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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1997)
,r\W,ntol\'W r T\r#y yr, »>r, mr< > u v» The Battalion Page 7 Thursday • March 27, 1997 s drop anvil on Roadrunners, 6-4,4-3 By Chris Ferrell The Battalion tod nod Wylie E. Coyote has tried everything over k years. ■There were the ACME anvils, but they al- Rys missed the mark. People laughed as he Minted tunnels on the side of a cliff, only to be hit by a train. And of course there were the fc (jet packs. They seemed like a good idea right ■ until the time when the ACME jet fuel ran out (usually over a canyon). ■ Maybe he should have been taking notes t( at Olsen Field Wednesday night as the Texas a jfc&M Baseball Team finally found a way to get fiose pesky Roadrunners. ■ Last night, the Aggies weapon of choice ■ks produced by Louisville Slugger as A&M (20 13) swept a doubleheader with the Uni- ■rsity ofTexas-San Antonio 6-4, 4-3. With Game 2 tied at three apiece going into 1 the bottom of the seventh, freshman leftfield- * itf Steven Truitt delivered the evenings most fa- ■blow with a solo home run to left-center to ■ve the Aggies the 4-3 win in the night cap. I “When I hit it, it just felt good,” Truitt said. Me just put it right over the plate, right where “ ^Ilike it. I told two people on die team I was go- ■g to do it, I didn’t want to just put it in play.” . J The home run closed out a big evening for Pwuitt who was 2-for-3 in the second game 1 'with two runs scored and an RBI. He also pred a run in the first game. A&M fell behind, 1-0, to start the second ime. UTSA senior outfielder Sean Alvarez, who j|ansferred to San Antonio after playing three ears for the Aggies, led off die game widi a dou- | ble and was driven in by teammate Jeff Juarez. H A&M pitchers settled down to retire 13 ■traight batters. Senior John Codrington went flhree innings for A&M, retiring nine of the 10 Batters he faced. Alvarez’s double and run lljcored were his only blemish. I The Aggies, searching for a third starter for | 1( j the weekend after freshman Casey Possum A&M looks to add conference wins against KSU Jayhawks Dave House, The Battalion Sophomore Jason Tyner reaches to tag home while trying to avoid the UTSA catcher after his teammate senior jason Stephens (#26) gives him the signal to hit the deck. was moved into the closer role, used seven different pitchers trying to evaluate the staff. Freshman Chris Fulbright, another candi date for the third spot, pitched two innings, surrendering a home run to UTSA sopho more Steve Minus. “Its really between Fulbright, (junior pitch er John) Sneed, and Codrington,” Head Coach Mark Johnson said. “I need to see how they recover, we kept the pitch count down on all of them. If they feel good tomorrow, we’ll make a decision tomorrow. “We’ll go Rupe and then Blank in the second game and then we just may have to wait and see.” Sneed stated his case, pitching two innings of no-hit baseball in Game 1. He improved his record to 3-0 on the year. With the two wins, the Aggies have won four of their last five. “I thought we played well in Oklahoma,” Truitt said. “I thought we were going to be able to do something after that. I thought we came out flat, we should have beat the team better.” Johnson agreed that the Aggies were not at there best but said he would take wins any way he could get them. “I didn’t think we were exceptionally good today,” Johnson said. “But we were good enough to win and we did a couple of things in the clutch well.” By Matt Mitchell The Battalion After tasting the fruits of a successful series last weekend against a talented University of Oklahoma squad, the Texas A&M Baseball Team looks to im prove its Big 12 Conference standing against Kansas State University in Man hattan this weekend. The three-game series will be a rel atively quick turnaround for the Ag gies, who swept a doubleheader last night against the University of Texas- San Antonio. The Wildcats (18-7, 5-6) are coming off a 13-7 win over Cleveland State Tuesday night. “We know they have an outstanding hitting ballclub, they’re very strong up the middle and they’ve got a closer,” A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said. “So you’ve got a great combination there.” The Wildcats’ forte is indeed hitting, with eight of their nine starters posting batting averages over .300, led by junior shortstop Heath Schesser’s .434 average and .840 slugging percentage. K-State’s starting pitching is solid if unspectacular, but the game appears to be all but over when junior relief pitcher David Johnson enters the game. The fireman boasts a 1.76 ERA and has struck out 17 hitters in just 15 innings while racking up 10 saves. Johnson is already the Wildcats’ all- time saves leader and his fastball has been clocked at 96 mph this season. Though their conference record is less than imposing, Kansas State left lit- laJai b- lysef I: S3' kits' Lady Ags ready to lasso OSU By Sara Duesing The Battalion Not since 1988, when the Texas A&M Women’sTennis Team started off their season with a 10-2 record, has the women’s tennis program seen such success. The Lady Aggies currently are ranked No. 23 in the nation with all-2 overall record, 4- Oin the Big 12 