Monday • February 9, 1998
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Lggies come out gunning, sweep Pan Am
)feginning with Friday’s combined no-hitter, Texas A&M rolls to impressive opening weekend
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renns.or All-American centerfielder Jason Tyner opened the season going 8 for 12.
i thin.
By Chris Ferrell
Staff writer
If this weekend was any indication ofwhat the rest of the ‘98 season will
be like for the Texas A&M Baseball Team, they should do just fine.
The Aggies opened the season by sweeping a three-game series from UT-
Pan American Friday and Saturday at Olsen Field and in the process answered
the biggest question which had plagued the team during the off season.
Collectively, A&M’s pitching staff had spent more time under the knife
this past year than a victim in Scream 2.
Senior pitcher Ryan Rupe, who had a rib removed to allow for circula
tion into his pitching arm, and junior Shane King, who returned after miss
ing the ‘97 season due to injuries, were the first to make their statements
as the two returned to combine on an opening day no-hitter as A&M
cruised to an 9-0 victory.
“I think for those guys coming off the surgery, we’ve recovered so well,”
sophomore pitcher Casey Possum said. “I think coming out of this week
end, we’re confident, realizing we have more guys that can throw. King and
Rupe did an excellent job. All our guys are able to pitch now. Knock on wood
that we don’t get any more injuries.”
In all, Coach Mark Johnson and his staff got looks at nine different pitch
ers over the weekend.
“Everybody said I better not give up the first hit of the season, or the first
run,” Possum said after pitching up a 6-3 victory in the first game of Sat
urday’s doubleheader. “Or we’re going to fine you in kangaroo court. I just
went out there trying to throw strikes, get some outs, throw ground balls.
I was pitching with a lead most of the game and I just wanted to get balls
over the plate and throw some ground balls and fly balls. I was sure a hit
was bound to happen today. I couldn’t escape that, but we did well.
“It was nice to get a win my first time out. I think last season it was my
fifth time out. It’s a big relief. Once you get the first win, it’s easy after that.
I’m just glad the team won. We got a sweep. We’re 3-0.”
A&M completed the sweep behind junior Matt Ward’s first career start
with a 10-3 win. Ward said he felt good about his outing once he got used
to pitching in front of the Olsen crowd.
“I was really nervous,” Ward said. “I had to adjust to that big crowd. Our
(junior college) games had maybe 100 people. That first inning I was shak
ing. I had to calm myself down out there.
“We’ve been hitting really well. We had some good hacks. I knew we were
going to score some runs. I like pitching with a lead but 1 -0 is not too bad.”
The Aggie bats were heard throughout the three-game set, exploding
for big innings which put Pan Am out of the games fairly early.
“I think we have an opportunity to be a big-inning team,” Johnson said.
“Their second baseman let one go through and all of the sudden that turns
into 15 minutes more.
“I think the bottom of the order—that’s what you look at because most
of the time your going to have a good top order—can they keep an inning
going. I think (sophomore second baseman) Sean Heaney and (senior
catcher) Scott Sandusky there in the middle had some big ones for us. We
wanted to score and we wanted to increase the lead.”
Once again it was A&M’s junior All-American centerfielder Jason Tyner
leading the offensive assault. Tyner helped get things going early on Sat
urday and closed out the doubleheader by going seven for nine on the af
ternoon with two runs scored and an RBI.
“We’re hitting the ball OK,” Tyner said. “Overall we haven’t made an er
ror in three games, our pitching’s going good and we’re having big innings
so that’s what we need to do. We’re a little timid at the plate. We’re hitting
the ball well, but we have enough good hitters that we should get more than
12 hits a game.”
Johnson said the Aggies accomplished what they set out to do over the
weekend but are still far from where they need to be.
“I don't know how great we were, but we got three wins,” Johnson said.
“That’s what we wanted to do. I thought the pitchers did a good job. All in
all, it was a good weekend. I was particularly pleased with the defense.
When you go three games without an error, you say tliat’s pretty good. We
got to try a few things that I wanted to try. In that regard it was good; when
you can get wins while your trying some things and get new guys in you
have to count your blessings.”
Aggie Sports News
from staff and wire reports
rexas A&M falls to Tech, 102-75
IRS
Texas Tech Men’s Basketball Coach James Dickey
lould be afraid of what the future holds for his squad,
enior Tech guard Corey Carr will graduate to the NBA
nd take his NBA game, which he proudly displayed for
jxas A&M Saturday, with him.
Carr scored 25 points and added five assists to lead
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BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion
aron Jack and the Aggies have lost 11 straight games.
the Red Raiders to a 102-75 victory over the hapless
Aggies, making many fans realize the possibility of a
winless conference season for A&M.
The usual sequence of events took place at the be
ginning of the game for the Aggies with junior forward
Shanne Jones scoring their first three baskets. The last
A&M lead in the game came off a Jones basket five
minutes into the game that made the score 12-11.
