March?
The Battalion
Page 3
Friday • March 7, 1997
ggies head to Midwest to cage Mizzou Tigers
By Jeremy Furtick
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Baseball Team
6,1-2) will get its first look at the
Big 12 competition from the
:mer Big 8 this weekend as they
;e the 850-mile trip to Columbia
take on the Missouri Tigers (7-6,
in a three-game set.
The 12th-ranked Aggies will be
ingin their second Big 12 series,
g already lost two of three
es in last weekend’s slugfest
st Baylor. But in a non-confer-
game Tuesday, the Aggies re-
lunded to defeat third-ranked
(14-3,3-0), 2-1 in Houston.
Head Coach Mark Johnson said
victory over Rice was a boost for
Aggies, who had trouble holding
s against Baylor.
“Baseball is a beast for every-
ne," Johnson said. “Beating Rice
elped us, but we’ll continue the
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ups and downs. It was a great
learning experience to lose to Bay
lor like we did on Sunday and then
come back and beat Rice on the
road.”
Junior catcher
Matt Garrick said
the momentum
from the Rice vic
tory will benefit the
team in the Mis
souri series.
“[Tuesday]
night was huge for
us,” Garrick said.
“It’s really going to
boost us and will
carry us into this
weekend’s series.”
Missouri comes
into the weekend unranked after
falling out of Baseball America’s Top
25 on Feb. 24However, Missouri
swept Kansas State last weekend to
take the Big 12 Conference lead.
“Beating Rice
helped us, but
we'll continue
the ups and
downs.”
Mark Johnson
A&M head coach
Head Coach Mark Johnson said
the series will be tough.
“Everybody has an advantage
playing at home,” he said. “It’s go
ing to be hard for anyone in this
conference to sweep
a series.”
Missouri is return
ing most of its starters
from a club that went
to the regional play
offs last year.
“We don’t know
much about Mis
souri because they’ve
never been one of
our standard oppo
nents,” Johnson said.
“And no one we’ve
played a lot in the past has much
experience with them either.”
Johnson said the A&M pitching
rotation will remain the same with
freshman Casey Possum (1-2, 3.03
ERA) throwing Friday and juniors
Ryan Rupe (3-0, 3.86) and Matt
Blank (3-0, 3.82) splitting the dou
bleheader Saturday.
Possum, who was ripped for
seven runs in 3-2/3 innings last
Friday against Baylor, came back
to throw 12 pitches in the ninth
Tuesday to save the Aggies’ one-
run victory over Rice. Possum
said Johnson did not say much
to the pitching staff after the
Baylor shelling.
“All he said was for us to know
the situation and be prepared to
handle it,” Possum said. “He told us
anyone could be asked to step in
and do the job.”
Possum said his struggles last
week came from throwing his fast
ball up in the strike zone.
“I worked on my change-up
mostly this week,” Possum said. “I
have to get first-pitch strikes low in
the zone and change speeds if I
want to do well.”
Ryan Rogers, The Battalion
Junior Scott Sandusky avoids being tagged out on a lead-off double in
the third inning against Baylor University.
A&M Tennis
A&M looks for third-straight in H.E.B. Championships
By Sara Duesing
The Battalion
Traveling south to Corpus Christi
this weekend, the Texas A&M Men’s
Tennis Team (2-3) prepares for the
three-day H.E.B. Collegiate Team
Championships beginning today.
The Aggies will face North Car
olina State University in the first
round of play in what Head A&M
Men’s Tennis Coach Tim Cass said
is the second-biggest tournament
of the season next to the NCAAs.
"We have our work cut out for
us,” Cass said. “N.C. State has a
good coach and I know their guys
willbewell-prepared.”
■ * ■ ^ lustfive matches into the season,
the Aggies have been preparing
ertrappW I ^ emse ^ ves f'or the tournament with
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ter winning against Michigan State
University Wednesday and against
the University of Arkansas on Mon
day, senior Robbie Krause said the
team has a definite advantage.
“The match is the best practice
you can get,” he said. “The guys are
all now mentally fired up for this
tournament.”
In a team
sport made suc
cessful by the
individual’s per
formance, Cass
said each player
needs to be
ready to go and
take responsi
bility.
Although the
season got off to a shaky start with
three losses, Krause said the team’s
confidence is back with the two lat
est victories.
“We know we can win,” Krause
said. “And it’s always a huge plus
Krause
to go into this with a win under
your belt.
“This will be a test for the
team mentally with back to back
matches, but it will provide
great momentum for the rest of
the season.”
The Aggies will face N.C. State
first in doubles competition and
then in singles. Krause said it is im
portant to get off to a good start
with doubles points.
Cass said he wants to win this
weekend, but he is focusing on
goals for the entire season.
“We have a younger team, so
we want to focus on developing
and growing with every match,”
Cass said.
After the tournament, the Aggies
will return to College Station for a
four-match homestand beginning
next Thursday as Wake Forest
comes to town.
Lady Aggies begin homestand against Texas Tech
By Sara Duesing
The Battalion
After getting two wins in sunny California last week
end, theTexas A&M Women’s Tennis Team has returned
home to jump back into conference play. The Lady Ag
gies (7-1) host Texas Tech University
Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Omar
Smith Tennis Center.
Feeling confident and ready, ju
nior Monica Rebolledo said the
team has been maintaining a posi
tive attitude as it delves into the
heart of the season.
“We have been playing well,” she
said. “The wins [against San Diego
State University and the University of
San Diego] were really good for us.”
In the past, A&M has dominated the Lady Red Raiders
and is expected to do the same this weekend. Last season,
the Lady Aggies defeated Texas Tech in a 9-0 shutout.
