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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1998)
March 23, 1998 The Battalion isai #*i> bi t 1 ^ ggies take series from first-place Sooners By Jeremy Furtick Sports editor -laving lost four of its last five games, the 16|Texas A&M Baseball Team limped ) athree-game set against preseason Big 'avorite No. 7 University of Oklahoma, he Sooners were owners of the top of- se and defense in the conference com- into the weekend, and the Aggies held Big 12’s top ERA. Friday night, senior Ryan Rupe gave the ;iesi another dominating performance theimound, giving up one earned run, ing out 12 and allowing only six hits in iht innings for the 7-3 victory. The win Rupe with OU loser Geoff Geary for the 12 lead in victories at six. ‘Right now I’m in a groove,” Rupe said, i not walking too many people, I’m throw- : -Z the ball well and getting three pitches r. All of that is making a big difference.” funior first baseman John Scheschuk 1 junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic , \"e the spark for the Aggies, each collect- three RBI. Scheschuk would lead the Ag- 5 with three hits and junior center field- ason Tyner added two hits. On Saturday the Aggies sent sophomore »ey Possum to the hill and he was spec ular. Possum cruised to a complete- ne win, striking out nine and giving up y two earned runs in the 8-5 Aggie win. eitt Scheschuk again came up big for A&M, driving a first-inning, three-run homer to cap off the Aggies’ second consecutive four- run first inning of the series. Kuzmic blast ed his second homer in as many days, fresh man right fielder Daylan Holt added two hits and an RBI and sophomore Steven Tru itt rapped two doubles, picked up two RBI and two stolen bases. “I was hoping we would get to them ear ly again so Casey wouldn’t have to pitch with his back against the wall,” said Texas A&M Coach Mark Johnson. “We got some runs early and that makes it a lot easier for him to pitch.” Going into yesterday’s game, the .349- hitting Sooners had only managed 10 hits off Aggie pitching to give them a. 169 clip for the series. Johnson said he was worried OU would break out of its slump in the final game as his team went for the sweep. “We want to finish it up, but they’ll be battling,” Johnson said. “They’ve got a good club and our pitchers have been holding them at bay, but I don’t know how long you can hold back a .350-hitting ballclub. Matt (Ward, Sunday’s starting pitcher) will have his work cut out for him.” Johnson was right as OU’s bats finally woke up in the sixth inning of yesterday’s 5- 4 loss. Until that point, Ward had held the Sooners to one hit and no runs and retired 11 batters in a row. But the Big 12 home run leaders busted out with two bombs, one in the sixth and one in the eighth, offWard as he surrendered five runs on six hits in those two innings. The Aggies managed to keep their first- inning scoring streak alive as Tyner led off the Aggie first with a single and came in on Holt’s sacrifice fly. OU starter senior Kevin Olsen cruised after that, sitting down 16 consecutive Aggies going into the ninth in ning with a comfortable 5-1 lead. But Texas A&M would not go down easy. Tyner led off the ninth with a triple, the Ag gies’ first hit since the third inning, that knocked Olsen from the game. The first of three OU relievers came in and promptly gave up an RBI double to sophomore shortstop Steve Scarborough. Holt fol lowed with a run-scoring single to cut the OU lead to two runs. Junior pinch-hitter Eric Sobek laced the first pitch he saw off OU’s third pitcher of the inning for a single and then Kuzmic walked to load the bases with no outs. Junior Kyle Denny came on to face Tru itt with the winning run on first base and surrendered a hard line drive to left field that scored the Aggies’ third run of the in ning. Denny would prove to be Oklahoma’s answer as he shut down two pinch-hitters and stranded the tying run on second base to earn the save. “We made a run at them, but it was a lit- 4 BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion Junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic dives for a ball hit down the line for a double in the sixth inning of yesterday’s 5-4 loss to OU. The Aggies did win the series, however, two games to one. tie late to get going,” Johnson said. “The the series win, and Oklahoma fell to 17-5,4-3. whole key was how well Olsen threw. He The Aggies drew around 10,000 fans for the kept us off balance the whole time.” three-game set and will return to Olsen Field A&M improved its record to 21 -10,7-5 with Friday to begin a series with Kansas State. Atlanta once again the class of the National League East Division Jeremy Furtick sports editor EAST Part 1 in a 7-part series So the Braves have restructured their line up once again and return their usual daunt ing pitching staff. But this may be the best ATLANTA BRAVES 101-61; 1st in NL East; lost NLCS to Florida Marlins The team of the ’90s may have some new ces, but expect the same results — almost. Although the Braves have won seven con- cutive division titles, played in every NL lampionship series in that span (with the ception of the postseason-less 1994) and ^peared in four of the last six World Series, y have only managed to win the October ssic once. This lack of success in the Se- s has cast a shadow of doubt on the Braves’ ce in liistory as one of Major League Base ’s most dominating dynasties. 