Conference. This Sat urday, A&M travels to Stillwater, Okla., where they will face Okla homa State University at 10 a.m. Coming off two conference wins against Iowa State University and Missouri University, the Lady Aggies continue to play with con fidence and determination. Head Women’s Tennis Coach Bobby Kleinecke said wins and talent have contributed to the team’s power. “We are winning 85 percent of our singles matches,” he said. “We knew we had to be over .500 in the No. 1 spot, and [senior captain] Nancy Dingwall is well over that mark. We are strong up and down the lineup so you can see how we’ve had success.” Freshman Leslie Dees said the success in part has come out of the team camaraderie and support. “We have a lot of confidence in our games,” she said. “But we also back each other up and cheer each other on. “We have a good attitude but we’re not cocky. We know we need to be ready to compete.” Kleinecke said the match against the Sooners should prove to be a lot tougher test than the Iowa State and Mizzou matches. “They have had a lot of differ ent results that have surprised me,” Kleinecke said. “They are a dangerous team and can play. Their strength is in the top of their lineup.” Following the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the Lady Aggies plan to maintain their winning ways with strong singles play and 1 improved doubles play. “Everyone is playing really well,” Dees said. “We feel good about everything and are taking it all in stride." Keinecke said since the Soon ers are so unpredictable, A&M will play their game and strive to win. “We want to start out strong in singles, so hopefully that will affect they way they fight back,” he said. Smashing their way to the Sophomore San Miguel quietly ascending ladder of success By Courtney Lyons The Battalion F rom Matamoros, Mexico, to College Station, Texas, Lady Ag gie sophomore Monica San Miguel has been turning heads while racking up victories on tennis courts. The quiet and reserved nutri tion science major was spotted by an assistant coach at King High School in Corpus Christi, while she was competing for her high school in Brownsville. When the assistant coach came to A&M, he remem bered San Miguel and invited her to Aggieland for a visit. San Miguel said she liked the traditions of A&M and the spirit of the students when she visited. “I liked how people will stand for hours and hours at a game,” San Miguel said. “I liked how everyone was very friendly, too.” The coaches were worried about San Miguel’s reaction to A&M on her visit. “We didn’t know how she felt about it (A&M) on the recruitment trip,” Head Coach Bobby Kleinecke said. “She didn’t say anything.” On the court, San Miguel is not as quiet. She has a powerful ground stroke and likes to hit the ball from the baseline. San Miguel plays a fast-paced game, including hitting the ball extremely hard. San Miguel did not see much ac tion on the court last year as a freshman since she was in the sev enth position. However, San Miguel has come on strong this year. “I think last year made her hun gry to play,” Kleinecke said. “She has come through for us, and we couldn’t be happier with the way she is playing.” San Miguel is now a key player in the fourth and fifth positions, and has lost only one of 13 singles match es. She has improved immensely in fire two years she has been at A&M. Kleinecke said he and San Miguel are working on improving her abili ty to come up to the net to finish points off. However, improving will not be a problem for San Miguel. “She is an extremely hard worker, always wanting to improve,” Klei necke said. “She will come to practice early and stay late just to get better.” San Miguel has had an interest ing career. She began tennis when she was 11, taking lessons at a local club. She took up the sport because her parents played it and it looked interesting to her. At 16, San Miguel was competing in the semifinals of the National Championships for athletes under 18 in Mexico. She was up 6-4, 5-1 in the semifinal match and then lost. “That was my greatest disap pointment,” San Miguel said. “But I learned that you don’t relax when you’re winning. You think one match at a time.” Taking this lesson in hand, San Miguel returned to the na tional championships the next year and won. San Miguel is enjoying collegiate competition, although she said it is different from high school. - V ■ p ^P : ■ llr^ -5 mmmm if/'" m See San Miguel, Page 8 this season Rony Angkriwan, The Battalion Sophomore Monica San Miguel has lost only one of 13 single matches Freshman Scott making a significant impact both on and off the court By Sara Duesing The Battalion I n most sports played at the collegiate level, it is rare for a first-year athlete to make much of a contribution, both athletically and per sonally. But there are exceptions. Freshman Kathryn Scott of the Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team made her mark on the Lady Aggie tennis program in just over seven months. "Kathryn is a real team player,” Head A&M Women's Tennis Coach Bobby Kleinecke said. “She knows how to work well with people and gets along well with everyone on the team. “She is extremely valuable on the court but off the court as well.” Kleinecke