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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1998)
Monday • March 30, 1998 The Battalion SPORTS fVggies power way to series sweep against KSU IR do. By Jeremy Furtick Sports editor si ilned and ready for a weekend 25 ies against the Kansas State Wild es (11-15, 3-7), the No. 14 Texas M Baseball Team (26-10, 10-5) inded out 31 hits and 29 runs and i3i le I lie live arms of senior Ryan ?< pe, sophomore Casey Possum and 22 lot Matt Ward to its first Big 12 se- : fisteBveep of the season. '%Rupe took the hill Friday night s ' ha perfect 4-0 conference record 5 i worked a complete game, strik- out nine in the Aggies’ 10-2 win. Freshman right fielder Daylan It was the spark for the Aggies as ®Hive in four runs with a double : Ihome run. Junior first baseman n Scheschuk also hit a home run : i sophomore second baseman 3ga? s — •JURTICK -Btinued from Page 6. Bsxas returns one of baseball’s best ill] tens and closers and a powerful batting der. It should have enough to carry it into e ] layoffs via the Wild Card. ^.Bnportant Additions: RHP Aaron Sele; SS J^jVi Elster; OF Roberto Kelly; 2B Luis Alicea. iHig Losses: C Jim I^eyritz. ■rojected Record: 87-75; 2nd in ALWest. r AHEIM ANGELS 84-78; 2nd in AL West Sean Heaney picked up two hits and scored twice. Saturday’s starter was Possum, who was coming off his first confer ence victory last weekend against Oklahoma. He carried his success over the So oners into the KSU game and was flawless until the eighth in ning. Trailing 5-0, KSU tagged Pos sum for four runs on five hits and cut the Aggie lead to one. A&M responded with its biggest inning of the night, a five-run explo sion highlighted by Scheschuk’s tow ering blast over the 25-foot wall 400 feet away in dead center field for a grand slam. Possum would finish the ninth for the Aggies’ second consec utive complete game. Scheschuk tallied five RBI on the night, sophomore shortstop Steve Scarborough would add three hits and two RBI and sopho more DH Chad Hudson cranked a two-run homer to help Texas A&M to the 10-4 win. The Wildcats took their first lead of the series 2-0 in the second inning of yesterday’s game and led the Aggies going into the bottom of the third. Singles by junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic, senior catcher Scott Sandusky and sophomore left fielder Steven Truitt, three KSU errors and back-to-back jacks by Holt, his sec ond of the series, and Scheschuk, his third to go with seven RBI, put A&M on top for good after third. Ward would surrender a lone run in the fourth inning and an unearned run in the sixth, but did an overall nice job on a day when the wind was whipping out to left field. Scarborough belted a two-run blast in the bottom of the fourth and redshirt-freshman Darren Heimichs added an RBI-single in the fifth. Fresh man Clancy Possum and senior Eric French would close out the last 2-2/3 innings of the game to seal the 9-5 vic tory for the Aggies and Ward (5-2). The win was the Aggies’ fifth in a row and their eighth in the last nine games. With the sweep, A&M match es Baylor with 10 Big 12 wins to lead the conference, but stays percentage points behind the Bears (24-7-1, 10- 3) for first place in the conference. “We’re going to have to sweep some people if we want to win the Big 12,” said junior center fielder Jason Tyner. “It’s fortunate that we’re get ting hot right now, we’re in the home stretch—this is where we’ve got to do it or we’re going to end up second or third in the Big 12.” :1ft iMBlMlMI Sii RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Sophomore Steven Ttuitt nails KSU catcher Yancy Ayers after attempting to steal home