The Battalion
Hot Aggies look to improve in conferenc
A&M will host Iowa
State University this
weekend at Olsen Field.
By Matt Mitchell
The Battalion
After seeming to bottom out after the loss
to Lamar University March 18, the Texas A&M
Baseball Team has quickly turned its season
around, winning eight of their past 10 games.
The resurgent Aggies will look to contin
ue their good play when they take on Iowa
State University in a three-game series at
Olsen Field this weekend. The Aggies and
Cyclones will lock horns in a doubleheader,
starting at 4 p.m. Saturday with the rubber
match Sunday at 1 p.m.
“This is definitely a key weekend for us,”
freshman outfielder Darren Heinrichs said.
“We have a nine-game homestand, which is
key because we only have 15 conference
games left. If we can take these games at home,
and we should win at home, it will definitely
set us as far as the postseason is concerned.”
The Aggies' prospects for postseason
play are significantly brighter than they ap
peared just a few weeks ago, and their re
cent success on the diamond is reflected in
renewed optimism in the clubhouse.
“The mood of the team is obviously up
because we’ve been playing well lately,”
Heinrichs said. “Everything has started to
come together, and everyone has started to
contribute like we thought they would.
“We changed the lineup a bit, which
seemed to put people in more key hitting spots,
added speed to the lineup, and also put some
people where they could see better pitches.”
Whatever happened, it has worked. The
Aggies’ overall record stands at 24-14 and 7-
8 in conference play after pounding Sam
Houston State in a home-and-home contest
earlier this week.
Having played seven of their past 10
games on the road, the Aggies are staring at
their first extended home stay in what must
seem like forever.
“We’ve had two weekends on the road, and
we’ve won both of those series,” A&M Head
Coach Mark Johnson said. “We’ve had to show
we can win on the road and then go home and
try to make hay. And so we’ve set this as our
goal, that this would be our run time.
“We’re looking at nine games in a row at
home, which is something we haven't had.
Seven of them are conference games, so
we’re in a position, if everything falls into
place, to get on a roll.”
That roll will need to start against the Cy
clones, who will carry a less-than-sterling
11-16 record into Aggieland after being sad
dled with a 10-4 loss to intrastate rival
Northern Iowa Wednesday night.
“I think it’s going to be a typical week
end,” Johnson said. “So I would anticipate
an Iowa State team to come in here and play
very well. They’ve got a couple of pitchers
that pro scouts will be coming to watch. Ap
parently, the pitching is very good, and
they’ve got some outstanding hitters.”
The ace of the Cyclone pitching staff is
junior righthander Ryan Seifert, who boasts
a 2.50 ERA in just under 40 innings.
As far as firepower is concerned, ISU is
led by junior first baseman Shawn Leimbek,
who leads the team with a .400 average, 42
hits, 25 runs and 22 RBIs.
“I anticipate nothing less than a battle,”
Johnson said. "That seems to be what we face
every week. So we’re looking forward to play
ing a real tough team.”
ver t
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Sophomore outfielder Jason Tyner steals third base against Sam Houston StateTue
night at Olsen Field.
Ags look to get back
into swing of things
By Dennis Ramirez
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team
will continue its Big 12 Conference
play today when they face the Texas
Tech University Red Raiders at 5 p.m.
at the Omar Smith Tennis Center.
The Aggies, 6-9 overall and 2-2 in
conference, are coming off of a disap
pointing but confidence-building loss
to Kansas University Saturday night.
The loss was the sixth 4-3 loss for the
Aggies, but Assistant Coach Kel Lange
said the match turned a lot of heads.
“Despite the loss, we competed
very well against an excellent Kansas
team,” Lange said. “It was a close
match and we didn’t execute, so that is
what cost us another close match. But
the guys saw that we could play and
compete well against Kansas and the
team morale is very good right now.”
While the Red Raiders will try to
gun their way to victory, the Aggie
netters have something else in mind
for them. Because Tech has had a
similar disappointing season, the
Aggies expect another close match.
“This is an opportunity for them
(Tech) to come in here and do some
thing special for themselves,” Lange
said. “It’s been no secret the way things
have been going for us, so we are look
ing at this match the same way. It’s two
very similar teams talent-wise, so we
just need to execute better.”
Senior Robbie Krause is expect
ing a fired-up Tech squad full of
emotion, but looks at the Kansas
match as something to fall back on.
“They (Tech) have a lot of new
guys, but we expect them to be just
like the coach — fiery,” Krause said.
“We are expecting a close match and
very tough competition. As far as our
game plan, though, not much has
changed. The Kansas match gave us
a lot of confidence and you shouldn't
expect any big surprises, just every
body going out there to win.”
Junior Eric Elek affirmed the
morale and confidence the Aggie net
ters will take into the match. “We have
had a tough sea
son, but it is good
Lady golfers head
west for Invitational
Lady Aggies set
By Lara L. Zuehlke
The Battalion
Krause
for us because we
are now in a situ
ation where we
have to win,” Elek
said. “We are
pretty confident
because we have
played well and
competed well.
