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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1998)
Sports Wednesday • April2® Barone bolts for Marquette Texas A&M point guard announces transfer after much thought and brief meeting with new basketball coachS RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Brian Barone announced he is transferring to Marquette after a 7-20 season with A&M. By Jeff Webb Sports editor Texas A&M point guard Brian Barone fi nally got his 15 minutes. However, instead of being the 15 min utes of fame referred to by Andy Warhol, it was the length of time it took for Barone to meet with Coach Melvin Watkins to decide staying at A&M was not for him. "I had a chance to talk to Coach Watkins finally after about a month,” Barone said. “I went in there and talked to him and after that conversation, I pretty much knew it would be in my best interests and other people’s best interests if I went elsewhere. “He didn’t say anything to try to have me stay. He said he’s not trying to run me off, and I have no ill feelings toward him at all.” Barone will transfer to Marquette Uni versity and play his first season under MU coach Mike Deane in the 1999-2000 sea son after he sits out one year due to NCAA transfer-eligibility rules. "I am thrilled that Brian is coming to Marquette," Deane said. “He comes with proven experience at the top level of colle giate basketball. He is a floor leader who will have a steadying influence. Brian is a very good passer and is solid defensively.” Barone took a visit to Milwaukee to see the Marquette campus and said he felt it “Once I saw Marquette, I loved it. The guys were great.” * Brian Barone Former A&M basketball player was the right place for him to continue his basketball career. “Once I saw Marquette, 1 loved it," he said. “The guys were great. We were playing once and I dove for a loose ball and didn't get it. There were two other big guys diving too .... I wasn’t used to that.” Barone had been considering a transfer Big 12 Commissioner ruled out as Olympic candidate Hatched SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Big 12 Commissioner Steve Hatchell has been ruled out as a candidate for a key position in the organizing committee of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City officials said Wednesday. Hatchell was recently inter viewed for the post of sports di rector of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) amid re ports he was the subject of an in vestigation into allegations of workplace ha rassment, ac cording to the Deseret News. “It was unfortunate that certain things came out in the media which we weren’t aware of,” SLOC president Frank Joklik said. “The issue is pretty well closed.” Asked whether Hatchell was no longer a candidate, Joklik said, “I don’t think we are going to pur sue that one.” “There are other attractive candidates and we are confident the position will be filled in the near future,” he said. Joklik spoke after making a progress report to the executive board of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC has urged SLOC to fill several impor tant staff positions, particularly that of sports director. The sports director would be in charge of organizing the com petitions of the 68 medal events in the games. “There are some good candi dates,” Joklik said. “We’ve got to find someone with the right com bination of experience, energy and contacts in the sporting commu nity. We hope to reach finality on that soon.” Dave Johnson, a SLOC senior vice president, said he hopes the position will be filled before the IOC coordination commission visits Salt Lake on June 26-27. The commission is the IOC panel which has oversight over the games. “Now is the time,” Johnson said. “June is a good milestone.” Marc Hodler, president of the International Ski Federation and head of the IOC coordination com mission, confirmed the IOC was pushing for a sports director to be appointed quickly. “We have found out various possibilities are under scrutiny and we have been assured some proposals will be made in June,” he said. Joklik said SLOC expects to hire three or four other key staff mem bers this year, including in the fields of games services and hu man resources. “We have the core of the man agement team now with our senior vice presidents,” he said. “With the exception of human resources, the new personnel will fill the places beneath them.” On other issues, Joklik told the IOC that SLOC expects to complete its revised budget in September. The budget is expected to total around $1 billion. Joklik said SLOC hopes to un veil the games mascot in June, possibly during the next IOC ex ecutive board meeting