’re a much better team than we showed today. Texas A&M took advantage of us. We self-destructed and I don’t have a reason for our poor per- formance.” Lady Aggies 91, Lady Owls 63 Rice ...25 38 -63 A&M .. .42 39 - 91 Rice fg-fga ft-fta reb ast Stl blk *P Cafagna 5-10 1-3 9 1 2 0 14 Lalonde 1-7 1-2 2 2 0 0 4 Mundschau 1-6 0-1 2 4 2 0 2 McCallum 1-7 5-8 10 0 1 0 7 Hamilton 3-9 2-2 3 0 1 0 8 Wilson 2-4 04) 4 6 1 0 4 Garcia 4-11 1-2 1 1 1 0 10 Elsey 1-8 2-2 3 0 0 1 4 Koy 1-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 3 Totals 22-71 14-24 43 14 9 1 63 A&M fg-fga ft-fta reb ast stl blk »P Rollerson, M. 2-4 6-10 13 2 1 0 10 Tucker, L. 5-10 9-9 3 5 2 0 20 Branch, L. 8-12 2-2 6 6 3 0 19 Cemy, K. 4-7 1-1 2 0 0 0 9 Sevin, M. 2-7 0-0 6 2 0 3 4 Patterson, K. 1-3 1-2 1 1 0 0 3 Thomas, B. 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 Lake, C. 1-2 2-2 1 2 0 1 4 Spinks, A. 5-7 4-4 2 0 2 0 3 Totals 30-56 28-34 43 20 9 5 91 FG percentage: A&M -.536 Rice - .310 3PTpercentage: A&M -.500 Rice - 294 Attendance: N/A Tough-luck Ags confident against powerhouse Tech □ In their last meeting, A&M was narrowly defeated by Tech, 66-63. By Philip Leone The Baitalion The Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team will meet the No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders today at 6 p.m. in the first round of the final Dr Pepper South west Conference Classic at Reunion Arena in Dallas. The clubs head into the opening round having concluded two remark ably different regular seasons. The Ag gies limp in with a black-and-blue 3-11 SWC record while the Red Raiders are fresh off their first outright regular- season SWC championship since 1985. The eighth-seeded Aggies, 11-15 overall, come into the tournament car rying a six-game losing streak, includ ing last Saturday’s 75-72 loss to South ern Methodist in the regular-season fi nale. The defeat by the Mustangs was the ninth of A&M’s last 10 games de cided in the final minute, and the eighth of the l^ist nine games decided by five points or less. Considering such a rough spell down the stretch, one might think the Aggies’ overall team outlook would be less than optimistic with the tourna ment’s No. 1 seed looming ahead. Think again. “I, think the team has an extremely positive attitude,” Texas A&M Head Coach Tony Barone said. “Taking into account how many close games and how tough mentally the losses have been, I think they have maintained a tremendous element of class and pride about themselves in terms of their ap proach to the game.” Barone’s club will have their work cut out for them. Texas Tech, 23-1 over all, coasts into Dallas riding an 18-game winning streak. The only blemish on the Tech record was a 93-77 loss to Eastern Michigan way back on Dec. 27. The Red Raiders are led by the conference’s premier player, senior forward Jason Sasser, who is averag ing 19.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The All-American candidate burned the Aggies for 27 points in the first match-up between the two teams in Lubbock and followed with a 20- point effort in the next meeting in College Station. Sasser has scored in double-digits in all but two of Tech’s games this season. The Aggie defense will also be forced to contend with the three-point capabilities of sophomore guard Cory Carr. Carr is connecting on nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc and is av eraging 16 points per game. Barone is certainly aware of the offen sive threats posed by Sasser and Carr and hopes to keep the duo under wraps. “You have to think in terms of con tain,” Barone said. “With a kid like Sasser, you have to limit his offensive rebounds and easy put-backs. With Cory Carr, you’ve got to eliminate the open looks he gets to shoot three-point er. You let him shoot threes, and you’re going to have a big problem — those two guys are great players.” Though Sasser and Carr have grabbed most of the headlines, Barone also believes Darvin Ham presents a challenge for the Aggies. The senior power forward averages only 8.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, but Barone said the intangibles Ham brings to floor more than make up for unimpressive statistics, “Everybody looks at Ham from the standpoint on whether he puts up big See Tech, Page 9 Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Texas A&M junior guard Tracey Anderson will hope for more success tonight against Texas Tech. Rangers’ Gonzalez hungry for return to normalcy □ The slugging outfielder had an injury-filled 1995 season. PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) — It’s beginning to feel like old times for Juan Gonzalez — all the way back three and four years when he led the American League in home runs. “My mind is ready for this year,” the Texas Rangers slugger said. “I feel like 