The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 17, 1998, Image 9

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    The Battalion
Friday • April 17, 1998
ggie Sports Briefs
from staff and wire reports
re
ball gears up
r UT showdown
The Texas A&M Baseball Team
2-13,14-7) will take on the Texas
ms (16-23-1,4-10) for a three-
■series starting Friday in Austin
:30 p.m. The series will then shift
College Station for the final two
j$s on Saturday and Sunday.
The Aggies are coming off a come-
Jehind 10-9 victory against the
Iwls on Tuesday. The Horns re-
fly lost to the University of Texas-
jntonio 4-1 on Tuesday.
Senior pitcher Ryan Rupe will prob-
|y start game one in Austin. Rupe
sa 7-3 record and a 2.64 ERA.
Sophomore Casey Possum will
ably start game two. Possum is
Jfith a 3.35 ERA.
Assuming he recovers from a tight
jow. junior Matt Ward will start the
game of the series. Ward is 6-2
a 4.84 ERA. If Ward cannot go,
Imore Chance Caple will pitch.
ipe nominated
national award
Texas A&M senior pitcher Ryan
His on a list of 12 semifinalists
f the Rotary Smith Award, the only
tional award for college baseball’s
fyer of the year as voted upon by
Sports Information Directors
Serica (CoSIDA).
Rupe has a 7-3 record with a 2.64
land two shutouts.
Including Rupe, the state of
jas has four nominees for the
|rd. The others include Stanford
cher Jeff Austin (Houston), Rice
fielder Bubba Crosby (Houston)
ILSU first baseman Eddy Furniss
icpgdoches).
rack trio look to
intinue quality
lie Texas A&M Track and Field
B will travel to Austin this Satur-
to compete in a five-way meet be-
i Oklahoma, Rice, Houston and
the University of Texas. The meet will
take place at Darrell K. Royal Memo
rial Stadium, the site of the Texas Re
lays just two weeks ago.
The Aggies are coming off of their
most impressive all-around meet of
the season at the A&M Invitational
and will look to carry that momentum
into Austin against perennial power
houses Oklahoma and Texas.
Freshman Esther Eisenlauer will
look to duplicate her last perfor
mance in Austin, when she won the
women’s javelin during the Texas Re
lays. The women’s trio of Adrien
Sawyer, Rosa Jolivet and Chimika
Carter should continue to dominate
the hurdles, while Sawyer and Carter
have also excelled in the jumps.
Meshell Trotter, Megan Koonce and
Kelli Schrader also had exceptional
meets a week ago in the throws.
Over on the men’s side, senior
Larry Wade is the odds-on favorite to
win the 110-meter hurdles, and
freshman Bashir Ramzy will look to
continue his successful dual role as
hurdler and jumper.
Following this weekend, the Aggies
will have little time to rest. Beginning
on Thursday, April 23, Texas A&M will
be competing in Pennsylvania in the
always competitive Penn Relays.
Softball goes on
trip of Oklahoma
The Texas A&M Softball Team (30-
20-1,4-6) will continue its conference
play this weekend after sweeping a
doubleheader against Sam Houston
State on Tuesday.
On Saturday, the Aggies will trav
el to Stillwater to take on No. 8 Ok
lahoma State in a doubleheader.
On Sunday, A&M will travel to
Norman to play a doubleheader
against No. 5 Oklahoma. Both se
ries will begin at noon.
After dropping two games to
Texas last weekend, the Aggies
dropped to sixth in the conference
standings and need to make a
strong showing this weekend to im
prove their current position.
Wizards players under fire
Grand jury presented with testimony in Webber and Howard investigation
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — “Parental discretion
advised” was the best way to describe the evidence
given by witnesses Thursday as the investigation of
a sexual assault complaint naming Juwan Howard
and Chris Webber went before a grand jury.
One witness, an exotic dancer from Atlanta,
told prosecutors the alleged victim spoke of re
ceiving $1,000 after having sex with Webber dur
ing a party at Howard’s house.
“She came in the kitchen, I saw her in the
kitchen” Natasha Shallow told WUSA-TV. “She
told me she had just slept with Chris Webber.
She said she got paid for it, a thousand dollars.
I don’t know if that was true or not. She was in
toxicated and kept on talking.”
Webber and Howard have been under inves
tigation since a Trumbull, Conn., woman filed a
complaint after a party April 6 at Howard’s house
in suburban Maryland. Neither player has been
charged, and both have denied the allegations.
A Montgomery County grand jury spent about
four hours Thursday interviewing several people
who were among the 40 guests at the party.
About 10 people appeared for an early debrief
ing with prosecutors, but all did not testify before
the grand jury, officials said.
State’s Attorney Robert
JH Dean said il may be anoth-
er two weeks before the
ill grand jury completes its in-
jl vestigation.
V "ft 1| “We will take the time to
I W* ^ get as clear a picture as possi
ble,” Dean said.
Thursday’s grand jury wit
nesses mostly disputed the
accuser’s statements.