Free throws have been anathema to the hopes of
many Aggie victories this season and, although this
game was not close enough to worry, A&M shot a piti
ful 61 percent from the “charity stripe.” Forward
Aaron Jack had the opportunity to give Texas A&M
the lead with two free throw attempts when Tech led
at 15-14, but he clanked both shots off of the rim
and A&M never had a chance to pull any closer for
the rest of the game.
Texas A&M was within six points of tying Tech with
about three minutes left in the first half, but the Red
Raiders ran off three consecutive three-pointers that
were unanswered by the Aggies. The three danger
ous guards — Stan Bonewitz, Rayford Young and
Corey Carr — each contributed one of the half-end
ing daggers. When the buzzer sounded on the first
half, the Aggies found themselves trailing by a 15
point margin at 45-30.
Jones led the Aggies once again in the scoring col
umn with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Clayton
came off of the bench and contributed 10 points by go
ing 2 for 5 from beyond the three-point arc. Backup cen
ter Chris Richards made the most of his playing time
by nailing three field goals and going 3 for 4 from the
free throw line in 13 minutes of play.
Texas Tech’s Young matched Carr’s 25 points and
scored his points on 10 of 13 shooting. Bonewitz
scored 14 points and added nine assists. Tech for
ward Da’ Mon Roberts scored 12 points and was
perfect from the field (4 of 4) and from the free
throw line (4 of 4).
The Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team will play their
next game against Nebraska on Wednesday night at 7
p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Swimming and diving teams
ose to SMU, demolish Rice
The 20th-ranked Texas A&M Men's Swimming and
Wing Team continued their difficult schedule by facing
ie No. 9 SMU Mustangs in Dallas at the Perkins Nata-
Drium on Friday evening. The Aggies fell short of the
pset, however, falling to the Mustangs 124-107. A&M
eeded to finish one-two in the final relay of the meet
d beat SMU, so swimming Coach Mel Nash chose to
plit the two relay teams. The Mustang “A” team best-
d the Aggies’ faster relay team by a little more than
ne-tenth of a second.
“It was a great meet,” Nash said. “They (SMU) swam
[idsvell. We swam well. It was just a fun meet. It would
, ave been more fun on the other side, but it was a great
Clft ollege swim meet.”
lYs Junior Jason Miles enjoyed a fine performance by
/inning the 1,000- and 500- freestyle events in his
est times of the season. Miles timed 9:22.26 in the
.,000-free and 4:32.64 in the 500-free. Junior Jerrod
happier has a 11-1 record in the 50-freestyle this sea-
on after taking the event with a time of 20.69. Junior
Jark Naftanel swept the one- and three-meter diving
vents and set a new A&M varsity record for the one-
leter by scoring 346.87.
/Mark’s learning some new dives,” Diving Coach
^evin Wright said. “He’s been pretty focused the last
iree weeks. The team is going through quite a con-
irsion from the weight training they did in the fall to
ie power they are feeling off the boards. They are fi-
Sally starting to enjoy the fruits of their labor. If we can
prepare Mark to dive at or near his potential every time,
/e’ll be satisfied with that.”
After the loss to SMU, the Aggies’ record for the sea-
|on is 4-6. However, A&M has competed against three
)p-10 opponents and two others ranked in the top-20.
The Swimming and Diving Teams finished their dual
meet seasons Saturday by destroying Rice at the Stu
dent Recreation Center Natatorium.
The victory was a revenge of sorts for the 25th-
ranked women’s team since they lost to Rice a year
ago. They were able to defeat the Owls 141-61 on Sat
urday. A&M won 11 out of 13 scheduled events. The
only events they did not win were the 50-yard freestyle
and the 200-backstroke.
"I was happy with the swims,” Women’s Swimming
Team Coach Don Wagner said. “I thought we (A&M)
raced well. We’re still about two weeks away from con
ference championships, and that’s what we’re really fo
cusing on. There were some really good swims today.
Monica Williams didn’t have a lot of speed, but she
closed really well in the 100. Kelly Bolton, when she is
rested, is going to be very fast. Kids that haven’t exhib
ited a lot of speed or strength are really starting to show
some life, so we’re definitely going the right direction,
and we’re all looking forward to the conference meet.”
The 200-individual medley was the only event in
which the 20th-ranked men’s team faltered. The men
took the other 14 events and outscored Rice 137-96.
Saturday’s meet marked the last dual meet at Texas
A&M for the Aggie Class of ‘98. Senior Stacie Karnes
won the 200-freestyle, 200-butterfly and was a mem
ber of the winning 400-medley relay team. Senior Kyle
Marden won the 100- and 200-breaststroke.
The next challenge for men’s and women’s teams
will be the Big 12 Conference Championships. The
women’s championships will be Feb. 19-21 at the Ja-
mail Texas Natatorium in Austin, while the men will host
the other five Big 12 schools Feb. 26-28 at the Student
Rec Center Natatorium.
