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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1998)
Marct dnesday • March 11, 1998 The Battalion ■PHi mm m m m jm H wgr 1 1 I> xas A&M splits doubleheader with SHSU By Travis Harsch Staff writer I ^ i he temperature dropped Tuesday at Field, so did the A&M Baseball ; fortunes. A&M won the first game doubleheader against Southwest State 6-0, behind a strong perfor- 2 from Chance Caple, but lost a second game, 4-3. )le said he has been doing the things :ds to do to be successful, e been getting ahead in the count, ^ spots and cutting down on walks,” said. “Tve just been letting the de- do the work. The way they’re play- ti not afraid to throw strikes.” ach|Mark Johnson said his staff per- d well in the frigid atmosphere, was cold, but I thought the pitchers ;11 Caple really had his breaking pitch ” Johnson said. the jfirst game, John Scheschuk had hits and drove in a run. The Aggies 1 get 12 hits, two each from Jason ’ anti Craig Kuzmic and five more butlCaple would only need one, as Id the Bobcats scoreless in six in- ^ of work, tying a career-high with [flfstrikeouts and walking only two to improve his record to 4-0 on the year. Clancy Possum came on to preserve the shutout in the seventh and struck out one without allowing a hit. In the second game, Chris Fulbright went six innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out four. Southwest Texas got a run in on a wild pitch in the first to take the lead 1-0. The Aggies had gone hitless into the “I went back to hitting right-handed because we thought it would be good for the team. Steven Truitt Sophomore outfielder third, when Tyner, who had his nine-game hitting streak snapped, reached on an er ror, then scored on Steven Truitt’s third home run of the season to give the Aggies the lead for the first time at 2-1. Truitt, who sat out the first game and batted right-handed for the second game, said he and Johnson discussed the move. “We talked about it, and I went back to hitting righthanded because we thought it would be good for the team,” Truitt said. Fulbright got into a jam in the top of the fifth when he had runners on second and third with one out. He got the next batter to foul out, and Chris Russ snagged a soft line drive to end the inning. Fulbright was relieved in the seventh by Kyle Holle. David Walters hit a solo shot for the Bobcats with one out in the seventh to tie the game at 2. Erik Sobek took the lead back for the Ag gies in the bottom of the seventh on a long drive that cleared the 330 marker in left that made the score 3-2. Eric French, who took over for Holle with one out in the seventh, gave up a lead- off walk in the eighth, then got two outs on a sacrifice bunt and a grounder that ad vanced the runner to third. Anthony Ro driguez singled up the middle to score a run and tied the game again at three. With two outs and two on for A&M in the eighth, Chad Hudson hit a floater to shallow right center, but the Bobcat sec ond baseman made a diving catch to preserve the tie. After an A&M error put e\ ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion Junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic tags out a would-be Sam Houston State base-runner. a man on second with no outs, French fell behind 3-0 on the next batter. He worked the count full, however, and got the strikeout. A single brought home the run that put Southwest Texas back in the lead 4-3. In the bottom of the ninth, Daylan Holt hit a leadoff triple, but the Aggies couldn’t bring him home and the game ended. A&M next travels to Stillwater to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys this weekend in a three-game series. Appeal w 'Baini larpe, Tarkington earn high marks for 1998 1 * ° ° the Aggies; Esters leads A&M thieves Johns rurj e Muif torneyi ) alias if als stl in Cl ts wen ison Fi % m- ry, inq swas | lam- ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion ’rceni jy Jones was a bright spot for A&M’s season. I lhe Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Team has taken its final examinations of the 11997-98 season and the grades, as de fined by no one of any consequence, are in. luards: ringing the ball down the court was left up Inior college transfer Kim Tarkington. Tark- pn, the only Aggie to start all 28 games this pn, led A&M in total minutes played, 960, average minutes per game, 34. lie 5-foot-6-inch junior’s most surprising con- Ition was her 139 rebounds, the third-highest on the team. She finished the season with 156 ts, though she did commit 110 turnovers, inior shooting guard Kerrie Patterson was rfnd on the team with 82 assists. Although she Philip Peter sportswriter played hard and sacrificed her body for the loose ball on more than