Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1999)
le Battalion Sports Page 9 • Thursday, April 15, 1999 ^Playing the Hbt Corn f unior Dell Lindsey has taken over third for the Aggies BY AARON COHAN The Battalion Ope of the biggest factors in whether ^»xas A&M Baseball Team could repeat st season’s success was who would step take Craig Kuzmic’s spot at third se. Since third is such a hot spot on the di- opd, A&M coach Mark Johnson and his ^aff devoted most of the fall to deciding ^■their man would be. ^Ren along came Dell Lindsey of Hous- )n, ; fde is not very outspoken, but he lets is game do the talking, showing why he as been a force in the field and behind the late for the nationally ranked Aggies. Lindsey said he is just glad the oppor- mity finally came around for him. diversityPl.< “Nobody could ever fill Kuzmic’s loeb,” he said. “But the spot was open hen he went to the minors, so this op- ortunity has been treating me great so tr.” The junior’s life in baseball has been HKEFUEMtS fatct esarestepr tccessful ever since he passed the Little •eague level. Facing the stiff competition f North Shore High School in Houston, jndesey emerged as one of the top young- dlld ers in area > garnishing All-District bnors three times, earning a spot on the 11-State Team and winning the national AU Championships with Aggie teammate teven Truitt. Lindsey left high school for Blinn Junior ollege and quickly picked up where he tftfoff. In his freshman campaign at Blinn, e earned All-Conference Honors under mgtime coach Kyle Van Hook. “Coach Van Hook really helped me get erronsm spf :oncemedili be tatgeied ? siealth ait tently in ilii ;ainst Yiigos: e increased m Alpha to E spokesman! ; at HoUoma homeol'F- step increase e said, would ibletooui® lore in/© ncterreffi people © is the only ie aircraft atei 1 are goslavia ipokespersot litarycon® the FBI vare of ths disseminaiS cal comm to adjust heysee,"!»] jers have : - ih the FBI. or my game to the next level,” Lindsey said. “It was fun playing for a team like Blinn.” The next season, Dell started grabbing the attention of top Division I schools and professional scouts, hitting .404 at the plate to go along with 20 long balls and 97 RBI’s. Lindsey’s impressive statistics and strong play helped him earn Second-Team ''Nobody could ever fill Kuzmic’s shoes. But the spot was open, so this opportunity has been treating me great so far.” — Dell Lindsey Aggie third baseman All-American Honors. Now there were knocks on the door from everyone, but to Lindsey the decision to come to A&M was simple. “Playing at Blinn made it easy on me to make the decision to come here,” he said. “Not just because it was close, but because 1 have played with so many of the guys growing up, and we have great chemistry.” Lindsey said he was glad to be given the chance to play third base on an everyday basis upon his arrival finally to Aggieland. “Everyone on the team and all the coaches put a lot of trust in me right off the bat,” he said. “It really became easier to play my game.” The only real question that popped up was whether Lindsey could manage the jump from junior-college to top Division I pitching. Unlike the JUCO pitchers he had faced at Blinn, who often come right after the hitters. Division I pitchers often will pitch around and make the situation more difficult for the hitters. But Lindsey said his move to top-level competition was smooth. “Adjusting to the level of pitching was easier than I expected, especially with the help of the coaches,” he said. It has shown so far this season, as Lind sey ranks second on the team with a .368 batting average, putting him among the top 15 batters in the conference. The ju nior also has hit 10 home runs to go along with 37 RBIs to show off his top-10 slug ging percentage in the Big 12. “Dell has been awesome for us this all year long for us,” senior team captain John Scheschuk said. “It’s great having a steady bat like his in the lineup everyday.” More importantly, Lindsey has built the initial respect of the coaches into an ad miration for what he has done thus far. “He’s well liked and a great guy,” John son said. “Without Dell, we wouldn’t have the record that we have right now.” Lindsey has helped the Aggies to an overall record of 33-8 and now has his sights set on helping them to the place they were just five years ago. “I want us to go back to the College World Series,” he said. “It would be a great accomplishment not only for me in my first year here, but for the team as a TERRY ROBERSON/The Battalion Junior third baseman Dell Lindsey has taken over the position vacated by the departed Craig Kuzmic. Lindsey, a junior-college transfer from Blinn College, is second on the team with a .368 batting average. pplB MIKE FUENTES/Thi Battalion AM junior catcher Krissy Renner tries to pick off the runner at first following a bunt attempt during the Aggies’ * lairie against Southwest Texas State University Tuesday at the Aggie Softball Complex. The Texas A&M Softball Track teams head to California earn scored eight runs in the first inning en route to a 10-0 win over the Bobcats. BY TOM KENNEDY The Battalion The Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s Ttack Teams will send seven of their decathletes and hep- tathletes to Walnut, Calif., for the Mt. San Antonio College Multi- Event to be held today through Fri day at the Azusa Pacific Hack Sta dium. The meet will mark the season debut of All-American senior Kendall Madden and junior Chad Meyer after missing time due to in juries. Meyer, who ranks as the number four decathlete in school history, and Madden, ranked sixth all-time at A&M, are both expected to place high after finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, last year. Also expected to contribute for the men are senior Toby Ware, sophomore Jason Wyatt, and freshman Jake Boone. Boone, who leads the team this season with a 6,830 point performance at the College Station Multis, was the 1997 USA Track and Field Junior Decathlon National Champion. The women will be led by freshman Kendra Reimer and sophomore Desi Hudson, who