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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1998)
The Battalion |vfonday • March 2, 1998 exas A&M takes 2 of 3 from Red Raiders By Chris Ferrell Staff writer Lei the games begin. After battling their way to a No. 11 national iking against the likes of Arkansas State and al Roberts, the Texas A&M Baseball Team (13- ■ ■ ....... .. »: BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion lior Craig Kuzmic rounds the bases after his me run in the second game of the Tech series. 3, 2-1) opened Big 12 play this weekend by tak ing two of three from defending conference champions Texas Tech (11-7,1-2) at Olsen Field. The Aggies got off to a strong start on Friday with a career-high 12-strikeout performance by senior pitcher Ryan Rupe as A&M defeated the Red Raiders 5-4. Saturday, however was a different story as Tech evened up the series with a 6-5 victory in 10 innings. But Sunday, there was never a question. A&M jumped on Tech starting pitcher Jesse Cornejo with five runs in the third inning and continued to tattoo the rest of the Red Raider staff on their way to an 11-2 win in the rubber match. “This was a good weekend for us,” Coach Mark Johnson said. “I told the guys we’re going to look back at yesterday (Saturday) and say, T wish, I wish, I wish,’ but that happens in baseball. This was a good game for us. It was a great finish to our week end for us to come back after a heartbreaker yes terday. Those things can take something out of you, so to come back and finish strong today was good.” Johnson said he was glad the young Aggies were able to open up Big 12 play at home. “I think there’s always more pressure on the road,” he said. “I’m more comfortable. Our play ers are more comfortable. Our fans come out. When you’re at home you have to make it happen. When we get into April and we’re out on the road every weekend it will get tough, so when you’re at home you feel like you can’t give a series away.” Junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic led the Aggies’ offensive attack, going four-for-four with three RBI. A&M also got three RBI from sophomore left fielder Steven Truitt, including two on a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Junior center field er Jason Tyner and sophomore shortstop Steve Scarborough each drove in two runs. But as has been the case all season, it was the Aggies’ starting pitchers who continued to turn in impressive performances. Along with Rupe’s 12 strikeouts, sophomore Casey Possum went eight innings on Saturday. Pos sum struck out eight batters and allowed two earned mns as he took a no decision in the team’s extra-inning loss. Sunday, junior pitcher Matt Ward joined Rupe and Possum by picking up his third win of the season with a complete game victory. “I thought all three of our pitchers gave us a chance to win and that's all we can ask them to do,” Johnson said. “In the age of aluminum bats it’s hard to keep the scores down. You want to have a chance. You can’t have a pitcher give up big in nings. [He has to] keep it close and give us a chance to hit. Today, we had some good production.” Tyner shared his coach’s sentiments. “We have a really good pitching staff," Tyner said. “It doesn’t matter, one-two-three, we’re go ing to be tough to beat on every day of the week end. I’d take our staff over anyone in the country.” Most importantly, the series victory sets the pace for a tough Big 12 schedule. Along with the fifteenth-ranked Red Raiders, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas will all be in the running for the tide. Johnson said the com petitive nature of the league is going to be evi dent at the end of the season once the postsea son tournaments start. “It’s going to come down to the regional com mittee saying, ‘the Big 12 is pretty good,”’ Johnson said. “Because we’re going to beat each other up.” ennis teams in action this weekend By Al Lazarus Staff writer ■he No. 38 Texas A&M Women’s mnis Team was swept by No. 14 rigliam Young, 9-0, on Friday, but runced back on Saturday to de- at Kansas State, 5-4. Although the final score may 3t show it, the Aggies (8-2, 1-1) id a solid showing against BYU, a -srennially strong team coming off i upset of No. 10 Pepperdine. ) “If people just look at the final ore, they might think we never had :hance,” freshman Eva Marcial said, iut we were close in every match, id we are proud of ourselves.” Coach Bobby Kleinecke said al- - ough the team was aware of this, ey were not concerned with it. “There’s no doubt that we have i win out (in conference), but it’s ' important for us to take it one match at a time,” Kleinecke said. After winning four of six singles matches against KSU, the Aggies needed to win only one of three doubles matches to secure victory. Marcial and sophomore Kathryn Scott took care of this, winning their doubles match, 9-7. “We knew our match was going to be