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 !
Waco for the remaining games on Sal
and Sunday.
si
STA Travel specializes
in LOW-COST travel
for students.
» Great Student Airfares
» Tours for Young Travelers
» Budget Hotels
» Eurail & Rail Passes
» Work Abroad in Britain
» Travel Insurance
» International Student
ID Card
» Around the World
STA TRAVEL...
THE WORLD’S
LARGEST STUDENT
TRAVEL ORGANIZATION.
(800) 777-0112
WWW
PROFITABLE NUMBER! 845-0569
The Battalion Classified Advertising
ONLY AGGIES CAN COMBINE TRADITION WM
LET’S it ,
„ * p A RTY!
COUNTRY
daze
CORY
MORROW
Farewell
class of 98
boogie
nights
DYS
funk
SHUN
OUNK
SHUN
AT THE NEW
HARRY'S
Tickets are *7 in advance & *10 day of show. Available at Marooned Records and Rother'sBookst®
Brought to you by Dickson Productions and Popular Talent
ONLY IN AGGIELAND DO COUNTRY DAZE TURN TO BOOGIE NIGHTS!