The Battalion FRIDAY April 19, 1996 sports GLANCE Nebraska's Berringer dies in plane crash RAYMOND, Neb. (AP) — Brook Berringer, the backup quarterback who helped Nebraska win the 1994 national title, was killed Thursday when the small plane he was pilot ing crashed in a farm field. Plane owner Harry Barr said the other person killed in the two-seat plane was Toby Lake, the brother of Berringer's girlfriend. Berringer, 22, who was expected to be drafted by the NFL this week end, held a pilot's license and often flew the two-seat plane, Barr said. Berringer had often said he wanted to be a commercial airline pilot. The small plane struggled to a height of 250 feet before crashing in a field near this east-central Nebras ka village minutes after takeoff from a grass airstrip. "We could tell it was going slow," said Jim Jeffers, who lives about a mile from the crash site 11 miles northwest of Lincoln. "After takeoff, when the wing dropped, I knew it was going to hit the ground." Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said the bodies were re moved from the crash site about 6:25 p.m. and were taken to a Lincoln hos pital for official identification. Morris pleads inno cence, court date set ROCKWALL (AP) — A July 15 trial date has been set for the Pitts burgh Steelers' Bam Morris, who pleaded innocent Thursday to two drug possession charges stemming from his arrest last month during a traffic stop. Morris, wearing a mustard-col ored suit, entered a written plea dur ing a brief hearing before state Dis trict Judge Bill Lofland. "I can't talk about it now," the 24-year-old running back told re porters. "There will be a time." Asked about the case's affect on his career, Morris replied, "It'll han dle itself." Morris is one of two players from this year's Super Bowl to be charged in a drug case. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin was in dicted April 1 on felony cocaine and misdemeanor marijuana posses sion charges. Morris, the leading rusher in Pittsburgh's Super Bowl loss to Dal las, is free on $50,000 bond follow ing his March 22 arrest. He was stopped outside the Rockwall city limits for swerving and not wearing a seat belt, officials said. Dallas drubs Nuggets in home finale, 132-98 DALLAS (AP) — Jim Jackson hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets 132-98 in their fi nal home game of the season. The Mavericks won in what also may have been their last game at home during owner Donald Carter's 1 6-year tenure. Carter, who brought the NBA to Dallas with his purchase of the fran chise in 1980, has been negotiating to sell the majority of the team. Talks reached a snag Thursday night and no sale will be announced until next week at the earliest. The Mavericks recorded their most lopsided win of the season. They defeated Boston by 21 points on Jan. 7. Jackson led Dallas with 25 points, followed by George Mc Cloud with 23 and Jason Kidd with 19. Jackson hit three straight 3- point shots as the Mavericks built a 37-point lead midway through the third period. SCORES ROUNDUP NL Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 2 Chicago 7, San Francisco 6 Philadelphia 9, Montreal 8 Florida 5, Atlanta 3 NBA Orlando 119, Atlanta 104 Milwaukee 111, Charlotte 103 Cleveland 92, New York 77 Chicago 110, Detroit 79 Dallas 132, Denver 98 Houston 115, L.A. Clippers 107 San Antonio 103, L.A. Lakers 100 Utah at Vancouver (n) NHL PLAYOFFS Tampa Bay 2, Philadelphia 1, OT Montreal 5, New York 3 Toronto 5, St. Louis 4 Vancouver at Colorado (n) AL Boston 10, Baltimore 7 Milwaukee 8, Kansas City 2 Toronto at California, (n) Detroit at Seattle, (n) Sports FRIDA April 19, King Of The Ml Shane King doesn t have the overpowering fastball, just a fiery desire to m By Lisa Nance The Battalion He may not throw the hard est or have the highest veloci ty of Texas A&M’s hurlers, but when it comes to pitching, sophomore southpaw Shane King is king of the hill. In his second season pitch ing for the Aggies, King has worked his way into the start ing rotation, compiling a 6-2 record on the mound with a 4.05 ERA. He tossed a complete game against Texas Christian last weekend and leads the team in that category with three. He is expected to get the starting nod for the Aggies tonight against Rice at Cameron Field in Houston. With 10 appearances and eight starts under his belt. King knows he has what it takes to get the job done for the Aggies. “I’m really confident,” King said. “I don’t get intimidated by anybody, and pressure real ly doesn’t affect me that much. “You can put me in any sit uation, and I’m going to do the best job