Sports
Thursday • Marcl r?
Women’s tennis team hosts top-ranked Stanr
By Philip W. Peter
Staff writer
For only the third time in March, the
Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team will
play at home, and the competition could
not be tougher as No. 1 Stanford visits
the Omar Smith Tennis Center at 1:30
p.m. today.
Coach Bobby Kleinecke is excited
about the opportunity to play the No.l
team in the nation at home. But Klei
necke said playing at home against a
school with the tennis history that Stan
ford has is not as big of an advantage as
it might seem.
“In tennis, it (the home court advan
tage) doesn’t play in like it might in other
sports,” Kleinecke said. “Obviously it’s a
tough road. But they’re just coming off of
a match in which Harvard went 5-4 with
them. Harvard was No. 25 and we’re No.
30. That’s not far off. Things can happen
and we’re looking forward to it.”
Kleinecke said
that the team’s ap
proach to the match
was not necessarily
team oriented.
“You need to go into
this match thinking
more individual wise,”
Kleinecke said. “When
you talk about a team
the caliber of Stanford,
you go looking individ
ually. Everybody needs to get an individ
ual win and if five people get that, we’ll get
the team match.”
After taking the week of Spring
Kleinecke
Break off, junior Monica San Miguel
said she thinks the team is ready to
come back and work hard to finish off
the last nine matches of the season.
San Miguel said the team has nothing
to lose and is pumped up to play a
quality team like Stanford.
“There’s a lot more excitement be
cause there is such a challenge before
you,” San Miguel said. “You want to see
how well you can do and maybe, if you’re
having a really good day and you put
everything you have into it, you’ll come
out with a win and that would be great.”
A&M will have to put everything into
their performance to get a team win
against Stanford because only two play
ers on the team are riding a winning
streak. They are confident, however, and
ready to accept the challenge.
Sophomore Lisa Dingwall and the Women's tennis team
Furtick
Continued from Page 13.
BOSTON
RED SOX
78-84; 4th in A.L East
Boston is trying to claw its way back onto
the top of the AL East, but it won’t happen this
season. They have a great lineup, but don’t
have the pitching to carry them through the
pitcher-rich AL East.
Boston’s signing of Pedro Martinez was a
step in the right direction, but he may again
be the best pitcher in the league on one of the
weaker teams. Tim Wakefield and Bret Saber-
hagen will have to have huge seasons to make
up for Boston’s lack of pitching depth.
Dennis Eckersley was brought in to add
stability to Boston’s future closer, Tom Gor
don, but has flopped this spring. So even if the
Red Sox starters can get the game to the
bullpen, they might not be able to breathe
easy and collect the win.
But Boston should be better. They have
one of the most exciting new players in the
game, Nomar Garciaparra, entering his sec
ond season, and have one of its most feared
hitters, Mo Vaughn.
Boston probably won’t contend, but it will
beat some teams down the stretch. The Red
Sox will be the spoilers in the AL East.
Important Additions: RHP Dennis Ecker
sley; OF Darren Lewis; C Jim Leyritz; RHP Pe
dro Martinez.
Big Losses: OF Wil Cordero; RHP Carl Pa-
vano; RHP Aaron Sele.
Projected Record: 80-82; 4th in AL East.
1998 RED SOX
AVG.
HR
RBI SB
C-Jim Leyritz* .282
0
14 1
1B-Mo Vaughn .315
35
96 2
2B-John Valentin .306
18
77 7
3B-Tim Naehring .286
9
40 1
SS-Nomar Garciaparra .306
30
98 22
LF-Troy O'Leary .309
14
34 6
CF-Damon Buford* .224
8
39 18
RF-Darren Bragg .257
9
57 10
DH-Reggie Jefferson .319
13
67 1
SUB-Darren Lewis* .299
1
10 3
•Leyritz in 37 games with Rangers; Buford
with Rangers; Lewis in 26 games with
Dodgers
W-L
ERA
IP
RHP Pedro Martinez* 17-8
1.90
241.1
RHP Tim Wakefield 12-15
4.25
201.1
LHP Steve Avery 6-7
6.42
96.2
RHP Brian Rose* 17-5
3.02
190.2
RHP Bret Saberhagen* 0-1
6.58
26
W-L
SV
ERA
RHP Dennis Eckersley* 1-5
36
3.91
RHP Tom Gordon 6-10
11
3.74
'Martinez with Expos; Rose with AAA Paw-
tucket; Saberhagen in 6 games with Red
Sox; Eckersley with Cardinals
The Inaugural Season
TAMPA
BAY
DEVIL
RAYS
The Devil Rays are going about their first
season much the same as the Diamondbacks
are — signing big names to fill the roster. But
Tampa Bay has strayed away from the big
contracts and spent its money on more vet
erans and less superstars.
Tampa Bay will likely be the last stop for
the careers of players such as Fred McGriff,
Wade Boggs and Dave Martinez. But the Dev
il Rays hope they can muster a few more sol
id years out of these veterans to help the team
turn the corner into the next century.
Tampa Bay does boast a decent pitching staff
withWilson Alvarez, Vaughn Eshelman, Dennis
Springer and Tony Saunders. These starters will
hand the ball to Roberto Hernandez who will be
closing the expansion team’s games.
It will likely be a long season for the Rays,
but no one expected them to actually con
tend. The worst part about expanding into the
AL East in 1998 is that Tampa Bay will be
forced to battle the toughest pitching division
in baseball. ButTampa Bay may challenge tli
1961 Angels’ expansion record of 70 wins.
(1998 DEVIL RAYS~
AVG. HR RBI SB
C-John Raherty SO .273 9 46 4
tB-Paul Sorrento SEA 269 31 80 0
2B-Miguel Cairo* 241 0 10
3B-Wade Boggs NYY 292 4 28 0
SS-Kevin Stocker PHI 266 4 40 11
LF-BubbaTrammelDET .228 4 13 3
CT^XrtriMjCraclenOOL 292 3 36 28
RF-Dave Martinez CWS 286 12 55 12
DH-Fred McGriff ATL .277 22 97 5
SUB-Mike Kelley CIN .293 6 19 6
‘Cairo in 16 games with Cubs
W-L ERA IP
LHP Wilson Alvarez SF 4-3 4 48 66 1
RHP Rolando Arrojo* 5-6 3.43 89 1
LHP Tony Saunders FLO4-6 4 61 111.1
RHP Derris Sponger ANA 9-9 5.18 194.2
UPUM^BhetraiBOS 3-3 6.33 42 2
W-L SV ERA
RHP Roberto Hernandez SF 5-2 4 2.48
: RHP Jim Medr NYY 0-4 0 5 88
•Arrojo with A St. Petersburg
Important Additions: IB Fred McGriff;
IB Paul Sorrento; SS Kevin Stocker; RHP
Wilson Alvarez; RHP Roberto Hernandez;
OF Dave Martinez.
Big Losses: 1B Dmitri Young; OF Bobby Abneu.
Projected Record: 68-94; 5th in AL East.
—Jeremy Furtick is a senior
, journalism major.
Aggil
Sport-
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