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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1999)
he Battalion mpootf TERRY ROBERSON/I /ii Battalion r senior Monica San Miguel hits a forehand ground stroke in singles ompetition during the Aggies’ match against Vanderbilt University April 10. BrodeD jr | Aggies host Baylor bfowk'-" » as postseason looms ' 4e'A/ Women’s Tennis Team eyes No. 2 seed : T1 BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion knowv rubs r way,”’: ghero* , rj-| 10 f ate 0 f t } ie 35th-ranked Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team pjm rests j n jf S own hands as the Aggies head into the final stretch of the Big 11 season. iSwith three conference matches remaining, A&M will be battling for seeding in the Big 12 Tournament, which the Aggies will host at the end of the month. The test begins at I di re nut ’ and was i!i 'e doi real!) igwav v she ... It’s Thesday as A&M ;o, playif 12-7, 16-2 Big 12) faces off against Baylor Universtiy at 6 i,m at the Aggie Tennis Complex. Jf the Aggies ■i win their final fairee matches of e season, start- DINGWALL ) ing with the list-ranked Bears be- i fore facing the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, they will take the second seed to enter the tournament behind the Univer sity of Texas. ■“It’s just a matter of going out and taking care of ourselves,” A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. “We’re in control of our own des tiny from here on out. ■“All three matches left are winnable matches and loseable matches. It will all come down to who is ready to play when it counts.” ■ The match looks to be high- lighted by a singles battle between two freshman dynamos on court one. The Aggies’ 54th-ranked Mar tina Nedorostova will face one of. the biggest tests of her season when she battles Baylor’s Katja Kovac, who has also jumped into the national rankings (No. 57) in her rookie season. Nedorostova has won 14 of her last 17 singles matches while compiling a 7-1 record in the conference. Another strong performance for A&M should come from junior Lisa Dingwall. Nedorostova and Ding wall accounted for all three of A&M’s points against the Rice Uni versity Owls Saturday, winning at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. Kleinecke said Baylor’s style of play is similar to that of the Aggies, as the consistency of the Bears puts opponents in a position to beat themselves. He said Baylor’s ath letes are not power players, but hang on to points and keep the sets tight. A&M will look to overcome the Bears at their own game by taking full advantage of the home court and the crowd that accompanies it. “Our biggest problem is our selves,” Kleinecke said. “The bot tom of the lineup is going to have to start coming through for us to win here. If we can use the home- court advantage it will be a big boost.” Texas A&M historically has dominated the series against the Bears, compiling a 17-2 all-time record. However, the Aggies strug gled in the 1998 season, dropping the regular-season conference match before winning at the Big 12 tournament in a tangle that took nearly five hours to conclude. more reasons you should take The Princeton Review A Head Start By sip rsing up for Verbal Accelerator you gain the upper band in preparing far Verbal Reasoning, We provide you with essential verbal reasoning techniques, so foot you can build upon ibis foundation crnd achieve your desired score. Early Science Review Verbal Accelerator kldks off with a full-length A/tCAT diagnostic, to evaluate your individual strengths and weaknesses before the course even begins. And you can get ahead on your sciences with the review materials and techniques you will receive as port of Verbal Accelerator, * THE PRINCETON REVIEW 409.696.9099 www.review.com Classes start April 24! Call or visit us today! Sports Page 5 • Tuesday, April 20, 1999 Baseball walks to 7-2 victory MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion Junior second baseman Sean Heaney tries to complete the double play during the Aggies’ game against Tarleton State University Monday at Olsen Field. The Texas A&M Baseball Team defeated the Texans, 7-2. BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion In the game of baseball, it does not matter how many hits a team has, but how many runs it gets across the plate. Although they only managed four hits, the third-ranked Texas A&M Baseball Team took advan tage of Tarleton State University pitchers who issued 11 walks to cruise to a 7-2 victory last night at Olsen Field. A&M head coach Mark Johnson said the teams’ sluggish perfor mance was partly a letdown after this past weekend’s series against Baylor University. “We tried to come in and take care of business,” Johnson said. “We knew we’d be a little flat after the emotion of this past weekend’s series. We just couldn’t get it going. They walked 11 guys and it was hard to get a flow going. ” A&M broke onto the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third with three runs. Texans pitcher Clay Snider start ed off the inning giving up a walk to center fielder Chad Hudson and hitting shortstop Steve Scarbor ough. After junior second baseman Sean Heaney flied-out, sophomore right fielder Daylan Holt singled to load the bases for Scheschuk. Scheschuk stepped in and lift ed a bases-clearing double to left center field to give the Aggies the lead. The Aggies then failed to capi talize on the Texan pitchers’ lack of control in the bottom of the fourth as they tacked on only one run to push their lead to 4-0. Snider walked the bases loaded then walked Holt, forcing in a run. Scheschuk once again came up with the bases loaded but Texan re liever Tfey Fielding, who