Tech is a solid
team and we
know what we have to do, so we’ll be
ready for them.”
The match should prove to be
close, and will provide the Aggies ei
ther another figure in the win col
umn or something to build on.
Lange said he is looking for the
team to stake their claim, and he
looks for community support.
“We have been practicing hard and
competing well, so now we have to be
ready to play hard,” Lange said. “We
are playing at home so we should have
a home court advantage, and you
need it when a team like Tech comes
into town because of the in state rival
ry. Hopefully when five o’clock roles
around we’ll get some students and
people from the community out to
support us and give us an edge.”
The lOth-ranked Texas A&M
Women’s Golf Team will tee off
against the nation’s best golfers to
day in the PING/Arizona State Invi
tational in Tempe, Ariz.
The Lady Ags will face some of
the fiercest teams in the college
ranks, including No. 1 Arizona State,
No. 3 University of Arizona and No.
4 Stanford University.
Representing the Ag
gies will be senior Wen-
di Wight, juniors Jamie
Hullett and Isabelle Ros-
berg, sophomore Jen
nifer Emmons and
freshman Anna Becker.
Rosberg said the
tournament will pro
vide A&M some of the
toughest competition it has seen
this year.
“We know it (the competition) is
going to be just as good as regionals,”
Rosberg said. “Since ASU is hosting
it, all of the good teams will be there.
It’s going to be a good field.”
The Lady Aggies finished 11th at
the Invitational last season, but are
looking to fare better this weekend.
A&M Head Coach Jeanne
Sutherland said the Ags are more
experienced this year, giving them
more confidence in their game.
“This field is a tough one and last
year when we went, it was the first or
second time we had faced a tough
field,” Sutherland said. “But this year
we’ve been facing them every week,
and I don’t think we are intimidated
anymore about competing.
“It used to be that we weren’t in
the top 10 and didn’t play them (the
top teams), but now we are in the
top 10 and play them all of the time.”
A&M is coming off a three-week
break since placing sixth in the Bet
sy Rawls Longhorn Classic in Austin.
Sutherland said the Aggies need
ed the break to regroup and rest.
“I think they needed a mental
break, because we've been at it pretty
hard,” Sutherland said. “I
hope that it will help them.
It’s a hard thing for a coach
to do, though, because
you feel like you are losing
a little bit of control.”
This weekend’s 54-hole
tournament will be the
last opportunity for A&M
to brush up its skills before
the Big 12 Championships
2 battle
By Nicki Smith
The Battalion
is
April 21-23 in Lawrence, Kan.
Sutherland said the team
learning with each tournament.
“The last group of tourna
ments gave us a chance to sit
down and look at statistics to see
where our strengths and weak
nesses are,” Sutherland said.
“Hopefully, in the last couple of
weeks they’ve been working to
improve them.”
Rosberg said the Lady Aggies will
surprise people at the tournament
and she expects them to play better
than they did last year.
“It feels like the team is getting
better with each tournament, and
we are getting everything together
now,” Rosberg said. “I feel really
good about this tournament.”
The Texas A&M Softball Team
j (22-19) had its first look at the Big
12 Conference last weekend
' against the University of Nebraska
and Iowa State University, but this
weekend will prove to be a tougher
test for the Lady Aggies as they
face two top 25 teams on the road.
Tomorrow, the
team will travel to
Lawrence, Kan. to
face the 25th-
ranked Lady Jay-
hawks of Kansas
University. They
then will play the
12th-ranked Uni
versity of Missouri
Sunday in Colum
bia, Mo.
The Lady Jay-
hawks are 22-12 overall .while the
Lady Tigers lead the Big 12 with a
team .345 batting average and a
.499 slugging percentage.Both are
undefeated in the Big 12.
Assistant Head Coach Joy Jack-
son said the Lady Aggies know
they will have to be at their best to
defeat Kansas and Missouri.
“Both of these teams have a lot
of tenacity and really get after it,”
Jackson said. “In the Big 12, there
are no teams you can look past be
cause teams are getting better and
the athletes are getting better. We
know these games are goingtc |
no piece of cake.”
The Lady Aggies currently^ |
a Big 12 record of 2-2, a ,249bait f
average and a team ERA of 1.81
Freshman Jamie Smith leads:
team with a .314 batting avert
while juniorTfina Solesbeeleads:
team with five homemnsandai
slug percentage.
Freshman second baser.
“We need to
work on making
less errors. ,,
Angie Long
Freshman second
baseman
Angie Long said:
Lady Aggies need
improve on sc
things if theyiiaj
to win thisvvefed
"We need
work on mak<
less errors,” Lo:
said. “It was
that we beatN
braska, which is
pretty good teas
but we don’t want to split douii
headers anymore.”
Jackson said defeating two?
erful teams in the Big 12 $ti$
boost the Lady Aggies hopes.
“It is going to be a tough week®!
for us on the road, which meansfe
we will have to be more focused
Jackson said. “WeknowwecanWl
these teams because both Misso®
and Kansas have lost to teamsM
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