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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1998)
The Battalion Sports \jn ■ Friday • May 1,199 F Bears, Aggies play for keeps 1 Texas A&M and Baylor head into three-game series knowing Big 12 regular season championship will likely go to winnei * y "v K ;\ ■M| RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Speedy centerfielder Jason Tyner will need to leg out some extra bases against the hot-hitting Baylor Bears in a pivotal three-game Big 12 Conference series this weekend. By Travis Harsch Staff writer They don’t get much bigger than this. The Texas A&M Baseball Team will begin its biggest conference series of the year Friday night against the Baylor Bears at Olsen Field. The series heads north to Waco for the Saturday and Sunday games, with the win ner of the series almost assured the Big 12 regular season title. A&M third baseman Craig Kuzmic said he thought the Aggies would be ready for the series. “I think this Friday is going to be really exciting,” Kuzmic said. “I think we’re going to come out and play some good ball.” The Big 12 trophy will go to the series win ner unless Oklahoma State can win all six of its remaining conference games. That is ex cellent motivation for the Aggies, but there is a secondary goal that comes with A&M win ning two of the three games, Kuzmic said. “It’s getting down to the end of the year and we know we’re starting to play for something,” Kuzmic said. “We’re trying to get to our 40 wins and everyone’s getting ex cited about that and playing hard.” Baylor has been struggling lately, drop ping six of their last 11 and five of their last nine in Big 12 play, but beat Houston l\tes- day night while the Aggies were pounding Sam Houston State. The Aggies won the game 13-5 to win their fourth straight and Baseball Update Record: 38-15, 19-8 Big 12 Next Game: vs. Baylor Time: 7 p.m. Scheduled Starters: Ryan Rupe (8-4,3.07 ERA) vs. Brett Bergman (7-5, 4.91 ERA) nine of their last eleven. Coach Mark Johnson said the hitting performance against the Bearkats would be a positive for the Aggies. “Whether or not we can carry those hot bats into this series, I don’t know,” Johnson said. “But when guys start feeling good about themselves they have a better chance. I do think we’re going to see better pitching this weekend than what we’ve seen recently." The matchup pits the top-ranked hitting club in the conference with the best pitch- Aggie Sports Brief from staff and wire reports Track team heads for New Orleans New Orleans will host the Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s Track Teams as they compete in the U.S. Collegiate Track and Field Series. Field events will be held at City Park while the meet will be held at Tad Gormley Stadium. The meet could provide mo mentum for the * . j Wade teams with the Big 12 Champi onships just around the cor ner. The women’s team has quali fied nine team members for the NCAA Champi onships. The women’s team is currently ranked 11th in the nation. Senior Rose Jolivet, junior Detrich Clairett, senior Adrien Sawyer, sopho more Chimika Carter, junior Kelli Schrader, freshman Esther Eisen- lauer and freshman Meshell Trotter qualified for the women. The men have qualified three in dividuals in two events. Senior Larry Wade automatically qualified for the 110-meter hurdles and sophomore Chad Meyer and ju nior Kendall Madden have both pro visionally qualified in the decathalon. The four-team field includes A&M, Louisiana State University, Tulane University and Abilene Christian University. The meet will be scored with the field events set to start at 10 a.m. and the running events slat ed to begin about 3 p.m. On May 7, The Aggies will host the annual A&M All-Comers Meet at the Anderson Track and Field Com plex. It will be the last competition for A&M before they head to Colum bia, Mo., for the second Big 12 Out door Track and Field Championships that will be held May 15-17. Carter declares NBA eligibility ingclub in the league, as Baylorhasatej batting average of .327, while A&M’ssti has posted a 4.09 ERA on the year. Baylor has adopted an interesting tact for this weekend’s games. Most teamstko their ace on Friday, their second beststari on Sunday, and the third on Sunday. Baylor has opted to reverse this tradii al order and will throw Brett Bergman (7-5)i the Friday game. Bergman has a 4.91 ERA bases on balls and 68 strikeouts in nings. A&M will counter with Ryan Rupe 4), who leads the staff in ERA. i erl Rupe has 100 strikeouts this year and o» tu | 17 walks. He said the Bears are in thesrlpt category of schools from the Sooner staiefun “I’m going to treat it like every otli game this year,” Rupe said. “I thinkthe)! going to be equivalent to an Oklahor fell State or an Oklahoma, they’re going to: ve the ball well, they’ve got a potent offens or Casey Possum and Jason Jenningswillia ;or the hill in Waco on Saturday. Possum (9-2) c ha a 3.67 1 IRA on the campaign and 97 strikeoi Tie Jennings (10-2), who also DH’s forthete hir I i.is ,1 i ’ll!! MU mu m « i.iu.c.iiui Ihlinnien , u | Sunday matchup will have Baylor throw: r i e Kip Wells, who has put up a staff-low® 4.05 and 112 strikeouts while compilinga flat 4 record, versus Matt Ward (7-2). j ( . atlul CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Vince Carter will become the sec ond North Carolina player in a week to leave the Tar Heels for the NBA, two sources close to the basketball program told The Associated Press. The 6-foot-7 forward scheduled a news conference for this after noon to announce whether he will leave school a year early. National player of the year Antawn Jamison announced Monday he would for go his senior season. Carter, who averaged 15.6 points last season while shooting 59 percent, has an unlisted tele phone number. Messages left for coach Bill Guthridge, former coach Dean Smith and Charles Brinkerhoff, Carter’s high school coach, seeking confirmation of Carter’s decision were not re turned Wednesday. It would be the second time in four years that North Carolina ad vanced to the Final Four then lost two underclassmen to the NBA draft. Jerry Staclchouse and Rasheed Wallace entered the draft after their sophomore seasons in 1995. Michelle