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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1997)
Pag- February 21 The Battalion 13 T C if ^ 3 Page 5 Friday • February 21, 1997 , Utah used coffee, s« jwn urine to la -engine planes! c fluid leaked# n Strahan andii ids were hour lev., for a golf i Feb. 6 whi it of Ogden, ti me hadlostitsl J. He turnedk airport, trucks and am uted as Strati: wer his frontki :o retract thet: the airport,tni iel. Eventuallv 1 had to belly. icin the control len to find die ■servoiranddm y could find. j 'coffee, whatever,"' armon recale aid he putcc: it failed to n passed arour. ough, the lane to place, plane landed I out and kis Vqgies continue homestand against Cougars ill feel likethei ider the new C: Tim Moog, The Battalion ior pitcher Scott Barrett hurls one against Arizona. By Chris Ferrell The Battalion The Texas A&M Baseball Team (8-4) will entertain the Washington State Cougars (1 -7) at Olsen Field as the teams compete in a weekend series. A&M will look to build on an emo tional come-from-behind victory against Nevada-Reno in which the Ag gies, trailing by one run going into the ninth inning, rallied and won the game on a grand slam by senior Johnny Hunter. Washington State is beginning a Texas road trip which will also stop in Fort Worth for a one-game set against Texas Christ ian. It will try to get back on the winning track after losing its last game to the Uni versity of Pacific. Prior to splitting with Pacific, the Cougars had lost six straight. The Aggies see this weekend as a chance to improve. “We’re working on our game,” Head Coach Mark Johnson said. “It doesn’t matter who our opponent is. By Sun day, we want to be three days better.” The players are hoping this weekend will be a breakout series. “We haven’t really come out and “We haven’t really come out and played an all around great game yet this year.” Mark Johnson A&M head coach played an all around great game yet this year,” Hunter said. “We’re just ready for it to happen. It could be tomorrow, and hopefully, it will be.” Knocking in base runners will be a major focus for the team. “Right now our average is not very good with runners in scoring position,” Johnson said. The Aggies will look to get their bats healthy against a Cougar pitching staff which has compiled an 11.72 ERA and has op ponents batting .339 against them. Johnson said Wash ington State’s pitchers are better than they have shown so far. “Some guys don’t hook up well early in the season,” Johnson said. “A lot of things can happen to make guys get off to a slow start. They’ll be better this outing, much as I anticipate our pitchers to be better this outing.” WSU will send Burdette Greeny (0- 2) and his team-high 10 strikeouts to the mound for today’s game. The Aggies will counter with freshman Casey Possum. Possum has struck out a team-high 20 batters and has averaged six innings per outing in his three starts this season. Despite posting a 1.00 ERA, he is Tim Moog, The Battalion Junior second baseman Brian Benefield tags Arizona's Diego Rico out during the second game at Olsen Field. winless at 0-1. Possum and the rest of the Aggie staff will have their hands full with a young group of WSU batters. Cougar freshman left fielder Brad Philley is the team’s leading batter with a .500 average. Philley is one of six underclassmen in the Cougars’ starting lineup. The Aggie batters have shown signs of life in the past few games after get ting off to a slow start. Three batters, junior catcher Scott Sandusky (.485) and outfielders William Gray (.455) and Jason Tyner (.453) are batting over .400. A&M as a team is batting .340. A&M was also able to capitalize on clutch hitting situations down the stretch in the win over Nevada. ;eived the it oftball hosts Aggie Mini its to the com revisions,” he for. ByNicki Smith The Battalion With a week of playing time un it its belt, the Texas A&M Softball m (2-4) is prepared to settle in enjoy some time at home as it jsts the first of two Aggie Invita tional Tournaments, making its home debut this weekend at the Lady Aggie Softball Complex. Aside from the Lady Aggies, Col- kio State University, Creighton iversity and Sam Houston State iversity will compete in a double nd-robin tournament begin- g today at 12. Head Coach Jo Evans said Col- orkdo State will be the Lady Aggies’ :o ighest competition. “Colorado is probably the best we will be up against,” Evans “They have a really great who has a nice drop and Rogge Heflin, The Battalion mie Johnson practices her field- skills at the Softball Complex. change-up and a really talented shortstop. Not only will we have to play well to beat them, we will have to play our best to beat them.” So far, A&M has winning records against all three teams in the tour nament. It has a 5-0 series record against the Lady Rams, a 7-6 all- time record against Creighton and 51-13 overall record against Sam Houston, the second-most com mon opponent in the history of the A&M program. Freshman second baseman Angie Long said the Lady Aggies are excited to finally play at home. “We are really looking forward to having some Aggies root us on,” Long said. “So far, at all of our games we haven’t had a lot of fans because we have been out of town. All of the teams will be tough competitors, but, with