had just entered the game, got Scheschuk to pop up to center to end the Aggie threat. The Texans struck back in the top of the fifth, as they took ad vantage of the Aggies’ wildness to score two runs, cutting the Aggie lead in half, 4-2. Senior pitcher Shane King, who started the game for A&M, gave up an RBI single and a walk with the bases loaded with only one out. Junior pitcher Courtney Weller came in to relieve King with the bases loaded and got Texan third baseman Darder to ground into a double play to end the inning and the Texan threat. Weller said that coming into the game with the bases loaded did not worry him. “I’ve been there before,” Weller said. “I just tried to go in there an get a ground ball and I got lucky enough to get one.” The Aggies once again manu factured runs off of walks in the bottom of the sixth, as they scored three runs to provide the winning margin of 7-2. With one out in the inning, Scar borough walked, then scored on a Heaney double to center field. After Holt walked, Heaney scored on a Scheschuk ground-out to first. Holt came around to score, when junior third baseman Dell Lindsey reached on an error by Texans’ third baseman Craig Darder. Weller (1-0) pitched 4 2/3 in nings of scoreless relief to get the win for the Aggies (36-9, 16-4 Big 12). He allowed only one hit and a walk to go with his five strikeouts Weller said that there was an easy explanation to his pitching performance last night. “Mechanics,” Weller said. “I stayed back on my back leg and things came out right for me.” Johnson also praised Weller for his outstanding pitching in relief. “The best part of the game was Weller,” Johnson said. “That was the best he’s thrown in a while. That was a real plus for us.” Snider (3-3) took the loss for the Texans, going three innings and giving up three runs on three hits with three walks. The win pushes the Aggies record at Olsen to 27-1 on the season. A&M is back in action tomor row, as they are scheduled to play the University of Houston at 7 p.m. at Olsen Field. Astros show signs of taking off Houston hopes to break out of early offensive slump following win over St Louis Cardinals HOUSTON (AP) — Now this is more like it. The Houston Astros’ offense that set club records with 102 victories and 874 runs scored last season had struggled this year until breaking out with a season-high 16 hits in Sunday’s getaway day victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Until then, runs had been hard to find for the Astros. “I thought we were going to have one of those 13-hit, three-run outbursts,” Jeff Bagwell said. “This was a nice win for us. I don’t think there is added pressure, but we’re disappointed. “A lot is expected of this offense and we haven’t done it this year.” The Astros raised their team batting average to .292, tops in the National League, but they have driven only 48 runs, less than four a game. Even after Sunday, the Astros are hitting .213 with run ners in scoring position. But at least the Astros begin a week-long road trip that starts in Chicago Tuesday with a good feeling after their six-run eighth-inning rally gave them an 8-4 victory over the Cardinals and kept them from being swept at home. “This puts us with a .500 record (6-6) after what I consider a slow start on offense and field ing-wise,” manager Larry Dierker said. “The dif ficulty now is we’re going to have to do it on the road.” The Astros play 12 of their next 16 games away from Houston with a four-game homestand against Randy Johnson and the Arizona Dia mondbacks sandwiched in the middle. The Astros’ “Killer Bs” — Bagwell, Craig Big gie and Derek Bell — led the offensive resurgence. Bagwell hit .545 in the three Cardinal games and extended his hitting streak to eight games. He’s hitting .368 overall. Bagwell reached base 10 straight times before he grounded out in the fourth inning Saturday night. Bell went 4-for-4 in Sunday’s finale, and his sac rifice fly put the Astros ahead 5-4 in the eighth. Bell has seven RBIs and is hitting .333 overall. Biggio is hitting .270, but he hit .385 against the Cardinals. “Derek Bell can get four hits in a heartbeat,” Bagwell Said. “He doesn’t always get the credit he deserves but, I can tell you the guy can hit. Derek is one great hitter. ” The Astros are missing left fielder Moises Alou, who had a career year with the Astros last season but will miss all or most of this season recovering from knee surgery. Through 12 games last season, Alou was hitting .314 with 10 RBIs and three home runs. Center fielder Carl Everett (.378) and shortstop Ricky Gutierrez (.423) have helped make up for Alou’s loss. Everett has hit safely in 11 of the As tros’ 12 games. Third baseman Ken Caminiti is still trying to get his stroke working. He’s hitting .171 for the Slumping ’Stros Rank of Houston Astros’ 1999 offensive statistics in National League play: Category Rank Batting avg. ... ... .292 1st Runs 48 15th Hits .... 116 5th Doubles 24 t-6th Triples 2 t-7th Home runs 12 t-8th RBIs 46 15th Statistics compiled by ESPN season and went l-for-10 in three games against the Cardinals. “This is a turning point for us to get those runs in,” Everett said. “Everybody chipped in.” Free Campus Housing Blinn College, Brenham Campus Summer I and/or Summer II1999 Live rent free in a residence hall (Subject to availability; certain requirements apply) Blinn College is one of the fastest growing two-year colleges in the state and has the highest student transfer rate to four-year universities. Located in Brenham and convenient to Austin, Bryan/College Station and Houston, Blinn offers the traditional college campus atmosphere. For more information ... 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