Robinson, Carter’s motlier who lives in Ormond Beach, Fla., said her son met with Guthridge and Smith on Friday and made his decision shortly after that meeting. Robinson said her son told her, “I’m coming out.” “I kind of figured that’s what he would do. It was a win-win decision either way,” Robinson told The News Journal in Daytona Beach, Fla. Robinson, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh, said Carter would continue taking class es and graduate. “We fully intend for Vince to get his college degree. We wanted to get a plan (from the coaches) as to how to work that out,” she said. Carter’s family also conducted research independent of the North Carolina coaching staff. Robinson said her son spoke with NBA players Nick Anderson and Tim Thomas and that the family spoke with Grant Hill’s mom and assorted NBA person nel, including Rod Thorn, the league’s senior vice president. Texas A&M travels to bayou for NCAAs; Rooks, Dingwall receive Big 12 honors tennis •J? u at\e Wish p m 1 The Big 12 Tournament has come and gone, with the Aggies finishing off with a 5-0 loss to the Longhorns. This loss came after a big 5-3 win over Baylor, a team Texas A&M had fallen to earlier in the season. The Bay lor win advanced the Aggies to the semifinals, where they played the No. 5 ranked Longhorns. Coming on Strong The Aggies started out the Big 12 tourney with the 12th seeded Missouri team. The Aggies defeated Mis souri during season play 9-0 and whipped up on them again in the tournament, handing them a 7-0 loss. The Aggie win advanced them to the match with the Baylor Bears. Double Trouble The doubles pairing of senior Vanessa Rooks and sophomore Lisa Dingwall cleaned up this season, go ing 11-9 overall and 4-3 in Big 12 play, usually at the No. 1 doubles spot. Their success landed them Big 12 honors for this season, along with three members of the Texas A&M Men’s Tennis team and Men’s Coach Tim Cass. It’s all regional from here on out... Next up for the lady Ags is the NCAA Southwest Re gional Tournament, which will be held in Baton Rouge La., May 15-17. With their 16-9 overall record, and their 8-2 record against the Southwest Region, the Aggies should be seeded close to the top. The team is still waiting for an official announce ment from the NCAA. Looks Good, Looks Real Good The Aggies will have a strong team next year, due to the return of most of their players. The Aggies lose seniors Monica Rebolledo and Vanessa Rooks, but have strong players in the back ground ready to step up. Freshman standout Eva Mar- cial and sophomore Lisa Dingwall return to next year’s team, along with Kathryn Scott, Monica San Miguel, Monica de la Torre and Danielle Lee. The Aggies will begin a new era in their new tennis complex and should only get better with time. Confidence helps Astro t|. fast 1998 start on mounci: HOUSTON (AP) — Mike Hamp ton’s last start this season was a good example of how far the Hous ton Astros starting lefty has come since a horrible start last season. Hampton wasn’t sharp in his last start (Monday) against the New York Mets but he gave the As tros seven innings allowing three runs and 10 hits before the Astros rallied for a 4-3 victory. Hampton didn’t get the decision but his 4-0 record remained intact. “It’s all related to confidence,” manager Larry Dierker said. “If he had gone out there (early last season) with the kind of stuff he had Monday and the control he had, they probably would have blown him out.” Confidence helped Hampton turn last season’s 3-7 start into a 15-10 season and 3.83 ERA. He was 11-3 after the All-Star break with a 2.53 ERA. “He managed to keep us in striking range,” Dierker said. “He had to make a couple of pitches to do that and he was a little lucky at times. If your starters are doing that, you will win a lot of games and also keep a healthy bullpen.” Hampton’s 4-0 start this season gives him a 15-3 record since last year’s All-Star break. “If you have confidence there’s a good chance that you will succeed, ” Hampton said. “Right now, I’ve got a lot of confidence and the reason is not only myself. My teammates are playing hard behind me and dor; ■ ill thr\ i .in in u m. Dial help'>: ru( i ( | guy on the mound.” p 011 < Hampton is among the leap leaders in record. 43 inniral D| p i irhed 30 strikeouts and hehftiou one shutout on April 21 againlrro the Mets. and There was no dramatic eves Boo that turned Hampton intoonet the most effective pitchers inti | league over the second ha last season. “It got to the point early year that so many things werey ing bad that... I figured itcouldtj get any worse,” Hampton said. ’ Dierker and general inanag Gerry Hunsicker were close l sending Hampton to the minoc but Hampton slowly startedlt turnaround. “I got out of a jam hereorthei and it helped my confidencelitti by little,” Hampton said. “Bytl» anc l end of the season, every time went out there I expected to win Despite his four victories Hampton has struggled at time this season but the confidents remains. “I don’t take for granted tit things that have happened Hampton said. “The first garnet the season 1 probably shouli have lots, giving up six runs things are going right former now so you don’t question them You just go pitch and hope the) keep happening.” Detroit halts Rangers’ winning strea at five in strong game by Brian Moehle San Miguel • Katie Mish is a senior journalism major. DETROIT (AP) — Brian Moehler pitched a six-hitter and Damion Easley drove in four runs as the De troit Tigers beat Texas 7-2 Thursday, stopping the Rangers’ five-game winning streak. Moehler (2-2) struck out six and walked two in his third career com plete game in 39 starts. Five of the hits came in the sec ond, when Will Clark hit a solo homer, his fourth. It was Detroit’s first complete game since So Sanders pitched a one-1 against Texas last Sept. 9. The Rangers, who set a record Wednesday with their 18 April win, established a i league record for runs in with 180. Bobby Witt (3-1) failed tolastfi' innings for the first time thisseas» allowing seven runs and 11 four-plus innings. Ship mt nient of— 10% Off t 0 Earrings Through Sunday Jewelry, (Purses J Pelts for Mother’s Pay! 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