the home field and home crowd, we have nothing to lose.” Although A&M will not take the field until 4 p.m., when they face in state rival Sam Houston State, Col orado State and Creighton will kick off the tournament at noon. Four games will be played both on Friday and Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and ending at 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, the tournament will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will con clude with A&M playing Sam Houston at 3:00 p.m. Evans said even though the team Invitational was not able to play its double- header against the University of Texas-San Antonio because of rain, the Aggies still have a good chance of winning all of their games. “We know we have the home ad vantage, which is a plus for us,” Evans said. “None of the other teams has been able to get outdoors because of the weather. With that, we feel we have a good chance to get our team chemistry going and hope to improve on some things we have been having trouble with the past week.” The Lady Aggie pitchers have al lowed only five earned runs in six games, but are coming off a three game losing streak. Colorado State (2-0) has a two- game winning streak after blast ing the University of Colorado 13- 0 in five innings, Sam Houston (4-4) is riding on a four-game los ing streak, and Creighton will be making its season debut with sev en returning starters. Senior pitcher Lori Gioco said this tournament will help the Aggies improve on their concentration. “We are going to have our par ents and regular fans there sup porting us,” Gioco said. “We will want to play well in front of them and we know our field very well. This should allow us to become more cohesive and get more games in.” Aggies face Baylor in final home game at G. Rollie By Matt Mitchell The Battalion It was supposed to be the Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team’s final game in G. Rollie White Coliseum. But thanks to some unfortunate de lays in the con struction of Reed Arena, it will mere ly be the final home game of a trying and often disappointing sea son for the Aggies when they take on the Baylor Bears Saturday at 7 p.m. The meeting will be the second of the season between the two teams. Baylor won the first in im probable fashion, 69-66, as the Aggies set a season-high for turnovers with 28. The Bears (17-9, 5-8) are coming off an impressive 71-60 win over Nebraska Wednesday night and need a win over the Aggies to keep their NCAA Tournament aspira tions alive. The Aggies (8-15, 2-11) are looking to rebound from a 72-55 loss to Oklahoma State Wednesday and break a five-game losing streak. “I think the kids have really han dled the tough losses in a very posi tive way,” A&M Head Coach Tony Barone said. “We’re trying to bring out of these games things that we did well, and at the same time identify things that have caused us some problems. We’re not trying to write off or rationalize whether we win or lose, but we have to learn from each game.” The growing pains tire Aggies have experi enced this year are nothing new to several members of the team, notably freshman guard Jerald Brown, who toiled on mediocre teams at Al- dine High School be fore meeting with marked success. “My freshman year in high school, we didn’t have the most successful season,” Brown said. “It was a building process that took time. We had a young team in high school and we had to leam how to get over the hump, and that’s what we have to do here as a team, try to fight through that wall.” But as difficult as such situations may be for Brown and his team mates, he said better times are ahead. “It’s frustrating to lose, don’t get “I think the kids have really han dled the tough losses in a very positive way.” Tony Barone A&M head coach Stew Milne, The Battalion Sophomore forward Calvin Davis battles Tech forward Gionet Cooper for the rebound at G. Rollie. me wrong,” Brown said. “I hate to see the guys go through the season like this, but you have to keep in mind that we’re young and we’re going to get to that point where we’re going to beat teams. Instead of losing by two, we’ll win by two, if not more.” A look back at one of the Lady Aggie's greatest Barber^ A fter suffering a treacherous L\ 29-point loss to Texas Tech L \.University Feb. 12, the Texas l&M Women’s Basketball Team (9- 4 overall, 3-10) closed out the veek by edging Oklahoma State Jniversity (94-84) in a thrilling Overtime victory Saturday night. The Lady Aggies will finish the oad portion of the season against the University of Baylor tomorrow tight before coming home for their Inal two games. Ya Know She’s Butter Cause She Was on A Roll Senior forward Melissa Roller- son was named Big 12 Conference Player of the Week for her explosive play over the last week. Rollerson carried the Lady Aggies to victory against Oklahoma State, scoring a career-high 30 points. The 6-foot-1 senior from Paris played 39 minutes, grabbing seven boards and swatting an A&M single-game record five blocks. Rollerson was 12 of 21 from the field and six of nine from the free-throw line. Head Coach Candi Harvey said Rollerson provided a much-need ed support over the past week. “This team has been searching for that kind of performance all year long,” Harvey said. “She was the total player. We