I can do. I think the hitters and position players sense it; and that kind of car ries on, and we actually play a little better.” Senior catcher William Shi- flett — King’s usual battery counterpart — feels that confi dence as well. “He’s a very confident pitch er,” Shiflett said. “It’s hard to find a guy that doesn’t have a 90 mile per hour fastball to come in and think that batters can’t hit his stuff, but he has that attitude.” King said he works hard to compensate for his lack of an intimidating fastball. “Considering I don’t throw that hard, (a pitch) over the middle of the plate is going to get hit really hard,” King said. “Some of the other guys that throw pretty hard can make a mistake every now and then and get by with it, but I can’t. I just have to work harder than anyone else because I don’t throw as hard. “I think it will help me a lot if I intend to go on with this career in baseball into the pro fessional ranks, if I can, be cause I’m learning how to pitch now.” King’s first start for the Ag gies came his freshman year against the Texas Longhorns at the SWC First Pitch Tour nament. He responded with a complete-game nine-inning ef fort and struck out seven. He went on to compile a 1-1 record that season with his only loss coming to Rice, when he started and lasted four in nings. ■ As a pitcher King is in a starring role, and his perfor mance could make or break the team. This kind of pres sure would be unbearable for some, but not for King. “It really doesn’t affect you that much.” King said. “It’s not something I think about. It’s all of us out there, it’s not just me. We work hard enough in prac tice, and I know we’re going to play well; and even if I’m not throwing real well, I think that the hitters, they always pick it up, and it seems like we’re go ing to win anyway.” King came to A&M from Burleson High School where he posted a 9-2 record in 1994 with a 0.65 ERA and 115 strikeouts. He was named the district’s MVP and was also named All-Area. He played his first two years at Alvarado High School, where as a sophomore, he struck out 146 batters and compiled a 11-2 record with a 1.56 ERA. Dave House, TmBflMI Texas A&M's Shane King deals to the plate against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs last weekend at01s? Field. King has compiled a 6-2 record so far in the 1996 season. ||j 4 T hey w down, red ai the legislat the whole s in Austin v\ porate the I ture into th simply boai along came Governo story — I h doesn’t kne was import General most respoi sity is toda But Ross ished and F forced to at dial militar for a man n I know; £ words “Cus! maze” are s only time I into Cushin Coke in tha dead end — every hall i] Library was Col. Edw Cushing’s s needs to be The seal University s across the b ing was alre was Class o there were i ditions bach In the 18 had indeedi the floor of 1 ture, but it i nothing by t came back i: A&M, yoi the tune of $1,000,000 t That may consider the Normally debt, the leg ing or finds it. I guess tl “General Us It ts Baseball team hoping to make a meal out of Rice By Philip Leone The Battalion Fresh off its 9-2 drubbing of Sam Houston State on Tuesday, the red-hot Texas A&M Base ball Team travels to Houston to day looking to extend its win ning streak in a crucial South west Conference series with Rice University. Since dropping a doublehead er to Dallas Baptist on April 6, the Aggies have rattled off six straight victories, including last weekend’s sweep of Texas Christian. At 31-14 overall, A&M is tied for third place with the Horned Frogs in SWC play with an 8-7 record. After a slow start in confer ence play, the Aggies look to re peat last year’s late season surge that pushed them to an eventual second-place tie with the University of Texas. Rice, 29-15 overall, heads into this weekend’s action in sixth place in the conference with a mark of 4-10; however, in their last SWC series, the Owls took two of three games from then-undefeated Texas Tech. The Owls also won their first meeting with A&M this season in the SWC First Pitch Tourna ment by a score of 6-2. Though pleased with his club’s play of late, A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said the Aggpes will have their work cut out for them facing Rice on their home turf. “You’re never totally confi dent going up against Rice be cause they have a good ball club, and we’ll have our hands full,” Johnson said. “We’re play ing better right now than we were earlier, so I like that. I just don’t like going on the road a whole lot.” Sophomore left-hander Shane King will take his 6-2 record and 4.05 ERA to the mound