Longhorns too tough for
women’s basketball team
Texas’ Jackson goes for career-high 30 points in victory
By Philip W. Peter
Staff writer
AUSTIN—From the minute
the 7,556 fans saw her carry her
6-foot-4-inch frame through the
introductory smoke and flash
ing lights at the Frank Erwin
Center in Austin Saturday night,
it was obvious that University of
Texas center Angela Jackson had
a distinct size advantage. And,
by handing the Texas A&M
Women’s Basketball Team (6-14,
2-8) a 79-66 loss, Texas (9-11,4-
6) proved that it never hurts to
have a size advantage.
Jackson spent much of the
night setup in the high post where
she used her size to score a career-
high 30 points on 12-for-20 shoot
ing. It was clear from the start that
Jackson wanted the ball, scoring
eight of Texas’ first 10 points.
“One thing I’ve been doing the
last couple of games is really call
ing for the ball and making sure
my teammates see me,” Jackson
said. “They’ve been really good
about getting me the ball.”
Once she got the ball, Jackson,
guarded by 6-foot-2-inch Jennifer
Burrows, was able to score at will.
“She’s just a really good player,”
Burrows said, “and their guards
were doing a really good job of get
ting (the ball) to her. She was play
ing really well just turning around
and scoring.”
Even when Texas A&M Coach
Candi Harvey called for a double
team, Jackson and her teammates
were able to answer.
“Jackson had a big night,” Har
vey said, “but I thought we did
some things to bother her. When
we did double (team), we were ef
fective. But our point guard need
ed to rotate down because the low-
post player was open. She didn’t
get that rotation and they still
scored lay-ups.”
Aside from Jackson’s perfor
mance, the key statistic in Texas’
victory was in the rebound col
umn. Texas equaled A&M’s 27 total
rebounds on defense alone. But to
make matters worse for A&M,
Texas also grabbed 18 offensive
boards, bringing its game rebound
total to 45. The last time a team
held a rebound advantage over
Offensively, Texas A&M strug
gled in the first half due in part
to foul trouble. Sophomore for
ward Prissy Sharpe, A&M’s lead
ing scorer, was called for two
fouls early in the first half and
played only six scoreless min
utes before half time.
In the second half, A&M strug
gled because of fouling trouble,
“It wasn’t one person. You don’t see
one player on their roster who out-
rebounded us. Player by player,
each one of them got more re
bounds than we did.”
Kera Alexander
Sophomore Forward
A&M that large, it was the Univer
sity of Tennessee, who out re
bounded A&M 47-22 in December.
Although A&M’s field goal per
centage (.451) was higher than
Texas’ (.420), Texas used its 18 ad
ditional rebounds to shoot 18
more times than A&M.
“When we did get them to miss,”
Harvey said, “we didn’t block out
and gave them easy put-backs.”
Texas A&M sophomore forward
Kera Alexander said Texas just
worked harder on the boards than
they did.
“It wasn’t one person,” Alexan
der said. “You don’t see one player
on their roster who out-rebound
ed us. Player by player, each one of
them got more rebounds than we
did. They, as a team, worked hard
er to get to the boards and worked
harder at blocking out and they
were more aggressive.”
WST
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RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
Freshman Brandy Jones gets mauled on a drive to the basket against Texas.
sending Texas to the free-throw
line 20 times. But Sharpe came on
strong, shooting two for two from
three-point range, on her way to
11 points and seven rebounds.
Burrows, also a sophomore for
ward, led A&M in scoring with 15
points and freshman guard
Brandy Jones came off the bench,
hit six for six from the free-throw
line and finished with 13 points.
But on the whole, the A&M of
fense was stagnant.
“Offensive execution just wasn’t
there,” Harvey said. “We needed to
move away from the ball. We need
ed to be able to have some perime
ter scoring tonight. They were giv
ing us some pretty good looks at
the basket, but when we did shoot,
it was one shot and out.”
Late in the second half, with
Texas leading 55-50, Jackson and
junior guard Kim Lummus
sparked Texas to an 11-2 run that
took the charge out of A&M’s
comeback effort. Lummus, who is
the cousin of Texas A&M sopho
more guard Amy Yates, scored two
points on a Harvey technical foul
and dished out two assists to Jack-
son during the run. She finished
with 15 points, six assists and a ca
reer high nine rebounds.
“I thought that was the most
positive thing about the game,”
Texas Coach Jody Conradt said.
“When we really needed to buckle
down and make things happen
and make the plays, we did. They
were spreading out the defense
and really getting on us. We just
put the ball on the floor and took it
to the hole and either scored or
made some things happen.”
This week Texas plays at home
against Kansas State and Texas
A&M travels to Stillwater, Okla., to
face Oklahoma State. Both games
are Wednesday at 7 p.m.