in Seville, Spain. Johnson said SLOC plans to submit its competition schedule to the IOC in December and start ticket sales in October 2000. The SLOC officials said they were consulting with interna tional federations on the possi bility of adding the sport of skele ton, as well as women’s events in bobsled. IOC sports director Gilbert Felli said the biathlon federation had requested including men’s and women’s relay events. Qoiderx National Honor' Society Last Meeting: Wednesday, April 29 7:00 p.m. Rudder 410 Guest Speaker: Representative from the Office of Professional School Advising since the athletic departmemr; his father, Tony Barone, andfe University of North Carolin;- coach Melvin Watkins torepk basketball coach after a 7-20% Brian Barone said thei letters and e-mail urging him A&M was impressive and heap; the effort. “My initial reaction wasthail should leave, but I did not malt:! sion to leave until recently,”B®! was on the fence the wholetk i excited about my decision,buiij will be hard leaving this place. “A&M is ,t class act, and he J feelings toward any of the pecpd of the support has beenjustgieai Banme played the majority H foi ! ' - 1 ' v ' :: Whir :h solidateci High School an jf on father became coach for tl u e t e Ban me a|>|)(\iredin55game>:::®kla., gies and made i J startsduringfoHhorr season. 1 ie received honorable nr K mm Big 12 honors after last seasonac towitf third m assists among Big 12pityaBof g Hrem ffeanw . Fre will wo Aggies lay waste to Bearkats for victory to break SHSU losing stre Junior Craig Kuzmic hits two home runs to help pace Aggie ojfensivem By Chris Ferrell Staff writer If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. The Texas A&M Baseball Team (38-15, 19- 8) finally found a way to get past the Sam Houston State Bearkats with a 13-5 win Tuesday night at Olsen Field. After dropping the first two games of the season to Sam Houston 10-7 and 5-4, Coach Mark Johnson said his team was motivated to pick up a win. “I didn’t give them a big fiery speech on them (SHSU),” Johnson said. “I just said this is the first team that’s had a chance to sweep us. The important thing was we needed to get ourselves. We wanted to get on a roll going into the weekend.” The Bearkats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second when a Sam Houston desig nated hitter took A&M junior starter Shane King deep for a three-run blast. The Aggies answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs on a bases- Johnson f mm. m -■mi** ip / fee .... RYAN ROGERS' First baseman John Scheschuk was unable to tag out this Sam Houston State runner,butt! made up for recent shortcomings with the Bearkats by putting 13 runs on the board Tuesday ^0^0 Baseball Update Record: 38-15, 19-8 Big 12 Next Game: vs. Baylor Time: 7 p.m. Scheduled Starters: Ryan Rape (8-4,3.07 ERA) vs. Baylor TBA loaded single by sophomore second baseman Sean Heaney. Sam Houston extended their lead to 4-2 in the third on a solo home run by Jesse Grim- minger. The Bearkat lead stayed in tact until the Ag gie half of the seventh when A&M exploded for seven runs on four hits. Bearkat pitchers walked four of the first sev en batters in the inning and allowed a run on a bases-loaded balk. Junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic, who raised his team-leading home run total to 18 with two on the night, said the Aggie bats are heating up at the right part of the season. “It’s the end of the year and we know that we’re starting to play for something," Kuzmic said. “We’re also trying to get to our 40 wins and we’re getting excited about that. I’m just starting to hit the ball now. I’m glad I’m doing it now.” Johnson said he was pleased that he was able to look at some pitchers he does normal ly get to see. “We got to see Shane King,” he said. “He got out there and had some confidence, and we got to see (freshman pitcher) Chris Scarcella who was the other guy we wanted to see. “Then we got the bonus of getting (junior pitcher Kyle) Holle in the game, and® n’t have to use (senior pitcher Eric)F® We haven’t been able to get alotofp going in the Tuesday games so thatwasw couragement.” Most importantly the victorygared'f gies who have scored 52 runs in theirpas |! games even more confidence as (herW ; their weekend showdown with BaylorW ries which will determine theBigl2w I season champion. “That was really key because thiswc* we have Baylor, and we’re kindofoni 1 ! now,” Kuzmic said. “We just came played hard.” The series with Baylor will bethel . 12 series for the Aggies this season.Fw I game will begin at 7 p.m. at Olsen Field The series shifts back to Ferrell F^. 1 ! 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