irsday • April 16, 1998
The Battalion
IE? 1
P ffl If? 11
%dF n ■
Double Impact
lilikely pair of juniors paying off big in new roles for Texas A&M Baseball Team
/ard brings sure-fire, pinpoint accuracy from West Coast
By Travis Harsch
Staff writer
The gunslinger rises from his fa-
iarstance after eying down his foe,
if in slow motion. Then, with a
pkmovement, he whizzes a bullet
his adversary. There’s a big differ-
| between this California gun-
iger and John Wayne, however,
"jn when he is on the mound.
It Sunday starter says he does
tlook to blow away the opposition.
“I’m not an overpowering guy, I
fthave the best stuff. (Ryan) Rupe’s
;ail overpowering fastball and a
atlslider and (Casey) Possum
ows hard from the left side, but I
ft See myself as oveipowering, I Tn
(afraid to admit that,” Ward said.
“Itieems like everyyear I giveup
juta hit an inning. I’m not go-
;to shut out a lot of guys, but
Usually keep us in there,
lang as the guys behind
iplay solid defense.”
■rd says his control is a
olpart of his success.
Jy strong point is that I’m
[jgQmg to walk a lot of guys, I’m
tig to be around the plate and
klthem swing the bat. If they
|>pen to get hits off me, that’s
;,’|Ward said,
loach Mark Johnson
liVard’s pitching style
made him competi-
!;lt was what led
Mto recruit Ward in
first place.
“He’s had great
bess. He’s a
4
bably
ng to give
a hit an in-
ig, but he just doesn’t lose ball-
ties, and that's his history,” John-
i said. “He keeps you in games,
he’s a strike thrower and anytime
you’ve got a strike thrower who can
change speeds from the left side,
you’ve got a chance.”
Ward was at Rancho Santiago Ju
nior College in Santa Ana, Calif.,
when he first thought about com
ing to A&M.
“I hadn’t ever really heard what
A&M was all about, and (Aggie pitch
ing coach Jim) Lawler called my
coach at Rancho, Coach Sneddon,
asking if he had any lefties,” Ward
said. “Coach Sneddon was telling me
what kind of tradi
tion they have
there, and to
justwaituntill
saw the
facility. I hadn’t really talked to any
schools except Cal-State Fullerton
and UC-Santa Barbara, so I came out
for the weekend.”
Once Ward got to A&M, he was
impressed.
“I just couldn’t believe how great
everything was, the players were
saying how great everything was,”
Ward said. “I didn’t get to do much
when I was out here, I just saw one
game, but that was all I needed to
see. I made up my mind that night.
I didn’t call Coach Lawler until a
week later, because I wanted to talk
to my parents, but that night, I knew
I was going to come here.”
So Ward packed up and literally
moved halfway across the
country, away from his
parents and California,
to a school he had vis
ited once.
“My parents used to
come to all my games
and the one tiling I regret
is that they can’t come out
every time I pitch,” Ward
said. “That was the hardest
choice I’ve had to make.”
Thanks to modem technolo
gy, Ward’s parents can still attend
his games, in a virtual sense. The
A&M athletic department updates
most of the baseball games through
its Web site and Ward’s parents are
frequent visitors.
“They’re always in the chat room.
At first, they didn’t know anything
about it, then they found out about
it while they were here, and soon
as they got back they started
going into the chat room,”
Ward said. “The guy who
was updating it asked
my dad if he was
any rela
tion
to me and my
dad told him I was his
son and now every time we have a
game, they go in the chat room.”
Please see Ward on Page 9.
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Clean-up hitter Scheschuk adding spice to Aggies’ lineup
By Chris Ferrell
Stoffwriter
Going into the season it would
have been understandable for the av
erage person to confuse John
Scheschuk with something you
might order at a Chinese restaurant.
But with the big numbers the junior
first baseman has put up for theTexas
A&M Baseball Team this season, the
only com
parison
he’s
drawing
to
szechuan
these days stems from the fact that
both are extremely hot at the plate.
After losing 73 percent of last sea
son’s home runs and 60 percent of last
years RBI to graduation or to profes
sional baseball, there was a huge void
that needed to be filled in the power
department. It was a role that
Scheschuk took on with open arms.
“I don’t go out there trying to
hit home runs,” Scheschuk said.
“I just try to go out and get base
hits. I took on the responsi
bility of supplying some
power in the line up
but I don’t think we
have any one guy
who is the focus.
“I'm looking to drive the ball
hard. I don’t think you can go up
there just looking to get a piece of it.
When you hit the ball hard that’s
when some of those line drives start
going for home runs.”
Scheschuk ranks second on the
team in home runs with 12, one be
hind junior third baseman Craig
Kuzmic. He leads the team with 45
RBI and a .679 slugging percentage.
He has also managed to put up all
of these power numbers while
posting the team’s second-best
batting average, .365.
But it’s not like these numbers
were totally unexpected.
Scheschuk showed signs
of brilliance last season
before being sidelined
with an injury.
“I knew 1
could play
at this
level,”
said. “I started to get a chance last
year and I got hurt -1 pulled a mus
cle. But I had some great guys in
front of me during that time like Ja
son Stephens and Jeff Baily who re
ally helped me out. I think that’s
helped this year.”
Scheschuk made 20 starts as the
designated hitter last season and one
at first base. During that stretch he
posted a .300 batting average with two
home runs (both coming in a game
against Oklahoma) and eight RBI.
But it was this past summer while
playing in the Cape Cod League that
Scheschuk began to show some of
the potential that he showed after be
ing named the Houston player
of the year his junior and senior
years of high school.
Scheschuk was the starting
DH in the All-Star game after
winning the leagues home-
run derby and being named
his team’s MVR He posted
seven home runs and 28 RBI
with a .285 batting average
“He put up big numbers
this summer in the Cape Cod
League so we knew he was ca
pable of doing it,” Coach Mark
Johnson said. “Plus we’ve had
John for a couple of years and felt
like he could swing the bat pretty
well. He’s kind of a funny hitter be
cause when he gets going he can
hit a couple out in one game.”
That was evident this past
weekend when Scheschuk hit
five home runs in three games
against Nebraska.
But for all the offense
Scheschuk has brought to
the team, it has been his
leadership in the
clubhouse which
has had the
biggest im
pact on his
teammates.
With a young
team that features only three return
ing starters this season it was impor
tant for someone to step up and take
a vocal role.
“I’ve been in that role almost my
whole life, going back to little league,”
Scheschuk said. “I want to say the
right thing, but you have to be care
ful because you don’t want to upset
anyone or get them angry over what
you’ve said. I still think the best lead
ership is by example.”
Please see Scheschuk on Page 9.
PHOTOS BY BRANDON BOLLOM AND ROBERT MCKAY
April 17 x - 70
7:30 in Rudder Auditorium
with special guest
FREUDIAN SLIP
Tickets are $8.00
for more information call 845-1234