rank as the number two and three Freshman Erica Boren clears the bar during the women’s pole vault competition Saturday at the A&M Invitational. The men’s and women’s track teams will travel to Walnut, Calif., this weekend for the Mt. SAC Multi-Event. heptathletes, respectively, in A&M history. Reimer is coming off of a 5,371 point performance at the College Station Multis which provisional ly qualified her for the NCAA meet. Hudson, who was 16th at last year’s NCAA Meet, will com pete in her first heptathlon since withdrawing from competition at the College Station Multis due to injury. A&M Softball Team scores pearly, often versus Bobcats mas Bji BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion he bottom of the first inning showed it would be field exercises for the 19th-ranked Texas A&M Softball Team as they took on Southwest Texas State University in a non-conference match on Wednes day evening. ■After quickly retiring the Bobcats’ top three with wo strikeouts and a groundout, the Aggies got to test their bats against SWT pitcher Amber Mosher. Eight runs later, the Aggies closed the first inning with a comfortable lead. ■Each of A&M’s ten starters had a hit as the Aggies finished the game with 12 hits to win, 10-0, in four and a half innings after the game was called by the run rule. ■“We were due to break the bats out and have a rally like that,” A&M coach Jo Evans said. “We were aggressive at the plate and put pres sure on their defense. It took them out of the game at the beginning. ■“I was pleased to win big like that against a team that has given us some fits in the past.” ■Even with the early momentum, the Aggies had trou ble keeping the bats effective. They were held to one hit VINING and no runs in the next two innings, as Mosher found her groove, and the Bobcat field improved its accuracy. In the next three innings, A&M managed just four hits and two runs, but the Aggie gloves kept SWT scoreless on three hits in eighteen trips to the plate. For the Aggies, sophomore pitcher Amy Mining finished with three strikeouts, and designated hitter Heather Martinez went 3-for-3 with two singles and a double for one RBI. Junior Angie Long, sophomore Tiffany Ester and freshman Tammy Donnell each had two RBIs, while juniors Jamie Smith and Kris sy Renner had one each. “Their pitcher [Mosher] was a little slow, so it was just a matter of waiting on the ball, having good timing and picking the right pitch,” Martinez said. “This game gives us a lot of confidence going into the weekend [conference matches against the Uni versity of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Universi ty] because we know we have the ability to hit the ball well.” The Bobcats now have an even .500 record for the season with Mosher at 18-17, while the Aggies move to a 34-10 record, and Mining improves to 19-8. The Aggies will host two conference double- headers this weekend as they face the eighth-ranked University of Oklahoma on Saturday and Oklahoma State University on Sunday. Both days’ games will be held at noon and 2 p.m. SPORTS IN BRIEF Men’s tennis signs 3rd-ranked recruit Stephen Moros, the nation’s third-ranked junior tennis prospect, signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play for Texas A&M, men’s head coach Tim Cass said. Moros, who hails from Sarasota, Fla., has been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the Sunshine State his entire junior tennis career. He finished in the top six in sin gles recently at the prestigious East er Bowl national tournament. Previ ously, he placed third at the USTA Nationals, positioning him to be one of the top five players in the 18-and- under division. Moros is also a member of the U.S. National Team and is ranked No. 2 in the nation in doubles. “Our goal is to fill our lineup with U.S. National Team players,” head coach Tim Cass said. “Stephen fills that wish and many more. His junior ranking is similar to that of other guys we’ve signed like Rafael de Mesa, Shuon Madden and Keith From.” Cass looks to fill one more va cancy on his team. His first recruit ing class in 1997 was selected as No. 1 in the nation by College Ten nis Weekly. As a team, the Aggies are ranked No. 14 nationally by Col lege Tennis Weekly and hold a 14- 3 overall record and a 6-0 mark in the Big 12. Volleyball to travel to spring tourney The Texas A&M Molleyball Team continues its off-season spring drills with an exhibition tournament at Southern Methodist University in Dallas on Saturday, April 17. Action gets underway at 9 a.m. at Moody Coliseum as the Aggies take on Big 12 Conference foe Bay lor. The tournament runs throughout the day, and admission is free. Other teams A&M is scheduled to face are host SMU, Texas Tech and an open team made up of for mer college players, including for mer Aggie standouts Genny Wood (1991-93) and Page White (1993- 96). Match format is best two out of three games. Games 1 and 2 are rally scoring to 21. There is no scor ing cap, and a team must win by two. Game 3 is rally scoring to 15 with a 17-point cap. A&M, which went 21-9 and was ranked 15th in the final Molleyball Magazine Top 20 Poll after advanc ing to the second round of the 1998 NCAA tournament, concludes its spring season Saturday, April 24, with an exhibition tournament at Texas in Austin. Louisiana prospect signs with Aggies Andy Slocum, of West Monroe, La., has signed a national letter-of- intent to play college basketball at Texas A&M, Aggies coach Melvin Watkins said yesterday. Slocum, a 6-11, 235-pound cen ter, is ranked as the 88th best prep player in the country by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons. Slocum aver aged 21 points and 14 rebounds a game as a senior and also consid ered Utah, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Florida State, Texas, Alabama, Southern California, Tulane and Ok lahoma. Slocum is also a standout pitch er for West Monroe’s nationally- ranked baseball team and, accord ing to USA Today has a 93-mph fastball. Slocum will join two other West Monroe athletes, football signees Brian West and Jason LeDoux, on the A&M campus.