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!
Tickets go on sale Sunday 5-7 p.m. and Monday at 3 p.m.
4.0 & Go is located om the corner of SW Pkwy and Tx Ave, behind KFC next to Lack’s
Look for our ads
in the Batt on
Mondays
&Thursdays