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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1996)
The Battalion > March 19,19% /lilne. The Battahon t HKS Archi- unior Presi- r an addition all Alex at 846- TUESDAY March 19, 1996 sports GLANCE A&M golfer Fenimore 13th in latest poll According to the latest Rolex/Nickalus Men's Indivual Rankings, Texas A&M golfer Dru Fenimore is the 13th-best golfer in the nation. The Rolex/Nickalus Individual Rankings, administered by the CGF, are released 12 times throughout the college golf season. The College Golf Foundation also administers the Rolex Collegiate Tour, a 150-event tour that in cludes 75 men's and 75 women's collegiate golf tournaments. Texas Tech 4th, A&M 13th in baseball poll DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Top 25 college baseball teams as deter mined by the staff of Collegiate Newspaper Magazine with records through March 17: 1. Cal. State-Fullerton Record 22-2 2.LSU 18-2 3. SouthernCalifornia 19-4 4. Texas Tech 26-3 5. Wichita State 8-1 6. Tennessee 12-5 7. Arkansas 22-3 8. CSNorthridge 24-6 9. Florida State 19-4 10. Clemson 17-4 11. Florida 18-7 12. Miami 17-4 13. Texas A&M 21-7 14. South Florida 20-4 15. UCLA 15-9 16. North Carlina St. 20-4 17. Rice 22-5 18. Nevada 18-4 19. Oklahoma State 17-5 20. Georgia Tech 13-7 e Study: Join us irship and Bible a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Ihapel. For more 11 Donna at 847- ports Car Club: general meetingj in 302 Rudder | B an Autocross ition on Friday’s ner afterwards.! are welcome. For obert Dupont at irts Car Club: The of the semester m 8:00 a.m. until ladder Fountain, cars on display mation on club tore details call at 260-9939. There will be a )0 p.m until 1:00 >w Canyon. Door e awarded and Icome. Two A&M swimmers make Junior Nationals Texas A&M freshman Tammy Lee and Chris Ehlers will be among some of the nation's best young swimmers competing at the up coming U.S. Junior Nationals, 'scheduled for March 19-23. \ lee will participate in the East Nationals while Ehlers will swim in Ite IVest Nationals. Both swim mers will be competing in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke. A native of Picayune, Miss., Lee ended her debut season with the leam's fastest times in both back- slroke events. With just one collegiate season under her belt, she ranks among Ihe A&M all-time top three in both categories. She finished second in the 200 with a time of 2:03.25 and third in the 100 with a time of 57.57 seconds. Ehlers, who hails from Round Rock, holds the season's second- fastest time in the 100-back be hind, just 3.15 seconds behind school recordholder Robb Pan- tano. He also is listed fourth in the 200-back with a time of 1:54:1 5. The U.S. Junior Nationals are held twice a year in late summer and early spring. All participants must be 8 years of age or younger. i Battalion service irofit student and s and activities, be submitted no e days in advance run date. Apple es and notices are will not be run in If you have anj ise call the news- HI 3. Spring football begins today at Kyle Field The Texas A&M Football Team will begin spring drills today. The squad will work out at the soccer field as construction continues on both the artificial turf practice and the grass at Kyle Field. Head Coach R.C. Slocum will have an opportunity to see a lot of young players, but several players will be held out of drills or slowed somewhat due to injuries. The thinnest area is the defen sive secondary. Two cornerbacks, Donovan Greer and Andre Williams, will miss the spring as they recover from knee srugery. Offensive lineman Brandon Houston will also miss the spring recovering from his knee operation in the offseason and it appears wide receiver Donte Hawkins will be slowed as he recovers from surgerv to his broken tibia. The Aggies are coming off a 9-3 season in which they were ranked as high as third in the Associated Press poll, and finished the year 15th. The Aggies ended the year with a 22-20 win over the Michigan Wolverines in the AlamoBowl after finishing second in the Southwest Conference with a 6-2 record. The team is being forced to reload at several key positions due to the graduations of Corey Pullig, Ray ' Mickens and Reggie Brown, and the eady departure to the NFL by tailback leeland McElroy. SCORES ROUNDUP NBA Denver 122, Toronto 1 14 Chicago 98, Philadelphia 94 Utah 107, Milwaukee 90 San Antonio 104, Golden State 98 L.A. Clippers at Seattle (n) I Sports Lady Aggie netters continue Big 12 run A&M defeated Oklahoma State 6-3 on the road Staff and Wire Reports The red-hot Texas A&M Wom en’s Tennis Team stayed on a roll Monday with a 6-3 victory over Oklahoma State at the wind swept Dubois Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla. Off to