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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1998)
jkjsday • April 21, 1998 jgjjjjjj^ The Battalion M | I T, louston arrives looking for A&M revenge RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion ihomore Sean Heany will try not to look past Houston Cougars in an afternoon affair at Olsen. — From Staff and Wire Reports — The Texas A&M Baseball Team will try to avoid a letdown Tuesday afternoon as they take on the Houston Cougars. A&M will be coming off a weekend that saw the Aggies take two of three from archrival Texas and become a seri ous contender in the Big 12 Championship picture. The Aggies took the first two games this season against the Cougars, sweeping a double- header in Houston on Mar. 24. Chance Caple got the win in the first game, an eight inning affair in a game that was scheduled to go seven, as A&M scored three in to the top of the eighth to win. The Aggies were victorious in the nightcap, giving Court ney Weller a 7-4 win. The wins increased the A&M lead over Houston in the all- time series to 92-42-1. Last season, the teams split a pair of games with each team winning on its home field. Houston, with a 24-20 record, is coming off three Conference USA wins this weekend that kept the Cougars among the top teams in the conference. Chance Caple will likely get the ball again for t Baseball Update Record: 34-14, 16-8 Big 12 Next Game: vs. Houston Time: 3:30 p.m. Scheduled Starters: Chance Caple (7-0,2.80 ERA) vs. Kris Wilken (1-2, 12.00) A&M Tuesday and will be looking to keep his record perfect for the season. Caple has racked up seven wins as the Aggies’ Tuesday starter, with a team-leading 2.80 ERA, 52 strikeouts and only 22 walks. Opposing him for the Cougars will be Chris Wilken, a freshman righthander from Albu querque, N. M., who has a record of 1-2 on the year, with an ERA of 12.00. Leading the way for A&M against the Cougars will be team captain JasonTyner. Tyner leads the Aggies with a .386 batting average. Tyner is also among the Big 12 leaders in hits, with 76, and stolen bases, stealing safely 29 times in 35 attempts. Craig Kuzmic will be look ing to improve on his team leading 12 home runs against Houston and John Scheschuk, who leads the team with 46 RBI, could be inspired to repeat his streak of five consecutive games with a homer, which he began earlier this season against Houston. A&M will return to conference play this week end with a road trip to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. The game against Houston will get underway at 3:30 p.m. Texas A&M plays waiting game with Bears baseball i. the BasebaU I# ll* ^ - -TravlL Hawcfc (j T he Texas A&M Baseball Team finished off an impressive showing against Texas this past weekend and hopes to keep it going against Houston. Back in the Chase If the Aggies win the Big 12 reg ular-season championship, they will need to send a thank-you note to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys’ sweep of Baylor this weekend, coupled with A&M’s two wins over Texas, leave the Aggies just per centage points behind the Bears for the conference lead. The Big 12 schedule seems to favor A&M this week, as the Aggies play three against Kansas this weekend in Lawrence, Kan. While those games are by no means walkovers, Baylor must trav el to Manhattan for a mid-week se ries with Kansas State. The teams will play a doubleheader Ihesday and a single game Wednesday. Baylor and A&M will close out the season with a game in College Station, Friday, May 1 and games in Waco on Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3. Elite Coaching ‘Mark' Coach Mark Johnson got his 600th win with A&M’s 13-5 deci sion in the second game of the Ne braska series on April 18th. In his 14 seasons at A&M, John son has compiled a record of 604- 255-2. His winning percentage of .703 places him sixth among active coaches; Gene Stephenson ofWi- chita State leads with a .769 per centage compiled over 21 years. Please see Baseball on Page 9. riior Monica Rebolledo makes history in last home match; r 6men’s Tennis Team starts Big 12 Tournament in five-hole Ags end season perfect at home n 4 the Tet^Vs ? 11* li nhe Texas A&M Women’s Ten- ■lisTeam finished up their ■Begular season and are look- ^ward to the struggle of the llournament. ■ague of Her Own las one for the record books — ]y. In her last ever home senior Monica Rebolledo did Jveryone was waiting for her She made a singles record of m.In a match where she lost stset in tie-breaker play, Re- locame back to dominate the posets of the match 6-1, 6-1. With the win, Rebolledo im proved her Texas A&M career record to 93-38 overall, setting the record for career singles wins, pre viously held by Nancy Dingwall and Lynn Staley, a former All-American. It ain’t over till... In an amazing comeback, the Ag gie doubles pairing ofVanessa Rooks and Lisa Dingwall showed why they have won five of the last six matches they have played together. After being down 6-3, the pair came back to make it 8-8, and beat the Kansas Jayhawks in tie-breaker play. This gave them their eleventh win for the season, and gave the Ags the 5-4 win over the No. 13 Jayhawks. A new era The Aggies said goodbye on Sat urday to the Omar Smith Tennis Center. A ceremony was held hon oring the Smith family in between the women’s and men’s matches. Both the women and men’s teams went out with a bang, leav ing the Tennis Center with another win under their belts. The Aggie will start next season in the new tennis complex on the west side of campus near Reed Arena. The Fifth Element Next up for the Aggies is the Big 12 Tournament, starting Thursday in Lincoln, Neb. The Aggies expect to be seeded fifth despite their win over No. 13 Kansas. Texas A&M will most likely meet up with Missouri in the first round, a team they de feated 9-0 in regular season play. It remains to be seen whether the Ags will play rival teams Texas and Kansas again in the tournament. • Katie Mish is a senior journalism major. rtve TeanVs *4a1 - (J T he No. 17 Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team (14-4, 7-2) fin ished its Big 12 regular-sea son play this past weekend with victories over Baylor University and the University of Kansas. Next up for the Aggies is the Big 12 Tournament, beginning Thurs day in Lincoln, Neb. Spoiling A Beary GoodYear After losing to Colorado the previous weekend, the Aggies knew heading into Baylor on Fri day they were out of contention for the Big 12 Championship. The Bears had knocked off No. 7 Texas earlier in the season, and with a victory over the Aggies would share the Big 12 crown with the Longhorns. Maybe next year, Baylor. A&M crushed the Bears, 6-1, in front of a large green-and- gold-wearing crowd at the Stre- ich Tennis Center on the Baylor campus. Going Out On Top Carlos Tori, the lone senior on the Aggies’ squad, played his last home match Saturday night against Kansas. Moving up to No. 1 singles for the occasion, Tori crushed Kansas’ Enrique Abaroa, 6-0, 6-2. After his match, Tori received a rousing ovation from what was, by far, the largest crowd of the season at the Omar Smith Tennis Center. A Perfect Farewell The Aggies finished their last season at the Omar Smith Ten nis Center with a perfect 9-0 record there. Among A&M’s many impres sive victories at home this year was a 4-1 thrashing of the No. 10 Pepperdine Waves. Bulldogs Beckoning After the Big 12 Tournament this weekend, it would be easy for the Aggies to look ahead to the NCAA regionals in Austin on May 15, but that could prove a costly mistake. Waiting for A&M on May 2 in Starkville, Miss., will be the na tion’s 4th-ranked team, the Mis sissippi State Bulldogs. -Al Lazarus is a sophomore journalism major. nk \ c v' e ^ 1 Mark’s changed his thinking about a lot of things over the past 16 years. When the time comes to find the ideal ring for your perfect girl, take a tip from Mark and give us a call. At David Gardner’s Jewelers, we’ll do everything possible to get the ring she wants at a price you can afford! Five jewelers, two certified gemologists, and the only two JA Certified bench jewelers in Texas - all working toward one goal: to make sure the ring you place on her finger is of the highest quality and value possible within the budget you've established. 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