one occa sion, Patterson was unable to generate any substantial offensive output, shooting just 33 percent from the field for an average of 5.1 points per game. There is no question who the big three-point shooter was. Out of 181 three-pointers taken, sophomore shooting guard Amy Yates, who played the majority of the sea son at small forward, hit 67, nearly three times more than anyone else on the team. Yates was second on the team in both minutes played, 879, and average minutes, 31. However, out of all players who shot at least four times, Yates’ .327 field goal shooting percentage was second-lowest on the team. Finally, freshman Brandy Jones provided a spark off of the bench, starting in only two games. Jones finished fourth on the team in re bounds with 90. She only shot 32 percent from the field, but averaged nine points a game. Her most distinguishing characteristic, her ability to take the ball to the hole without hesita tion, helped her to post 58 assists, but she also committed 68 turnovers. Grade: B- Forwards: Sophomore Prissy Sharpe’s play is the defin ition of finesse. She sank lay-ups, baseline jumpers, three-pointers and turn-around fade away’s to lead the team with 15 points per game. Sharpe’s dominance was most evident on the glass where she pulled down 273 rebounds, 109 more than any other Aggie. Sharpe just seemed to be in the right place at the right time all the time. Sophomore Kera Alexander came off of the bench and showed everyone how to play with intensity. She led all scorers in conference play with 16 points per game. In all games she averaged 14 points while pulling down 164 rebounds, six per game. And her desire was unquestionable. When she put on her game face, it was ob vious she meant business. And she wasn’t afraid to get physical inside either. She also just happened to lead the team in times fouled out with six. Junior Brenda Beard only averaged seven minutes per game, but when she came in, she shot 53 percent from the field. However, she only shot 38 times and her season high scoring total was 10 points. That was in the final game of the year against Iowa State, when A&M was elimi nated from the Big 12 Tournament. The remaining forwards, Lacy Garner, Robin Wise and Samantha Cartwright, played a com bined 26 minutes, scored a combined six points, and recorded a combined five rebounds. In fairness though, all were freshmen and Cartwright blew her knee out two games into the season. GraderA- Centers: With no true post player, an undersized Kim Linder started the beginning of the season play ing in the paint. Through twelve games she av eraged five points and four rebounds while playing 23 minutes. But late in January she frac tured her foot, sat out three games and was un able to bring consistent offense or dominant defense back with her. Sophomore Jennifer Burrows also saw play ing time at center. The Big 12 is a conference full of quality post players though, and Burrows was not experienced enough to contain the compe tition. Burrows averaged three points and a re bound in 13 minutes per game. The third in line on the depth chart was fresh man Margaret Eaton. In four minutes per game, she averaged a point and a rebound. She only saw the court in 12 of 28 games. Grade: D- Coaching Staff: Although technically A&M’s record was worse than the year before, the coaching staff deserves to be commended on their ability to maintain a positive work environment. Please see Aggies on Page 9. tfce SoftbaU \1? 1 1 The Texas A&M Softball Team finished competing in its fourth tournament this weekend, where they have a combined record of 13- 10-1 against some of the top teams in the country. For the season, the team has a 17-10-1 record. Young Guns With Trina Solesbee as the lone senior on the pitching staff, the Ag gies have had to rely heavily on young and inexperienced pitchers. The rest of the staff includes sopho more Danielle Lemuth and fresh men Ashley Lewis, Amy Vining and Kristina Gandara. As a group, the pitchers have an excellent combined ERA of 1.96 with Lewis leading the team at 1.51. The pitchers have also struck out 58 more batters than their opponents (138 to 80) with Lewis again leading with 68. The staff has also shown tremen dous durability on the mound. They have 17 complete games, including three shutouts. Lewis has seven, Vin ing and Gandara have four each, and Lemuth and Solesbee each have one. Lewis and Vining have combined for 13 of A&M’s 17 wins, (Lewis is 7-2 and Vining is 6-1). Offensively, Vining heads the staff with a .345 batting average, a .500 on base percentage and a .621 slugging percentage. She also leads the staff in RBI with nine. Lewis is second with a .257 bat ting average and a .405 slugging. She has 19 hits, scored seven runs and