tough,” Scott said. “But we just went on the court thinking that we were not going to lose.” The No. 33 Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team lost to No. 7 University of Texas, 4-2, Sunday in Austin. The Aggies won the doubles point, but could not get the three singles vic tories they needed to win the match. Winning in doubles for A&M were junior Brent Horan and freshman Du- mitru Caradima, 8-5, and freshmen Rafael de Mesa and Cody Hubbell, 9-7. De Mesa secured the Aggies’ lone singles victory, 7-6, (7-4), 6-1. Men finish 3rd in Big 12 By Jeff Webb Staffwriter Texas A&M made a big splash this past weekend as it took a third-place finish in the Big 12 Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The Ag gies finished behind Texas (886) and Nebraska (638.5) with 579 points. Diver Mark Naftanel put on a stel lar performance by winning the plat form diving and 3-meter diving com petitions and finishing second in the 1m diving event. He earned the Out standing Diver honor and Texas A&M Diving Coach Kevin Wright took home Diving Coach of the Year honors. “I wasn’t really sharp in the pre liminaries, so I worked to simplify my dives,” Naftanel said. “It helped me get more consistent. It was nice to come back tonight and have some solid dives. I think I made a lot of progress in my competition mode and it looks like I’ll be in good shape going into future meets.” Texas A&M also took the 200-yard freestyle relay in a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:18.17. On the third day of competition, the Aggies proved it was not a fluke, garnering second place in the 400 freestyle re lay in NCAA automatic qualifying time of 2:55.06. Men’s Swimming Coach Mel Nash said that was where the focus was placed after the quali fication of the 200 relay team. ‘After we got the 200-free in, we just wanted to come back and get the 400,” Nash said. “Qualifying in the 400 got us one more swimmer in the NCAAs. “I think well have as even better team at next year’s competition. This year, we were only 59 points behind Nebraska, but you have to see where progress is made.” Spring ‘99 id INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS in 154 Bizzell Hall West -Monday, March 2 10:30-11:00 AM -Tuesday, March 3 3:00-3:30 PM -Wednesday, March 4 10:30-11:00 AM -Thursday, March 5 3:00-3:30 PM -Friday, March 6 1:30-2:00 PM ’ick up an application at the meeting or drop by the Study Abroad Program Office. Study Abroad Program Office, 161 Bizzell Hall West, 845-0544 Quantum Cow Tutoring: 260-2697 Univ. Dr. next to CD Warehouse. 2-9pm Sun-Thu. OROrAI^XC Wed. 1 3/4 | 227: 5-7pm Reactions & Quiz Review* 222/227/228 Reaction/Mechcmism Packets! CHEMISTRY 1 02 1 1^1 Tue. 3/3 & 3/10 Part 2 (Chapter 18) 1 1 Wed. 3/4 & 3/11 Part 3 (Chapter 19 If Needed/Tests) I Thu. 3/5 & 3/12 Part 4 (Practice Tests) Also For: Biology 1131114; Sociology 205; Psychology 1(17; Physics 201J2O2J218; Geology Ml Aggie Sports Briefs from staff and Men finish No. 2 at Big 12 Indoors At the Big 12 Indoor Track Cham pionships this weekend, seniors Bil ly Fobbs and Larry Wade turned many heads in the Aggies’ direction. The Texas A&M Men's Track and Field Team surprised many when it took Nebraska down to the wire for first place in the competition. Wade de stroyed the rest of the field in the 55- meter hurdles to win in 7.09. His time is a Big 12 meet record and a NCAA automatic qualifying time. Fobbs enjoyed some success of his own by winning the 55m dash in just 6.22 seconds. In the 200m dash, Fobbs led from start to finish and garnered a NCAA automatic qualifying time with a Big 12 meet record time of 20.92. Junior Mike Lowrance won the Big 12 shot-put title with a heave of 58- 111/4, which is a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. The women did not fare as well de spite some outstanding individual per formances. The Aggie women fin ished ninth in the 12-team field with a score of 44. Senior Adrien Sawyer won the Big 12 Championship in the long jump on Friday and came back to finish second in the 55m hurdles in a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 7.67. Sophomore Chimika Carter was fourth in the 55m hurdles with a time of 7.82, a NCAA provisional time. Women lose at Baylor, 91-76 The Texas A&M Women's Bas ketball Team lost to the Baylor Lady Bears 91-76 Saturday night in Waco. A&M led the game early, 8-6, as it connected on its first four shots. Lat er in the half, Bliss hit a three-point shot to ignite a 10-0 run and put Bay lor up 34-26. A three-point play by sophomore forward Kera Alexander tied the game at 43, before Webb hit a three-point shot to give the Lady Bears a 46-43 lead at intermission. Baylor picked up its defensive in tensify in the second half, forcing 13 Aggie turnovers and put the game away with a 14-4 run. The Bears were led in scoring by Webb who had a game-high 32 points, while Moffitt scored 21 and Bliss added 20. Alexander