said the freshman from Abilene, who sits in the No. 7 spot for singles, acts as a great motivator for her teammates while wait ing for the doubles competition to begin. “She hasn’t gotten many chances to compete in singles,” Kleinecke said. “But she has made the most out of it so we don’t feel bad if someone is not 100 percent and we have to put her in.” Finding inspiration in her mother, who was her high school tennis coach, Scott began competing at an early age. When she be gan to play in national tourna ments, what was once a recre ational hobby became a serious addiction. “Most people play through junior tennis so they can play in college,” Scott said. “For me, it is a huge re ward to play for A&M and a really big accomplishment.” Scott followed several Scott relatives to A&M and said she wanted to be an Aggie even before tennis was a consideration. “It is all the better since there is a good tennis program here," she said. Kleinecke said Scott adjusted well from high school, where she was a member of the state champion team for three years, to the college level, where it is easy to lose confidence. “She makes our depth extremely strong,” he said. “Her strengths are in her ground strokes and returns and she is a very intense competitor. “It is often hard for a freshman to handle the pressure but she knows how to win and she ex pects to win.” Freshman Leslie Dees, Scott’s doubles part ner, said Scott has a good mentality for the sport especially doubles. “She has a huge impact on doubles,” Dees said. “She is pretty athletic, but also has a good personality which makes it easy to talk to her about anything.” See Scott, Page 8 tie doubt to the ability of their team after taking two of three games from the Uni versity of Texas in Austin last weekend. “Texas is a hard place to play,” John son said. “They’ve got a big crowd, plus it’s Astroturf, which makes it a whole new game. To go in there and win two of three really says something. “It has our players’ attention," John son said. “We’re not in a position to over look anybody, so that’s not going to be the case. We may get beat, but it’s not go ing to be because we overlooked them. They are a good ball club.” So it is business as usual for the Ag gies in the Big 12 Conference, with ca pable competition taking the field every weekend. “It appears that the strength of the Big 12 is its parity,” Johnson said. “There isn’t a weak sister in the group. Usually, you’ll get into a league and there’s a bottom three that you’ve got a decent chance of sweeping a series from. That doesn’t appear to be the case in this league.” Johnson said the Aggies will juggle some pitchers and shake up the pitching rotation this weekend. “We’re going to move (freshman left- handed pitcher) Casey (Possum) to short relief — he’s going to be our closer,” John son said. “So right now we’re going in without him in the starting rotation. We won’t start him this week. That may change next week. “We’re going to go with (junior right hander Ryan) Rupe and (junior left-han der Matt) Blank and right now I’m not sure who the third starter will be.” A&M track hosts UT Longhorns By Jamie Burch The Battalion Anytime Texas A&M matches up against the University of Texas, the preparation takes care of itself. This weekend is no exception as the A&M Track and Field Team hosts a dual meet against the Runnin’ Horns Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Frank G. Anderson Track Complex. Head Coach Ted Nelson said al though the Aggies will face a nation ally-ranked Texas squad this week end, no extra motivation is needed. “It’s always a big rivalry,” Nelson said. “If we play Texas in ping pong it’s a big deal. You really don’t have to say much to the team. Over the past three years this has been one of the best meets we’ve had. “I’ve not tried to get them ready for the meet. It’s just one of those things where the rivalry between A&M and Texas takes care of itself.” After competing in four outdoor meets this season, the Aggies have re ceived recognition for their accom plishments. In the first outdoor na tional ranking of the 1997 season, the Lady Aggies are tied with the Univer sity of Arizona and Villanova Univer sity at No. 14. The Aggie men entered the top 25 tied with Baylor University at No. 24. Texas is another notable in the United States Track Coaches Associa tion poll. The Longhorn women rank second, while the men stand at No. 18. The Aggies are looking to im prove on last weekends’ seven gold- medal performance at the Baylor Dr. Pepper Invitational. Senior runner and long jumper Donyale Canada said the the team will use the Baylor meet as a starting point. “We’re just looking to improve and get better each weekend,” Canada said. “We did good at Bay lor, but we’d like to do a lot better. I think Texas is the perfect team to do good against.” Senior sprinter Danny McCray said the Baylor meet helped the un derclassmen’s confidence. “We have a bunch of young guys on the team,” McCray said. “Every time someone runs well, they start to get more confident. I’ve always believed that winning is contagious. Once someone starts winning they expect to win and perform better. “Last week at Baylor was a huge confidence booster for us.” See Track, Page 8