The Battalion Wednesday • April 8, 1998 itte Vggie Sports ■RIEFS ' from staff and wire reports ten’s team Jumps o No. 17 ranking The Texas A&M Men’s Tennis am iust keeps moving on up. The gies have a No. 17 ranking in the :esl edition of the Rolex Collegiate inkings released Tuesday, do The Aggies (11-3, 4-1) jumped two Aisitions in the national rankings for ^Jo-week period beginning Tuesday. The Aggies are the second-highest d nked team in the Big 12, behind ily [Texas at No. 7. Other Big 12 hobls in the top 50 include No. 25 jylor. No. 37 Oklahoma State, No. ) Kansas and No. 41 Colorado. His ranking does not take into ac- iunt any matches played on or after arch 30, including the Aggies’ re- nntpns over then No. 31 TCU and ). 40 North Carolina, or the loss is past weekend to No. 13 Duke, j The Aggies only three losses this 4 sason are to teams in the top 15. fell to 4-3 at No. 6 Louisiana ate (now ranked No. 5), to No. 8 ixas on the road, 4-3 (now ranked D. f) and to No. 13 Duke the road, 2 |now ranked No. 18). liadden receives conference honor j Texas A&M freshman Shuon Mad- i enjhas earned Big 12 Tennis Player Y the Week honors for second con- Hitive time, the league office an- ounced Tuesday. Hadden, who hails from Miami, Fla., | iflpeen a driving force behind the Ag- jes' success this season. His 130 verall record since joining the team has een vital in the Aggies’ 11-3 record and rfheirNo. 17 national ranking. U| This past week, Madden posted a ^ TO singles record as the Aggies took J i break from conference play. Mad- ' fen is the Aggies’ leading dual match singles winner with a 130 record and n the Big 12 he holds a 40 record, ill at No. 3 singles. Madden also has seen limited action at No. 1 singles. Ninth-inning A&M rally falls short Aggies lose for second time to Sam Houston 5-4 after spotting Bearkats five early unanswered runs A: ■.. ; . ■':fV. By Travis Harsch Staff writer A ninth-inning rally came too late for the Aggie Baseball Team Tuesday night in a 5-4 loss to the Sam Hous ton State Bearkats that had several questionable calls. Coach Mark Johnson said the Aggies didn’t come out with their best game. “We hit the ball early, right at them, then we went into goose eggs,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to take anything away from their pitcher, but we see better pitching than that on the weekends, and there’s no excuse not to be ready for it on Tuesday.” The Bearkats got on the board first in the second, as Chris Ful- bright gave up a double with a man on second to make the score 1-0. After giving up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs in the second, he worked his way out of the jam for the Aggies by getting a sac rifice fly that turned into a double play as a runner on third left before the ball was caught. A popout to Craig Kuzmic at third ended the inning and kept the score at 1-0. Fulbright was pulled with two outs in the third after giving up two runs to make the score 3-0. Chance Caple came on relief and hit a bat ter with his first pitch before getting the last out of the inning. Sam Houston State led 5-0 after the fourth, when the Bearkats put runners on first and second with no outs. A single and a sacrifice fly made the score 5-0. A leadoff walk to John Scheschuk led to runs for the Aggies in the fourth, as Steven Truitt scored him with a triple to right that kicked up chalk as it landed fair and rolled to the corner in rightfield. Truitt then scored from third on a single by Sean Heaney to make the score 5-2. Outstanding defense got the Ag gies out of the sixth without allow ing a run, as they picked off two Bearkat runners attempting to steal, one at the plate on a double steal at tempt with two outs that ended the inning with the score 5-2. Daylan Holt doubled with one out in the eighth and things were beginning to look up for A&M when John Scheschuk sacrificed Holt over to third. The umpire ruled, howev er, that Holt had left second before the ball had been caught, ending the inning and prompting Johnson to argue the call. “I don’t usually go out, I tried re ally hard this year not to go out, but I felt like he may have missed the call,” Johnson said. “He felt com fortable with his call, he didn’t feel like there was a lot of question.” The Aggies’ ninth began with con troversy as Truitt hit a ball down the left-field line. The third-base umpire didn’t signal whether the ball was fair or foul, however. Widi Truitt standing on first, the home plate umpire ruled the ball had been foul and Truitt headed back to the plate, striking out on die next pitch. Sean Heaney then