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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1998)
Monday • April 20, 1998 The Battalion 'SPORTS ggies lock down Longhorns at Olsen, 11-4 slief pitcher Eric French reminds Garrido why he is UT’s all-time saves leader with late-inning heroics for A&M RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Igg e sophomore shortstop Steve Scarborough gets gunned down in a questionable call ifSecond base during the fourth inning of Texas A&M’s 11-4 win over the rival Longhorns. By Travis Harsch Staff writer Eric French, unable to quit smiling and wearing a cap that said “Aggies,” would have been out of place in the A&M media room a year ago. This weekend, French’s smile summed up the series with Texas quite nicely. Texas coach Augie Garrido did not renew French’s scholarship last season and the Longhorns’ all-time save leader transferred to be the closer for the Aggies. Sunday afternoon, French got his shot at revenge and took ad vantage of it, getting tire final four outs of the game as the Aggies took the third game ,11-4. “I can't say I haven’t been looking forward to playing against Texas. It’s been marked on my calendar,” French said. “My legs were shaking, I was getting goosebumps. I knew this would be one of the moments I’d re member from my baseball career.” With the Sunday crowd of 6,096 on its feet, and the go-ahead run on second, French got the strikeout to end the eighth. Aggie Coach Mark Johnson said French had been waiting all weekend for his chance to get into the game against his old team. “If he hadn’t pitched, he probably would have hit me,” Johnson said. “He wanted in the ballgame; he wanted the ball.” Garrido was beaten earlier this year by another player that transferred, Baylor’s Charley Carter, who is batting .422 with 15 homers and 61 RBI. Garrido said that was on his mind as French entered the game. “When Eric came in and got that strike out, I said that these guys have really en joyed being able to make the move (to dif ferent schools),” Garrido said. “He got the upper hand on us. Part of that’s experience, part of that’s confidence. “Losing is a pretty ugly monster. We’ve done a lot of it, and this is a pretty difficult loss to deal with.” A&M exploited three Texas errors in the eighth to score seven runs for a big cushion as French took the mound for the ninth. He did not need it, however, as he worked a perfect inning to record his second victory on the season. The win Sunday followed a Saturday game that Steven Truitt and Casey Possum turned into a yawner. Truitt threw out a run ner at the plate in the fourth that would have tied the game from rightfield. That was all Possum would need, as he cruised to a complete game, allowing one run in a 5-1 victory before an estimated 9,000 fans, both inside and out Olsen Field. “We knew we were going to be ready to play. We had a lot of people supporting us,” center- fielder Jason Tyner said. “Casey (Possum) did a great job and gave us a chance to win.” With two outs in the fourth, Texas made a serious effort to tie the game. With Jason Ivy on second, Longhorn slugger Kade Johnson ripped a 1 -2 offering from Possum into left and Ivy rounded third and headed home. Truitt’s throw to the plate was right on line, however, and the inning ended with A&M still holding a 1-0 lead. “I knew they were going to try to run on me, I just came up throwing,” Truitt said. The play seemed to inspire Possum, who struck out 10 and retired 11 consecutive batters at one point before giving up a run with two outs in the ninth. That win evened the series for A&M, as Aggie ace Ryan Rupe had a difficult outing against Texas Friday night, giving up seven runs in a 12-5 loss. The loss overshadowed home runs by Eric Sobek and Craig Kuzmic, who hit their seventh and fourteenth blasts of the year, respectively. exas A&M Tennis Teams close down Omar Smith Center in style Id. 17 Texas A&M crushes No. 39 Kansas in 7-0 home rout By Ai, Lazarus Staff writer £very once in a while, a regular is not good enough. Sometimes, you have to win big. Talking this talk heading into I weekend, the No. 17 Texas A&M fc’s Tennis Team walked the Ik, defeating the No. 25 Baylor Irs, 6-1, on Friday