1992 and 1993. I’m in great shape and ready to play every day and put up good numbers.” Gonzalez hit 43 homers in 1992 and 46 the following year, and after struggling through an in- jury-marred season in 1995, he is poised for a big comeback. He even showed up at Rangers spring training early for the first time. “I feel different, I come early and go home late,” Gonzalez said. “I’m working on my body, especially the back. I’m in great condition, and I’ll be ready ... every day this year.” Gonzalez It’s a relief for Gonzalez to feel good again. He was relegated to being the Rangers’ designated hitter for 85 of the 90 games he played in last season because of back and neck injuries. “Last year was a bad time for me, because I played only five games in the field and the rest I was the DH,” he said. “It was hard, but last year is history. This is a new year and a new season.” Gonzalez had trouble adjusting to being designated hitter. “It was tough,” he said. “When the inning is over, you go inside and stretch; then you come back and hit; then you go back to the bench; and then do it all over again. It’s a hard time for me as a young player. “It was just a situation where the back was hurt, so I played DH, but this year is going to be different.” Gonzalez is moving from left to right field, where he’ll be able to put his strong arm to good use. He showed how happy he was to be back on Tuesday against the Yankees. His perfect throw to the plate held Paul O’Neill at third base, and moments later, Gonza lez powered his first homer of the spring over the left field fence. “I think that’s going to be a big help,” hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo said. “DHing is a guy who has to be a veteran and been around and knows how to do that job. Dead Solid Horrible: Finding golf isn’t as easy as it used to be T here are some skills, like rid ing a bike and tying your shoes, that once you learn you never forget. Unfortunately the game of golf is not one of those skills, as I found out not long ago. I started playing golf when I was in high school and was even a member of the “renowned” Mid lothian High School golf team, renowned only because we made it to the regional tournament every year. We’ll overlook the fact that the only reason we were there was because we were the only varsity girls’ team in our district. Anyway, I hadn’t picked up a club since then until about a month ago when, after a lot of pleading, I finally convinced a couple of friends (weil call them Judd and Jay to protect their identities) to let me play with them. We decided to go on a weekday morning dur ing the Holiday break when there wouldn’t be a lot of other golfers on the course for me to hold up. I was excited about playing; I really missed the game and I had envisioned my return to golf to be about as glorious as Michael Jordan’s re turn to basketball. I envisioned myself hitting the ball well, and even shooting below 100, a task that I have yet to accomplish. I was confident that though I hadn’t played in four years, I would pick up where I left off. Not since Happy Gilmore has a more colorful golfer hit the scene. I would like to be able to say that it was the near freezing weather or the wet and muddy course conditions that contributed to my far from spectacular performance, but I’d be lying. I’m just a lousy golfer, and as much as I hate to admit my faults, I always have been a lousy golfer; but I’m obviously an entertaining one by the way my friends laughed at me the whole time. It was during these 18 holes of golf that I discovered that golf was not — for me anyway — the relax ing leisure sport that it appears to be. Maybe it’s my competitive na ture, or maybe it’s that I just hate to look stupid. Six hours, 25 balls, and 174 strokes later, we had finished the course. I was glad to be done. I had suffered enough embarrassment for one day. My score was not the sub-100 I had envisioned; in truth it was actually closer to 200. The day, however, was not all bad. I learned a lot about my friends. First of all, they are very patient people. They ducked flying clubs, hunted balls, and even fell knee-deep in a pond trying to recover my ball. And secondly. I’ve got really good friends to put up with the abuse, mostly verbal, that I dealt out that day. I must admit, as they found out, I don’t take constructive criticism well. I haven’t played golf since then, not because I don’t want to, but because I’m having a hard time finding someone to go with me. For some reason Judd and Jay always have “other plans.” I am confident that my next outing will be bet ter, but then again that’s what I thought last time. In the meantime, if you’re driving down George Bush past the golf course and a ball cross es your path, stop and pick it up. I’m probably looking for it.