the fastest start in school history, the Lady Aggies improved to 10-3 overall with their third consecutive victory, including their second straight against a fu ture Big 12 foe. On Saturday, A&M upset No. 22 Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. Despite the high winds, which were gusting well over 50 miles per hour, the Lady Aggies won four of six singles matches and then shut the door on the Cowgirls by winning two of three doubles confrontations. Tallying singles wins for A&M were Nancy Dingwall, Wilson Pate, Lonna Logan and Monica San Miguel. In doubles, Dingwall and Pate won at No. 1, while Julie Beahm and Vanessa Rooks won their sixth straight at No. 3. “The conditions were miserable for playing tennis,” Lady Aggie Head Tennis Coach Bobby Klei- necke said. “But we will take the victory and move on. I thought we did a tremendous job of battling the elemnts and staying focused on the job at hand. “On a day like this, you can’t be concerned with how you play. You just have to go out and do whatever it takes to win.” The road through the Big 12 gets tougher today when the Lady Ag gies take on No. 42 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. The Sooners have won the last two matches with A&M, including a 9-0 win in College Station last year. The tarns will face off at 1 p.m. “There’s no time to sit back and enjoy this victory because Okla homa is up next,” Kleinecke said. “They’ve beaten us pretty easily the last two years, so we know we’ll have our work cut our for us. “Oklahoma is solid throughout the lineup, and they reall give us a lot of trouble.” No. 32 Texas A&M 6 Oklahoma State 3 Singles 1. Dingwall defeats Hautova 2. Pate defeats Hazzard 3. Logan defeates Stout 4. Hadad defeats Rebolledo 5. Wainwright defeats Beahm 6.San Miguel defets Wirthova Doubles 1. Dingwall/Pate defeat Hazzard/Wain wright 2. Hada/Wirthova defeat Logan/Strakosova 3. Beahm/Rooks defeat Hauto- va/Stout Ki&u&u Mi i : "1 thought we did a tremendous job of bat tling the elements and staing focused on the job at hand." — BOBBY KLEINECKE Texas A&M Head Women's Tennis Coach Texas A&M tennis player Monica San Miguel goes sky ward to return a volley during last weekend's action. Hard-hitting Stephens driven by competition Cory Willis, The Baitalion Texas A&M junior first baseman Jason Stephens takes aim at the plate dur ing the Aggie Classic last weekend at Olsen Field. By Kristina Buffin The Battalion It is competition which drives most athletes to success. This is especially true for Texas A&M junior first baseman Jason Stephens. “Like any athlete, competition is what dri ves you,” Stephens said. “In baseball, you com pete with yourself along with competing against other teams. I am really competitive at anything and I don’t let anyone be better. I don’t want to ever give up and I want to have the upper hand.” So far this season, Stephens has definitely had the upper hand. Through 28 games, Stephens leads the team with a .400 batting average and 35 runs batted in. Stephens at tributes his success to his ability to remain consistent. “I’ve wanted to remain consistent in my hit ting,” Stephen said. “I’ve been lucky that I have not hit any major slumps, and consisten cy comes with hard work. It also helps that I have been doing the same things that have come with success in the past.” Last season Stephens mainly played third base, but he played three games at first and hit seven home runs in those three games. A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said Stephens’ move to first base this season was precipitated by the fact that Stephens was bet ter-suited to play first base. “Jason is a better first baseman, and we have J.J. Matzke as an outstanding third baseman,” Johnson said. “He catches ground balls well, he has a good arm, he relays well and has great footwork.” Stephens said he is more comfortable at first base and he feels like he is at home there. A&M was the first recruiting visit that Stephens made in 1993. He was so impressed with the University that he canceled all of his other recruiting trips and signed a letter-of-in- tent with A&M. “I met with the coaches and I was im pressed,” Stephens said. “Then I saw the Aggie spirit and the student body, and I knew that I wanted to be here.” Stephens came to A&M from Paris High School, where he played both first and third. He hit .386 with six homeruns in 1992 and was named to the All-State team as a first baseman as a freshman. “I played some third base in high school, but most outs are made at first base,” Stephens said. “It keeps me on my toes be cause I am right handed and I have to have better footwork. Because I am on the comer, I have to be quick as well.” Like most players, the A&M staff did not know how Stephens would pan out. However, Johnson