have to hope she’s going to sustain this. Her ca reer is coming to an end and I want her to feel she has contributed.” Sophomore guard Stacy Sykora said Rollerson was unstoppable. “She was amazing,” Sykora said. “The ball would go in no matter what she did. She couldn’t miss.” Lana Tucker: A Look Back Senior guard Lana Tucker’s bas ketball career ended a little sooner than she had hoped. Early in the second half of the Lady Aggie’s game against Colorado Feb. 8, the co-captain tore the anterior cruci ate ligament in her right knee. While Tucker will try to rehab her knee without surgery, the severity of the injury will force her to miss the remainder of the season. The catalyst of the young team, Tucker led the squad in scoring (13.8), steals (37), free-throw shooting percentage (81.4), and minutes played (30.0). In a press release, Harvey said she appreciates all the sacrifices Tucker made for the team. “The biggest compliment I can give a player is that she has my ulti mate and total respect,” Harvey said. “In 17 years of coaching, I have nev er had a player respond and work as hard as Lana. She has always gone above and beyond her best. “I hate losing this game (Col orado), but in the big picture, I am sad that I will never coach this kid again.” Tucker, the only Lady Aggie play er to start all 21 games this season, played in 113 games in her A&M ca reer, starting the last 88 consecutive contests. The ironwoman guard missed only one game in her career because of injury. Looking beyond the injury, Tucker said she wants to do what ever she can to help the team. “It’s not how I pictured it to end,” Tucker said. “But I want to look at the positives and how I can help my team without being out on the court. It’s still about being a leader, just in other ways.” Throughout her four-year ca reer, Tucker posted impressive numbers, solidifying her place in A&M history. Tucker, who ranks as the sev enth all-time points producer at A&M (1,045), is only the 12th Lady Aggie ever to exceed 1,000 points. She ranks as the eighth-best three- point shooter (32.9 percent) in school history. From the charity stripe, Tucker’s 72.4 shooting percentage ties her for seventh all-time in the Aggie record books. She also has posted 154 career steals, ranking seventh all-time, and has dished out 236 as sists good for 10th. Tucker said she considers herself fortunate to have played for so long. “It’s disappointing that I didn’t get to finish it out,” Tucker said. “But then again, it could have happened five games into the sea son. I feel really fortunate to have played this many games with my sister (Natalie) and this team. “I’ve enjoyed playing with this team probably more than any I’ve ever played on. We all got along so well. That’s something I’ll remem ber more than my injury.” Tucker said looking back over her career, her most memorable mo ment was winning the 1996 South west Conference tournament. “It’s the last conference tour nament and the last SWC trophy,” Tucker said. “Beating Texas and Texas Tech in two days was a great accomplishment for our team. We pulled together when we needed to and just got it done.” A&M looks to send Bears into hibernation By Jamie Burch The Battalion Harvey With three games remaining, the Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Team (9-14 overall, 3-10) makes its final road trip of the season Saturday afternoon to Bay lor University (11- 12 overall, 4-9). The Lady Aggies, 2-7 on the road this season, are coming fresh off of a 94-84 overtime victory last Satur day over Oklahoma State University. Head Coach Candi Harvey said she was thrilled with the team’s re siliency against OSU. “This is one of my most memo rable wins as a coach at A&M,” Har vey said. “The players finally under stood about dealing with adversity. For the first time we felt like, as a team, they grasped a lot of the things we've been working on all year long.” A&M lost to Baylor 82-67 at G. Rol lie White Coliseum Jan. 8 in the first meeting of the home-and-home se ries. A&M trailed by just four at the half, but was outscored by 11 after the intermission. The Lady Aggie defense allowed four Lady Bears to post dou ble figures in scoring in addition to losing the battle of the boards, 47-36. Sophomore Stacy Sykora, who was not with the team for the first meeting, said the Lady Aggies are a different team now. “The team is definitely different without Lana,” Sykora said. “Lana’s leadership as a senior and a captain is not there for us now. Baylor did beat us by 15, but we’re a new team with a new look.” A&M will have to once again com bat the same offensive attack from Baylor. Sophomore center Kacy Mof- fit, who torched A&M for 10 points, five boards and one block in the team’s first meeting, leads the Lady Bears in scoring (10.5) while grabbing 4.1 rebounds per game. On the defensive side, junior for ward Tasia Wright, who posted 11 re bounds against A&M in the last meeting, is averaging a team-lead ing 6.1 rebounds per game. Sopho more guard Toya Ellis leads the Lady Bears in steals with 49 on the season. A&M freshman guard Natalie Tucker said confidence is the key to beating Baylor. “Our confidence is on the rise,” Tucker said. “We know we can beat Baylor. We’ve just got to go out there and play with confidence — the way we know we can.”