for the Aggies in the first game of the series on Fri day. Rice counters with its ace right-hander Shawn Onley, who sports a 6-1 mark and 3.18 ERA. A&M senior catcher William Shiflett said Friday’s match-up be tween King and Onley may deter mine how the rest of the se ries turns out for the Aggies. “Right now we’re really confident go ing to Rice, so if we can win Friday’s night game, I think Saturday will fall into place for us,” Shiflett said. Rice is led on offense by sophomore outfielder Lance Berkman, who is in second place in the SWC in home runs (15) and RBIs (66). The hot man at the plate for the Aggies is Jason Stephens. In his last three games, the ju nior designated hitter/third baseman hit a blistering .667 to improve his season batting av erage to .381. Stephens leads the Aggies this season with 63 RBIs and his seven home runs ties him with Shiflett for the second-most on the team. Aggie bats as a whole have enjoyed a recent increase in production. With a .339 team batting average, A&M is tied for 10th in the nation with Texas Tech. Shiflett believes this im proved offensive output, com bined with the momentum of a six-game winning string, should propel the Aggies past Rice this weekend. “We’re on a roll right now and have hit the ball around pretty well lately,” Shiflett said. “We’re going to ask our pitchers to try to just keep us close and hope we outscore them in the end.” Dave House, The Battalion Texas A&M Matt Garrick comes up with the ball in front of the plate during last weekend's action against TCU at Olsen Field. Shiflett Lady Aggies host final SWC champs By Nicole Smith The Battalion Looking to take the spot light this weekend, the Texas A&M Women’s Golf Team is hoping to putt and drive its way to the finals of the South west Conference Champi onships this weekend at Peb ble Creek Country Club. Starting today and running through Sunday, the Lady Ag gies will host five teams, in cluding three in the Top 25: Texas, Texas Tech and Texas Christian University. Even though the Lady Long horns are ranked in the na tion’s top 10, Aggie coaches and players feel they can come out victorious with three solid days of competition. “If all five of our girls give 100 percent in every round and stay focused, then we should have no problem tak ing the championship,” A&M Head Coach Jeanne Suther land said. “We have been playing extremely well the last few weeks, so hopefully that will carry over into the tournament.” The Lady Aggies beat every SWC team during the regular season at least once, including a split with the Lady Longhorns. hat< “Texas is going to be hart to beat because they reemitei the number one girl in the it tion, Kelly Kuehne,” Isabelle Rosberg said." definitely have more experi ence, which will help the® f overall, but we have the hoi® course advantage.” If the Lady Aggies are if be victorious this weekend the team needs a solid effot from all five players thront each round. “It would be nice if wesf could have a great round attif same time,” sophomore Jaiffif Hullett said. “We havealotfi experience though, so hopeful all five of us will come thW when it counts.” A team victory this weeken* would not only win the Soul west Conference champions!! for A&M, but the Lady Ap would also enter the region^ tournament being among tl top five seeds. With that in mind, the La! Aggies are determined to pro* to themselves and to their far-’ that they deserve a bid to t! National Championship in Off aha, Neb. In addition, they urge mo* people to come out and suppf' them as they complete th*'' last season as a South'^ 1 Conference team. A&M’s Bates traded to Atlanta EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Raiders picked up another second round draft pick today in a trade with the At lanta Falcons. The Raiders sent safety Patrick Bates to Atlanta in a deal contingent on Bates passing a physical today. A first-round pick by the Raiders in 1993, the 6-foot-3, 215- pound Bates sat out the 1995 sea son because of a dispute over play ing time. The Raiders got a three-day head start on the NFL draft Wednesday when they made a cou ple of deals to fill a need on the of fensive line. Oakland acquired , Harlow from the New England| triots for a second-round draft r 5 the Raiders had gotten hours $ er from San Francisco. Harlow, who played right and left tackle during five in New England, answers a t*; at one of three positions : . Raiders identified as the foc^ their draft. The others being tight f ' and safety. “I’ve long been impressed'’ Pat Harlow’s playing ability, s Joe Bugel, assistant coat charge of offense. “He is e