said Stephens has a good head on his shoulders and has done a great job. “You neveHknow if they will be a major con tributor,” Johnson said. “It is hard to project if a player is going to be a blue-chipper. But Ja son works hard and does not have heavy emo tions in the game. He does not panic, does not have highs and lows like other guys and he handles situations well.” Stephens knew that he would not have a starting role when he first arrived at A&M, but said his consistency at the plate is what gave him a chance at a starting position. “I played a little in my second year, and that year I learned a lot,” Stephens said. “I tried to break into the lineup in the middle of the last year. As a position player, if you hit the ball you will be put in the lineup. I batted my way into the lineup, and it will be my bat that keeps me in the lineup.” Another role that Stephens has played on the team is the go-to-guy. In close games, the Aggies can rely on him for the crucial hit. Last year, Stephens started at third base for the first time against the University of Texas-San Antonio and was 4-of-6 with five RBIs. After that game A&M went 27-9 and won 15 straight at one time. “He has enormous consistency and is a clutch hitter,” Johnson said. “He has been in the program a while and has great maturity. He is not overanxious and does not have major slumps or bad ball games.” Stephens still has one more year of eligibili ty left, but is looking forward to having a chance to play professionally. “Most players hope to have a chance,” Stephens said. “But I am also not far from fin ishing school, so it would not bother me to have to come back to school and finish.” Johnson is confident that no matter what Stephens does, he will be nothing but successful. “He may get the chance to play profession al,” Johnson said. “But he will be a successful person and probably be one of the leaders in the community. He would want to enhance the growth of the community.” Back to the scene of the crime: A return to the tourney T he first time I at tended the Southwest Con ference postsea son basketball tournament, I was in the sev enth grade. I got to be one of those towel boys who wipes the sweat off the court because my best friend’s dad knew some big shot whose wife played bridge with the wife of the guy who was in charge of that kind of thing. But that’s not important. The compelling part of this flashback is that I got steam- rolled under the basket by a unidentified Texas Longhorn stampeding after a loose ball dur ing the men’s semifinals. My eyes wandered from the action for just a few sec onds to ogle a Longhorn cheerleader for the 76th (or so) time and BOOM, the next thing I knew, I was stagger ing to the first-aid station. That embarrassing moment and the subsequent forehead con tusion have since served as a fer tile basis for self-loathing — not to mention years of ridicule from friends, loved ones and the occa sional stranger off the street. Needless to say, the news of my assignment to cover this season’s SWC Classic for The Battalion was met with some anxiety. Returning to the scene of past humiliation wasn’t ex actly appealing. But duty called and an Eng lish test could be avoided, so I loaded up the truck and headed for Dallas a full two days before Spring Break officially began. It was too late for redemption, but I viewed the assignment as an opportunity to enjoy a more pos itive tournament experience. Or so I thought. I was not blessed with an auspicious beginning. I’d been traveling north on a windswept 1-45 for no more than 10 min utes when a gust of 50 mph wind smashed into my pick-up. I looked in my rearview mir ror just in time to see the plas tic Duraliner remove itself from the bed of my truck and take flight. I pulled onto the median, chased down the stray Duraliner hurtling down the middle of the interstate, and spent half an hour tying it back down into place with string off my seat cover. Flustered, I held back my tears with the knowledge that only MacGyver could have han dled the situation any better. But I’m pretty sure MacGyver would have somehow avoided the speeding ticket I received from a state trooper just outside of Dallas County. The fun didn’t stop there. When I finally arrived at Re union Arena (after getting lost in the city where I spent the first 18 years of my life), I found my seat in press row right next to a sportswriter from the Texas Tech student newspaper — a particu larly obnoxious guy with whom I have somewhat of a history. The details aren’t important, but the incident in question took place during football season in the Jones Stadium press box af ter the Aggies lost to Tech, and it involved a few obscenities and a hand gesture or two. Evil glances were exchanged; See Leone, Page 8