driven in six runs. She and Vining have two of the four home runs hit by the team this season as well. Dope Run-Producin’ The Aggies have outscored their opponents 96 to 85 and have a .246 team batting average compared to a .207 average by their opponents. Freshman centerfielder Tiffany Esters leads the team with a .349 batting average. She also leads in slugging percentage at .444. Esters has a .354 on base percentage, eight RBI and 13 runs scored. Freshman third baseman Aman da Whalen leads the team with 13 RBI and is second on the team with 21 hits, a .321 on base percentage and a .276 batting average. Sophomore shortstop Jamie Smith is tied for second on the team in hits with Whalen at 21, is second on the team in on-base percentage at .323 and in slugging at .329. She has also scored 12 runs and has 11 RBI to go with a .256 batting average. Full-Speed Ahead The Aggies have been a running machine so far this season. They have stolen 52 bases while their op ponents have only swiped 23 bases. Esters currently leads the team, stealing 15 bases out of 16 chances. Freshman Amy Lawler is second, swiping 10 out of 10, including nine in the Aggie Invitational II over the weekend. Senior Tanya Klecker is third on the team with eight and needs only seven more to tie the all-time A&M record of 45. Robert Hollier is a junior journalism major. >11 AGGIE RING ORDERS THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS CLAYTON W. WILLIAMS, JR. ALUMNI CENTER DEADLINE: March 12, 1998 Undergraduate Student Requirements: You must be a degree seeking student and have a total of 95 undergraduate credit hours reflected on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System. (A passed course, which is repeated and passed, cannot count as additional credit hours.) 6Q undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University if your first semester at Texas A&M University was January 1994 or thereafter, or if you do not qualify under the successful semester requirement described in the following paragraph. Should your degree be conferred with less than 60 undergraduate resident credits, this requirement will be waived after you graduate and your degree is posted on the Student Information Management System. 3Q undergraduate credit hours must have been completed in residence at Texas A&M University, ; providing that prior to January 1, 1994, you were registered at Texas A&M University and successfully completed a fall/spring semester or summer term (I and II or 10 weeks) as a full-time student in good standing (as defined in the University catalog). You must have a 2J) cumulative GRR at Texas A&M University. You must be in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. Graduate Student Requirements If you are a May 1998 degree candidate and you do not have an Aggie ring from a prior degree, you may place an order after you meet the following requirements: Your degree is conferred and posted on the Texas A&M University Student Information Management System; and You are in good standing with the University, including no registration or transcript blocks for past due fees, loans, parking tickets, returned checks, etc. However, If you completed all of your course work prior to this semester and have been cleared by the thesis clerk, you may request a “letter of completion” from the Office of Graduate Studies. The original letter of completion, with the seal, may be presented to the Ring Office in lieu of your degree being posted. Procedure To Order A Rina: If you meet all of the above requirements and you wish to receive your ring on May 7, 1998 , you must visit the Ring Office nQ later than Tuesday. March 12. 1998 between the hours of 8:30 a m.-3:30 p.m. to complete the application for eligibility verification. If your application is approved, you must return and pay in full by cash, check, money order, or your personal Discover, Visa or MasterCard (with your name imprinted) qq later than Friday, March 13, 1998 between the hours of 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Men’s 10K-$327.00 Women’s 10K - $201.00 14K 14K $432.00 $225.00 Add $8.00 for Class of '97 or before. The ring delivery date is May 7, 1998. APPLY YOURSELF! Bryan/College Station's first and finest private dormitories are looking for motivated individuals to be a part of the 1998-1999 Resident Advisor Staff. All applicants must have at least one year of college. Applications can be picked-up at the front desk of University Tower in the lobby and are due Friday, April 3 by 5:00 p.m. The Forum FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 840-4242 improvisational comedy Quit your beachin Thursday, March 12 9 p.m. Rudder Forum Tickets are $4 in advance (MSC BoxOffice) http://http.tamu.edu: 8000/~fslip