ripped a double to left. The third-base umpire sig naled the ball fair this time and Heaney had a double. After a wild pitch advanced Heaney to third, Craig Kuzmic crushed a ball to deep right field for his ninth homer of the year and cut the Bearkats’ lead to 5-4. “Part of me wanted it to fall in and for me to get on base, they al ways say that a home run is a rally killer and you never know what could have happened with more singles,” Kuzmic said. With William Gray on first after a single, the Aggies’ put the hit-and- run on to take advantage of Gray’s speed with Scott Sandusky at the plate. A foul ball by Sandusky was caught by the Bearkat first base- man, who then beat Gray back to first to end the game. 1 7:". > ih'V;: " "x- \ ^ tr. M "■■■ ' -HI * ' -J Big 12 game returns to St. Louis DALLAS (AP) —The Big 12 football championship will return this year to the site of the inaugural confer ence title game at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis. “It’s a great city and the facilities are great,” Big 12 Commissioner Steve J. Hatchell said Tuesday, adding that the supportive city and its hotels helped make the 1996 game a success. The title game moved to San Antonio last season. This year’s game is Dec. 5. Texas defeated Nebraska 37-27 in the first Big 12 championship at St. Louis. The game fell short of ca pacity attendance, although it produced $500,000 in additional revenue for conference schools. The winner of this year’s game, to be televised by ABC Sports, will again represent the league in the Bowl Alliance. “We had a really good experience in St. Louis in 1996,” said Donnie Duncan, Big 12 senior associate commissioner. “They have a tremendous facility there. It’s A-plus and all of the pieces fit. The rationale was solid and it all worked out in terms of the negotiations, the poten tial revenue strengths and ticket locations.” The Dome, home to the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, has more than 65,000 fixed seats plus more than 6,000 club level seats, with 109 luxury suites. In February, athletics directors reviewed opera tional results of the first two Big 12 football champi onships in considering plans for future contests. Directors reviewed financial packages, scheduling and choices of venues for this year’s football championship. In 1996, Dr Pepper/Cadbury North America signed a four-year agreement to become title spon sor of the Big 12 football championship. RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Texas A&M catcher Scott Sandusky manages to tag out one Sam Houston State player who attempts to steal home in the sixth inning in last nightls game. Astros lose extra-inning affair with Giants SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pinch- hitter Rey Sanchez singled in the winning run in the 10th inning as the San Francisco Giants won their home opener, 5-4 Tuesday over the Houston Astros. With one out in the 10th, J.T. Snow and Rich Aurilia drew walks off Billy Wagner (0-1). Sanchez then lined a single to center and Snow slid around the tag of catcher Tony Eusebio to score the winning run. Robb Nen (1-0) pitched two per fect innings, striking out two. Houston, which had just five hits, tied the score with two runs in the seventh. An RBI double by Craig Biggio and a run-scoring single by Derek Bell off reliever Julian Tavarez made it 4-all and tainted a strong start by Orel Hershiser in his first home game for San Francisco. Once a favorite target of Giants fans when he pitched for the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, Hershiser got a long standing ovation when he left the game in the sixth with a 4-2 lead. Jeff Kent drove in two runs for San Francisco with an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the fifth. Barry Bonds added a run-scoring single in the fifth for his first RBI of the season. Bonds, who is hitting .219, went l-for-4 with a walk and was robbed of an extra-base hit in the seventh on a lunging backhand ed catch by left fielder Moises Alou. ua/wa/wCA-j euA. Benefit your brain, GPA and resume with summer classes at your neighborhood Dallas Community College. (Summer I classes begin June I, Summer II classes begin July 9 - and the credits are a snap to transfer.) DALLAS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT Brookhaven Cedar Valley Eastfield El Centro Mountain Vew North. Lake Richland Call 1-817-COLLEGE for more information. Web site: www.dcccd.edu F O R the EDUCATION a ji d RESEARCH COMMUNITY HELPING YOU BUILD A SECURE FINANCIAL FUTURE IS AN IMPORTANT JOB. 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