Head A&M Wo men’s Tennis Coach Bobby Kleinecke
said Tech has improved recently, so A&M will have to
be ready for a challenge.
Kleinecke
“They are more confident and feel like they can win
some matches,” he said. “We’re taking them cautious
ly but I feel like we’re still in control.
“If we let up, though, it could cause a problem.”
This match kicks off a four-game homestand in
which the Lady Aggies will welcome Wake Forest,
the University of North Carolina, and Florida State
University.
Rebolledo said the team needs to stay focused and
prepared to start off well.
“Tech does have a better team this year, so we have
to go out and be ready to play.” Rebolledo said.
“Every match is important and we need to play
our best.”
So far this season, the Lady Aggies have crushed
their opponents in singles competition but have strug
gled in doubles matches.
Kleinecke said the team concentrated this week
mainly on its doubles game as well as on its mental
preparation.
“We know we are going to have to work for it be
cause it could go either way,” he said. “But still, I’d
rather be in our shoes than in theirs.”
Aggies host second Invitational
ByNicki Smith
The Battalion
PM
5 PM
TheTexas A&M Softball Team
larely had the chance to enjoy its
iree-game winning streak be-
Y fore coming up against three
teams ranked in the preseason
lop 25 Poll March 2 at the NFCA
Leadoff Classic.
The Lady Aggies (6-11) have
slumped into a three-game los
ing streak but are hoping some
I joodhome cooking and rest will
be the mix they need to get to the
top of their game this weekend as
they host the Super 8 Motel Aggie
Invitational II at the Lady Aggie
Softball Field.
Ohio State University, North
ern Illinois University and
LouisianaTech University will be
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in attendance for the double
round robin tournament, which
begins at noon today and ends at
3 p.m. Sunday.
Head Coach Jo Evans said the
Lady Aggies have more confi
dence than they did when they
hosted their first tournament two
weeks ago.
“We feel really good about our
progress, and we feel we have a lot
more momentum than before,”
Evans said. “There are no weak
teams in this tournament, so the
more good teams we play, the
more we will work to play to their
level of competition. This time
around we want to show our fans
that we can play at a higher level.”
Although 20th-ranked
LouisianaTech (13-7) is the only
nationally ranked team in the
tournament, the Lady Buckeyes
are coming in with a 7-4 overall
record and five players batting
over .400, while Northern Illinois
is breaking even with a 4-4 record.
Junior pitcher and designated
hitter Trina Solesbee, who leads the
A&M pitching staff with a 1.17
ear ned run average, said the key to
success this weekend will be get
ting the right hits at the right times.
“We have improved im
mensely since the last tourna
ment and are doing better at ex
ecuting when we need to,”
Solesbee said. “Our hitting has
really come around, but we need
to work on our getting crucial hits
when we need them. This will
help us make all of the little
things work as a whole, which
will hopefully bring wins.”
Lady golfers head west for Invitational
By Lara L. Zuehlke
The Battalion
The 15th-rankedTexas A&MWomen’s
Golf team heads west today to tee off
against the nation’s best golfers at the
Spartan Invitational in Fort Ord, Calif.
The 54-hole tournament, hosted by
San Jose State University, will provide
some stiff competition for fire Lady Aggies.
All 12 teams competing are
ranked in the Rolex Collegiate Golf
Rankings top 50, including No. 1 Ari
zona State University, No. 2 Stanford
University, No. 3 Arizona University
and No. 4 Duke University.
Junior Aurora Kirchner said the Ag
gies are not worried about the tough
playing field, but they want to learn
from their opponents.
“This is a really strong field and it’s
small, because there’s only 12 teams
playing,” Kirchner said. “I don’t think
playing against better teams puts
pressure on us, because you either get
better or learn from the experience.”
Representing A&M will be fresh
man Anna Becker, juniors Isabelle
Rosberg, Jamie Hullett and Kirchner
and sophomore Jennifer Emmons.
Hullett leads the team with an aver
age score of 76.73 for the season, plac
ing her 17th on the Rolex Individual
Rankings. Becker, averaging 78.56 for
the Aggies, is ranked No. 54, while Kirch
ner comes in at No. 93, averaging 81.87.
A&M Head Coach Jeanne Suther
land said the Spartan Invitational will
be challenging because the Lady Ag
gies have never played the course.
“It’s hard to prepare for it (the tour
nament), but we also don’t have any
bad feelings,” Sutherland said.
The Ags are coming off a third - place
finish in the Texas A&M Bookstore/
Monica Welsh Memorial tournament.
“We were disappointed that we fin
ished third in our tournament, because
we were on our home course,” Kirchn
er said. “We haven’t started off as well
this semester as we’d hoped, but I think
things will pick up at this tournament.”
Sutherland said the tournament
could be a turning point in the Lady
Aggies’ season.
“We haven’t played well this
spring, so if we can do well and beat
some of the teams there, we will be
in a better position,” Sutherland
said. “We want to be playing the best
teams right now, because we have
the ability to do it. ”
After this weekend’s showdown,
the Lady Aggies will head to Austin to
play in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn
Classic March 14-16.
Extended Weekend
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Come and enjoy!
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Doubles up as blanket
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Common on party species
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Dance Floor
Adhesive
Flavor not important
MSC Barber Shop
Serving All Aggies!
Cuts and Styles
All Corp Cuts $7.
Regular cuts start at $8.
Six operators to serve you:
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846-0629
Open: Mon. - Fri. 8-5, Sat. 9-4
Located in the basement of the Memorial Student Center
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Wednesday-Saturday
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