in the second inning. A&M would likewise bowl over the Wildcats, outscoring them 29-11 for the three-game sweep. Truitt was out on the play. 1998 ANGELS C-Todd Greene* 1 B-Darrin Erstad 2B-Randy Velarde 3B-Dave Hollins SS-Gary DiSarcina LF-Garret Anderson CF-Jim Edmonds RF-Tim Salmon DH-Cecil Fielder* SUB-Phil Nevin* *greene in 34 games with Angels; Fielder with Yankees; Nevin with Tigers W-L ERA IP AVG. HR RBI SB .290 9 24 2 .299 16 77 23 PLAYED ONE GAME .288 16 85 16 4 47 7 8 92 10 26 80 5 .296 33 129 9 .260 13 61 0 .235 9 35 0 .246 .303 .291 The Angels re bounded last season to challenge Seattle for the AL West crown. Bhuck Finley and Jason Dickson will be a olk! one-two punch, and Troy Percival is as )0< l as they come in the closer department. Whit or the Angels to compete for a playoff 1 )0t Ken Hill will have to have a big season. JgBnaheim has a very balanced lineup and defense across the field. They added ecil Fielder to produce some power for a neup that only had two players hit more 1£SJl! . lan 16 home runs. In a division where every Kr team had at least four players with 20 onie runs, and three players in the division u |or1 , kpver 40 homers, Fielder’s power will be a ugc factor for the Angels. ■he Angels have a lot of guys who fre- uently get on base. If they can drive them in lirK often, and their weak middle-relief can ~eep the game in hand for Percival, Anaheim /31 battle down to the wire for the Wild Card. Important Additions: DH Cecil Fielder; 1 Omar Oliveras. RHP Jason Dickson LHP Chuck Finley j RHP Ken Hill* | RHP Omar Oliveras* j LHP Allen Watson I RHP Troy Percival ! RHP Mike James 13-9 4.29 13-6 4.23 4- 4 3.65 1-4 5.49 12-12 4.93 W-L SV 5- 5 27 5-5 7 *Hil! in 12 games with Angels; Oliveras in 13 games with Mariners the role as star of this team since the depar ture of Mark McGwire last season. Big shoes to fill, but Grieve has excelled at every minor league level and was impressive in his short stint with the big club last season. Rickey Henderson and Tom Candiotti, along with Mike Blowers and Kurt Abbot, were brought in to keep a few spots warm for Oakland’s promising ftiture stars. Oakland will probably be out of the race by the end of April, but the ftiture looks promising for the As Important Additions: OF Rickey Hender son; RHP Tom Candiotti; RHP Mike Fetters; LHP Kenny Rogers. Big Losses: 3B Scott Brosius; RHP Steve Karsay. Projected Record: 72-90; 4th in ALWest. Big Losses: OF Rickey Henderson; 2B Tony Philips; RHP Dennis Springer. Projected Record: 84-68; 3rd in ALWest. OAKLAND ATHLETICS 65-97; 4th in AL West Rebuilding is such a light term for Oak land’s 1998 season. The good news for Oak land is that many of its fresh faces have the chance to be household names in a fewyears. One of these prospects, however, has a jump on his new teammates. Ben Grieve is the most promising youngster in the game today and is the early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year accolades. He has been handed 1998 ATHLETICS AVG. HR RBI SB C-A.J. Hinch* .309 20 73 8 1 B-Jason Giambi .293 20 81 0 2B-Scott Spiezio .243 14 65 9 3B-Mike Blowers* .293 5 20 0 SS-Kurt Abbott* .274 6 30 3 LF-Rickey Henderson* .183 2 7 16 CF-Jason McDonald .263 4 14 13 RF-Ben Grieve* .312 3 24 0 DH-Dave Magadan .303 4 30 1 SUB-Matt Stairs .298 27 73 3 *Hinch with A Modesto; Blowers with Mariners; Abbott with Marlins; Henderson in 32 games with Padres; Grieve in 24 games with A’s W-L ERA IP LHP Kenny Rogers* 6-7 5.65 145 RHP Tom Candiotti* 10-7 3.60 135 RHP Ariel Prieto 6-8 5.04 125 RHP Jimmy Haynes 3-6 4.42 73.1 RHP Mike Qquist 4-6 5.02 107.2 W-L SV ERA RHP Mike Fetters* 1-5 6 3.45 LHP Billy Taylor 3-4 23 3.82 ‘Rogers with Yankees; Candiotti