“It’s a lie,” said Donnie Kirk-
sey, Howard’s high school
coach, who flew in from
Chicago to testify. “It’s not time
about what happened. We know it didn’t happen.”
Ferguson Evans, a lawyer who represents
four women who attended the party, said his
clients told authorities the woman was “trying
to interact with (Webber).”
“He didn’t respond,” Evans said. “She was, ac
cording to them, kneeling down beside him ...
basically trying to get his attention.”
Shallow, the dancer, said Webber left the
party before the woman. She said she later
heard Howard yelling at his friends to get the
woman out of his house.
“Juwan Howard was upstairs and he was telling
friends ‘Get her out of my house, get her out of my
house.’ And all 1 saw was all of these guys picking
her up, taking her outside,” Shallow said. “ (Howard)
pulled me to the side and said ‘What’s wrong with
your girl? She came up in my room trying to get in
my bed and disrespected me.’... He said T didn’t
touch her, I didn’t touch her. I did nothing to her.’”
Mitchell Rubenstein, a lawyer who represents
Howard and Howard’s roommate, Lamont “Juice”
Carter, said Carter and other wimesses have said the
woman was “banging” on Howard’s bedroom door.
“When he finally responds, he tells her he has
no interest. She became irate,” Rubenstein said.
He said the witnesses also said the woman
began throwing insults at Howard.
Neither Webber nor Howard have been inter
viewed by police. Both were with the Wizards
preparing for Friday’s game at Miami.
SFA Lumberjacks prepare for NFL draft
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) —
The effort to recruit Mikhael
Ricks, a multi-talented football
player and a fair tuba player, to
Stephen F. Austin has included a
musical interlude.
Coach John Pearce also made
an extra effort for junior line
backer Jeremiah Trotter, although
neither athlete was heavily re
cruited in high school.
Ricks completed his college eli
gibility by setting an NCAA record
with 28.9 yards per catch for the
Lumberjacks.
“I had to sit through a band con
cert to recruit him because he
played the tuba in the school band,”
Pearce said. “We recruited him as an
athlete and tuba player but he was
so talented we were going to find a
place for him to play.”
Pearce expects both players to
receive more attention in Sunday’s
NFL draft than they did coming out
of high school.
“I expect both of them to go on
the first day,” Pearce said.
Ricks and Trotter could be the
first players selected from Texas,
ahead of players at Big 12 Division
I-A schools.
That’s a sore subject for Pearce.
“You hear knocks on our kids be
cause they played at a Division I-AA
school,” Pearce said. “But with 85
scholarships limit, there are plenty
of good players in Division I-AA.”
The Lumberjacks have several
active players in the NFL including
quarterbacks James Ritchey with
the Tennessee Oilers and Mike
Quinn with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Ricks, a 6-5,237-pound wide re
ceiver with a 4.4 40-yard dash
time, has been projected to play
tight end or wide receiver. But he
could offer serious mismatches for
smaller defensive backs if he lines
up as a wide receiver.
“He played tight end and wide
receiver in college and played ex
tremely well,” Pearce said. “He’ll
be hard to overlook at either spot
and I think he has the ability to
play either one.”
Ricks’ NCAA record of 28.9
yards per catch last season was 4 1-
2 yards better than the previous
record set by Fresno State’s Henry
Ellard in 1982.
He caught 47 passes last season
for 1,358 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Ricks had touchdown catches
of 97, 79, 78, 77, 74, 70, 55, 53 and
50 yards.
Ricks also had TD catches of 68
and 56 yards as an underclassman—
so half of his 22 career touchdowns
covered 50 yards or more.
“I’ll play tight end, H-back, wide
receiver, wherever they want me,”
Ricks said. “Whatever will help my
draft stock, I’ll do.”
Trotter grew up in Hooks, help
ing his father in the wood cutting
business.
His regular chore after school
was chopping wood.
His strength training paid off at
the NFL’s scouting the combine
when he bench-pressed 225
pounds 32 times, the fourth
strongest of the 325 players invit
ed to the combine. Only three line
men lifted more.
Trotter is 6-0, 261 and has a 4.58
40-yard dash time. He had 300 tack
les in three college seasons, inter
cepted three passes and recovered
three fumbles. He also had five
sacks last season.
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For the Champion in Every Aggie
BRICK CAMPA1QM
% Remembering the Aggie Spirit—Leadership, Fair Play, Honesty, and Integrity
TEXAS A&TM UMIVERSITY
ange
The Walk of Champions Brick Campaign has been created to give
all students, former students, and employees the opportunity
to have their name permanently displayed on the Texas A&M
campus and to ensure that this world class university contin
ues to offer a world class recreational sports program.
Order forms available now at the Student Recreation Center. •.
For more information call 845-7826.
SPORTS
a • » mtm « ♦ & *f !» «»’
April 17
7:30 in Rudder Auditorium
with special guest
Jr Ivlb U 11 1 AIN JS jL H
Tickets are S8.00
for more information call 845-1234
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