led four Aggie players in double figures with 23 points, followed by Prissy Sharpe with 21, Kim Tarking- wire reports ton with 13 and Amy Yates with 12. The Aggies finished the regular sea son 8-18,4-12, and earned the No. 10 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. Women’s All-Big 12 Team announced Texas A&M women’s basketball players Prissy Sharpe and Amy Yates were named to the Big 12 Conference Coaches All-Big 12 Teams Sunday. However, forward Kera Alexander was one of the more noticeable omissions. Sharpe, a sophomore who leads the Aggies in scoring (15.3) and rebound ing (10.0), was named third-team All-Big 12 and Yates, a sophomore guard, earned honorable mention status. Missing out on the honors is sopho more Kera Alexander who is leading the Aggies in scoring in conference games with 16.4 points per game. Rough weekend for softball team The Texas A&M Softball Team (12- 8) finished with a 1-5 record in the NFCA Classic Tournament this weekend. The Aggies lost to No. 3 Michigan, 7-4, and No. 7 Arizona State, 8-0, on Friday, then fell to Nicholls State, 2-0, and Canisius, 4-3, on Saturday. During bracket play on Sunday, the Aggies lost to Auburn, 1-0, and then defeated Boston University, 7- 1, with freshman pitcher Amy Vining throwing a complete game with five strikeouts and only one walk to pick up her fourth win of the season. A bright spot for the Aggies during the tournament was the strong play of fresh man third baseman Amanda Whalen, who went a combined six for 18 with five RBI, one run and two stolen bases. Karnes qualifies for NCAA meet Stacie Karnes can breathe a sigh of relief. The wondering is over. Karnes qualified for the 1998 NCAA Championships in the 200-yard freestyle Saturday at the Aggie Invita tional. She swam the event with a time of 1:47.39, a whole second faster than the NCAA cut. Last year she placed 12th in the event, and this will be her fourth consecutive appearance overall. The NCAA Championships will be held March 19-21 in Minneapolis host ed by the University of Minnesota. Study the Greatest Conflict of this Century in Normandy, France SS II 1998 It is an honor and a privilege to participate i in the James Ear! Rudder Normandy Study ' Abroad Program which studies the most jpowerful invasion in modern history when Texas j A&M University's former President Col. James I Ear! Rudder scaled the cliffs of Normandy and began the liberation of France and ultimately the end of World War II. This program is designed to prepare students of today to be pioneers of a peaceful tomorrow. Choose 6 from the following 9 hours offered: POLS 306 - Contemporary Political Problems & Issues of Western Europe Prof. Robert Bohrer HIST 489 - Special Topics in the History of World War II Prof. Jim Bradford HIST 489 - Cultural Representations of World War II in Contemporary France Prof. Francoise de Backer For more Information and Applications Contact: Study Abroad Program Office 161 Bizzell Hall West, 845-0544 FRANCK Hurry! Limited Spaces Available! We're Talking Jobs nternships C- Co-ops Liberal Arts Career Week ONIGHT: Networking Workshop 8:30 p.m. Rudder TOd. Interviewing: Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. Rudder 701 [Resume Writing: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. Rudder 401 DEI ORKING Meet former students and ask questions about job searching, interviewing, career options, etc. Thursday, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. Rudder 501 An opportunity for alumni, company representatives, staff, faculty and students to visit on an informal basis. Attire is business casual. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. -1:00 a.m. Fox & Hound, 505 University Drive East CAREER FAIR Have your resume in hand and be ready to meet with representatives from over 25 companies offering jobs, internships and co-ops. Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Rudder Exhibit Mali Want More Info? 845-4325 /asc_ careerfaiffii'hotmail, com Sponsored by Liberal Arts Student Council and the College of Liberal Arts All Majors Welcome A Summer of Service in Latin America Every summer since 1965, AMIGOS has provided an opportunity to over 18,000 high school and college students to live and serve in Latin America. Countries Served Mexico Honduras Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Paraguay Bolivia Brazil Projects Administered Community Sanitation Human Immunization Environmental Education Dental Hygiene Home Improvement Family Gardens Skills Developed Communication Leadership Interpersonal Foreign Language Cross-Cultural Sensitivity Management Amigos de las Americas Learn more about AMIGOS on Mon. & Tues., March 2 & 3 International Week Celebration Memorial Student Center, 1st floor 5618 Star Lane»Houston, TX 77057*800.231.7796«www.amigoslink.org a journey in understanding a world of differences! PROFITABLE NUMBER! The Battalion Classified Advertising