1998 BRAVES AVG. HR F»B SB C-Javier Lopez .295 23 68 1 1B-Andres Galarraga* .318 41 140 15 2B-Tony Graffanino .258 8 20 6 3B-Chipper Jones .295 21 111 20 SS-Walt Weiss* .270 4 38 5 LF-Ryan Klesko .261 24 84 4 CF-Andruw Jones .231 18 70 20 RF-Michael Tucker .283 14 56 12 SUB-Gerald Williams* .253 10 41 23 *Galarraga and Weiss with Rockies; Williams with Brewers W-L ERA IP RHP Greg Maddux 19-4 2.20 232.2 RHP John Smoltz 15-12 3.02 256 LHP Tom Glavine 14-7 2.96 240 LHP Denny Neagle 20-5 2.97 233.1 RHP Kevin Millwood 5-3 4.03 51.2 W-L SV ERA RHP Mark Wholers 5-7 33 3.50 RHP Mike Gather 2-4 0 2.39 team Atlanta has put on the field this decade. All the Braves have to do to make the playoffs is show up at the ballpark for 162 games. Once there, they just need to stop worrying about what everyone thinks they should do, and do it. Important Additions: IB Andres Galar raga; SS Walt Weiss; OF Gerald Williams. Big Losses: IB Fred McGriff; SS Jeff Blauser; 2B Mark Lemke; OF Kenny Lofton. Projected Record: 105-57; 1st in NL East. X NEW YORK METS 88-74; 3rd in NL East There were only six teams in all of Major League Baseball last season with a better record than the Mets, but two of them hap pened to be in their division. New York shouldn’t challenge for the NL East title, but if they can hold off the rest of the National League, they have a great chance to win the NLWild Card and go to the playoffs. The Mets needed to make a big deal for a No. 1 starting pitcher, but failed through out the off-season. So the most help New York received this winter was the meltdown of the Florida Marlins. New York will have to wait until around July to see All-Star catcher Todd Hundley in uniform after elbow surgery and will be without pitcher Jason Isring- hausen until 1999. Pitcher Bill Pulsipher should make it back from injury for opening day, but fellow starter Paul Wil son probably will not. Hundley has to get back into the lineup healthy for the majority of the season and Bernard Gilkey must re bound after an awful 1997 if the Mets want to be in the race in September. If New York wants to see postseason play, it had better forget about Atlanta and keep its eyes on the other second-place teams in the NL. 1998 METS AVG. HR RBI SB C-Todd Pratt .283 2 19 0 1 B-John Olerud .294 22 10 20 2B-Carlos Baerga .281 9 52 2 3B-Edgardo Alfonzo .315 10 72 11 SS-Rey Ordonez .216 1 33 11 LF-Bernard Gilkey .249 18 78 7 CF-Brian McCrae* .248 5 15 3 RF-Butch Huskey .287 24 81 8 SUB-Rich Becker* .264 10 45 17 ‘McCrae in 45 games with Mets; Becker with Twins W-L ERA IP RHP Bobby Jones 15-9 3.63 193.2 RHP Rick Reed 13-9 2.89 208.1 RHP Dave Mliki 8-12 4.00 193.2 LHP Bill Pulsipher* 1-4 5.89 36.2 RHP Masato Yoshii* 13-6 2.99 174.1 W-L SV ERA LHP John Franco 5-3 36 2.55 RHP Mel Rojas* 0-2 2 5.13 'Pulsipher with A St. Lucie; Yoshii in Japan; Rojas in 23 games with Mets Important Additions: OF Rich Becker; RHP John Hudek. Big Losses: RHP Cory Lidle; OF Alex Ochoa. Projected Record: 85-77; 2nd in NL East. MONTREAL EXPOS 78-84; 4th in NL East Montreal spent 1997 grooming more talent for the rest of the Major League, as they have for the better part of the ’90s. Manager Felipe Alou did another outstanding job with a group of young players, and will have a similar experi ence this season. If the Expos could have kept just a few of the MVPs or Cy Young award winners they have lost recently, they would un doubtedly be battling Atlanta down to the wire for the NL East crown — but they didn’t and they won’t. Alou will just spend this season preparing the likes of Rondell White, Mark Grudzielanek, Carlos Perez and Brad Fullmer for their successful careers with other teams. Please see Furtick on Page 9. OvVlbZ The Road To Stability: Africa in the Next Millennium & F.W. de Klerk Former President of South Africa and Noble Peace Prize Recipient Alan Gelb, Chief economist of Africa for the World Bank Gen. Charles G. Boyd f former Deputy Commander-in-Chief U.S. European Command Muna Ndulo, former Public Prosecutor for Zambian government and Human Rights Expert Barrie Dunsmore , former Foreign Affairs Correspondent- ABC News March 27,1998 8:00 p.m. Rudder Auditorium WILEY Tickets Available at the MSC Box Office 845.1234 (the MSC Box Office takes Aggiebucks) \m LECTURE SERIES Memorial Student Center Persons with disabilities please call 845-1515 to inform us of your JJL (Ei special needs. We request notification three (3) working days pnor to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our ah inties. In ease Spring Break became too much fun. Question: Acct 327 Part I Mon Mar 23 5pm-7pni Part II Tue Mar 24 5ptn-7pin Part III Wed Mar 25 5pm-7pm Part IV Thur Mar 26 5pm-7pin Econ 202 Parti Mon Mar 23 7pm-9pm or 9pm-IIpm Part II Tue Mar 24 7pni-9pm or 9pm-Itpm Part III Wed Mar 25 7pm-9pm or 9pra-Ilpm Part IV Thur Mar 26 7pm-9pm or 9pm-ilpni Math 142 Part I Mon Mar 23 7pm-I0pm Part 11 Tue Mar 24 7pm-10pm Part III Wed Mar 25 7pm-10pm ■r (CS J Math 151 Part I Mon Mar 23 lOpm-lam Part II Tue Mar 24 lOpm-lam Part III Wed Mar 25 IGpm-Iam Math 152 Parti Mon Mar 23 4pm-7pm Part II Tue Mar 24 4pm-7pm Part III Wed Mar 25 4pm-7pm Are there any electric eels near Padre Island? (First 5 to call with ans wer get free review!) Answer appears Thursday Last week's answer: All good statisticians know the spotrea owi is the noble king of beasts. (Awful yummy when deep-fried.) 846-TUTOR (8886) 14.0 & GO i—n i/j^l n -SUL RtxJthu<tu- tttih TAMI! 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