afternoon in Ico and closing out the Omar Jith Tennis Center in style on |iirday night, crushing the No. 39 Tisas Jayhawks, 7-0. ■The Aggies (14-4, 7-2) relished the r role as spoilers Friday in Waco, knowing a win over Baylor would knock the Bears out of contention for the Big 12 Championship. “We played a very composed match in Waco,” said A&M Coach Tim Cass, who saw his team improve from a seventh-place conference finish last year to second this year. “ (Baylor) had its biggest crowd of the season, and I was really proud of the guys for going in there and taking the crowd out of it right away.” After starting the match by win ning two of three doubles matches to take the doubles point, the Aggies never looked back. Freshman Rafael de Mesa, play ing No. 1 singles for the Aggies, won 7-6, 7-5. De Mesa, who is No. 36 in the lat est Rolex Collegiate Rankings, said playing a strong match against Bay lor was important for the Aggies. “We knew we had to go into Bay lor and get a win,” he said. “We did n’t expect it to come so easily, but everyone just played really well.” Also victorious in singles play for the Aggies against Baylor were se nior Carlos Tori (6-2, 6-1), junior Brent Horan (6-3, 6-3) and fresh men Dumitru Caradima (6-7,6-4,7- 6) and Cody Hubbell (6-1, 6-3). Please see Tennis on Page 7. Women’s team struggles early, comes back against Jayhawks By Katie Mish Staff writer The Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team played their fi nal match at Omar Smith Varsity Tennis Center Satur day, defeating the Kansas Jayhawks in a close 5-4 match. Vanessa Rooks, a senior and captain of the Aggie team, said it felt good to beat Kansas because of the in tense competition between the teams. “I don’t think Texas is really our rival anymore,” Rooks said. “Kansas is our rival. To beat them is a great feeling, be cause last year was hell, and we wanted to get them back.” In singles play, the Aggies picked up three wins. Sophomore Aggie netter Kathryn Scott defeated Kansas’ Monica Sekvlov 7-5, 6-0. Texas A&M freshman Eva Marcial played another strong match, beating Kansas player Brooke Chiller. Marcial came back from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to win the match 6-2, 7-5. Senior Monica Rebolledo, looking for a win to com plete her quest for a new Texas A&M record for career singles wins, defeated Kansas netter Julie Sidorova. Re bolledo lost the first set of the match in tie-breaker play 7-6, but came back strong to win the last two sets 6-1, 6-1. This win makes Rebolledo the all-time winningest player in Texas A&M history with 93 wins. Rebolledo said she realized after the first set that she was making too many unforced errors and knew she needed to correct herself to win the match. “It feels great,” she said. “My errors were the key to the tie breaker, and I knew I had to fix that to win. Plus, I real ized that there was no way I was going to lose my last match at home, and that gave me the extra energy to get the win.” Please see Rooks on Page 7. M h, f all eacM ed jntsffl )ate(fl loo! irmaiil ! eveE Gr|pi Detemi nation w* : u ' A ■< s :(v :’!• ' *'3 W'-; . '/ •: ••: \TRAM URALS Registration tin Run April 13-21 )iscG °lf April 13-21 . 7> Major Concentration ■* -V :v : / i. 'A'; C /A ' >• , • • y < A-- A.:, ••••• • - ••• • • " .>• A-*-O' V ' * . • • s .. A *::• . ’ * i ./ Serious Fun C'-AwC A • ' A < C:. ; O.Y:2 Jv’j ; : 'fy ..tv • C: : v • ' ' : >0 > • : > ■ • .> t •' v: : f . > . : • ! r .Ay* •: :v; ,A"t' ,- f >. V :.. £.* • V ; :A ob Openings Aerobic/Fitness Instructors needed for summer and fall erms^ Mandatory training and audition session May 2-3 from )am-5pm. Apply at the 2nd floor reception desk, the deadline s April 27. Rec Center Backyard njoy the hot summer days at the Rec Center Backyard. The jutcloor pool, spa, basketball and volleyball courts and outdoor million provide the ultimate student oasis. Fitness Programs • PreExamJam,May6th, 6:(X)to 7:30pm, Rec Basketball Courtsarea. FREE aerobic workout featuring step, hip hop, boxingand abs. • Personal Training, Let one of our Certified Personal Trainers design an exercise program to meet your needs. Sign up at Member Services. 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