with Dodgers; Fetters with Brewers Men’s tennis team takes two on Friday By Al Lazarus Stajf writer The No. 19TexasA&M Men’s Tennis Team swept a Big 12 doubleheader Friday at the Omar Smith Tennis Center, trouncing Mis souri 7-0 in the afternoon match, and rolling over Oklahoma 6-1 in the nightcap. A&M (9-2,4-1) showed its superior depth against the Tigers, playing only two regulars from its top six, freshmen Rafael de Mesa and Cody Hubbell, and still winning 7-0. Coach Tim Cass expressed his satisfac tion with diis accomplishment. “Some of the guys who hadn’t been play ing as much came in and did a great job, so I was really happy for them,” Cass said. “Our depth is probably one of our str ongest suits.” The Aggies started their match against Mizzou by winning all three doubles matches to get the doubles point, which they have won against every team this year except OSU. De Mesa and Hubbell, playing No. 1 dou bles for A&M, won 9-8 (7-4). Sophomore Juan Aramburo and freshman Brian Lubin played in the No. 2 slot for the Aggies, and won 8-6. Rounding out the Aggies’ doubles sweep of the Tigers were sophomores Gon- zalo Anderson and Tony Young, who won their No. 3 doubles match 8-1. Playing No. 1 singles and winning 6-0,6- 0 for the Aggies was de Mesa, who is cur rently ranked 38th in the nation. Moving up to play in the No. 2 position was Hubbell, who also rolled to an easy victory 6-0,6-0. Aramburo, Lubin, Anderson and Young rounded out singles play for the Aggies against Missom i, and all won in straight sets. Emotions ran high in the Aggies’ night match against Oklahoma. In de Mesa’s No. 1 singles match against Oklahoma’s Adam Neal, both players repeatedly questioned each other’s calls, and at one point Neal re ceived a point penalty for hitting a ball into the crowd, which was one of the largest this year at the Smith Tennis Center. In the end, though, de Mesa let his superior skills do the talking, and he won 6-3, 6-1. De Mesa, who had lost his last three matches coming into Friday’s double- header, said he was more concerned with getting back on track than with his McEn- roe-esque opponent. “After losing a few tough matches, I just wanted to win, because once you start winning again, you get more fired up,” de Mesa said. Senior Carlos Tori, playing No. 2 singles for the Aggies, won 6-0,6-4. In the No. 3 slot for A&M and winning 6-2,6-0 was freshman Shuon Madden, who improved his singles record to 10-0. Also winning in singles play for the Aggies were freshman Dumitru Caradima, 6-3,6-2, and Aramburo, 6-3,4-6,6-2. A&M again started the match by win ning all three doubles matches to win the doubles point. The Aggies will next take on No. 31TCU on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Omar Smith Tennis Center. Looking ahead to several tough matches, starting with TCU on Thursday, Aramburo said that overall, the Aggies are in good shape. “We are in a good position right now, but we don’t really care about our ranking that much,” he said. “We just want to go out there and make a statement every match.” ; f . ik *1,1, H ! ! J: 4 ,, , ■ -'•v i " ’ • ■ ''-wgyiiiyii ■ jj|| Wjp ' ’BN -vSBBsC, ..uilCTfcli..; ■ ..'A 'i&fc; ' Ii‘>! 'f 1 ,\ ! ' . ! .ifc, ;4Hl J ■. J " ‘ L < ^*' ?JT y"-” ■ ,7^' •- 7 If ^“perfS* P°^° n Cg?t genital varts That’s because up to two out of five college students could have the virus that causes genital warts. The good news is that genital warts can be treated in a number of ways. If you’re concerned about genital warts or want more information about treatments, call the number below. : - l ;W, v ■ ; . .A; ’ S?V7-;, ^7’:. M \ call 1-800-544-1569 to find out what you can do about genital warts 3M Pharmaceuticals