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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1999)
A2322 v -105:no.141 Du Battalion Sports Page 3 • Monday, June 21, 1999 er Aggic pitchers eye big-league future Cardinals make Caple first-round pick JP BEATO/The Battalion Junior pitcher Chance Caple, who finished the 1999 baseball season at 8-5 with a 4.26 ERA, was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by St. Louis. BY JEFF WEBB The Battalion Don and Janiece Caple ribbed each oth er in front of the television set Friday night with their son Chance looking on. You will have to forgive the Caple family for not putting a rut in the carpet pacing over the important house guest they were to re ceive later that evening. The St. Louis Cardinals scheduled Ben Gallante, a team scout, to make an ap pearance Friday to contact the June 2 draft pick and his family and “throw a propos al at them” in the words of Cardinals Di rector of Scouting John Mozeliak. “I would hope to [sign him early],” he said. “Players in front of him have been drafted and signed. If he’s looking to go where the others have gone [money wise], it should be simple.” Though Chance, who will not turn 21 until Aug. 9, has one year of college eligi bility remaining, he is expected to sign with St. Louis after the Cardinals made him the 30th pick in the first round. It was the latest pick in franchise history, but to hear Mozeliak tell the story, it was just what the team wanted. “When we put together our draft, we saw that the strength of the draft was pitching,” he said. “As far as our minor league system needs, we just go ahead and draft the best player out there.” Scouts’ visits to the Caple house are a family institution since Chance’s father played for the University of Arkansas, and Chance’s older brother, Kyle, played for Texas Christian University. Kyle end ed up in the Minnesota Twins’ organiza tion. The San Diego Padres took Chance in the eighth round of the 1996 draft out of Carroll High School, but he said he at tended Texas A&M without regret. “I enjoyed my three years,” he said. “Ending my last year with a College World Series trip was fun. The team turned a lot of heads, and we had fun doing it.” The visit of which the family seemed most proud was the one that had not hap pened yet. On Father’s Day weekend, Don Caple could say no wrong about his young son and his baseball future. CHANCE CAPLE 1999 STATISTICS RECORD — 8-5 WINNING % — .615 ERA — 4.26 OPPONENTS’ BATTING AVERAGE — .246 STRIKEOUTS — 125 “This is something the whole family is looking forward to,” he said. “We have a meeting scheduled for tonight (Friday). They could not make contact with him un til he finished this year, so we haven’t even starting talking to them yet.” Caple does not have an agent yet, but the IMG corporation supplied them ad viser Casey Close for their talks with the Cardinals. Close handled the negotia tions for former A&M football recruit Choo Freeman, who signed with the Col orado Rockies in 1998 after being a ‘sandwich pick’ between the first and second rounds. “They have good people,” Don Caple said. “Choosing someone was quite a fam ily episode. “There were lots of people calling, and we were worried about some of them in fluencing our son, but most of the people we were talking to were nice people.” The Cardinals used six of their first nine picks on right-handed pitchers this year, and Caple was the first. In 1998, he post ed a 7-1 record with a 3.79 ERA as a starter-reliever. Caple was 8-4 with a 4.21 ERA this season. “I didn’t want to go into the draft with high expectations, but I’m looking for ward to playing,” Chance Caple said. St. Louis then selected Nick Stocks from Florida State University as a “sand wich pick,” the 36th overall. FSU led the NCAA in team ERA, and Stocks (11-2, 3.15 ERA) put up better numbers than Caple this season. However, Mozeliak said num bers are not what scouts are after. “With those guys, you look at their durability,” he said. “Assuming all things are equal, Caple’s size tells us he will be able to pitch at the professional level. Stocks is a guy who had ‘Tommy John’ surgery a couple of years ago.” In the eighth round, the Cardinals se lected A&M catcher Shawn Schumacher with the 252nd overall pick. If he signs, both players will be assigned to the New Jersey Cardinals, a developmental league team that will begin play immediately. “We were looking to get a catcher, which was a position we lacked in our mi nor league system,” Mozeliak said. “It’s a bonus because he’s caught [Caple] before, and going out to pro ball, he will have a friend.” So Caple will take his battery-mate, commanding mound presence and 90- mile-an-hour fastball to New Jersey, car rying on the family tradition of playing with the goal of pitching in the big show. Now that is a Father’s Day present no dad could refuse. rossunt heads to Red Sox at No. 48 BY REECE FLOOD The Battalion After three tremendous years as an ( ie pitcher, Casey Possum is leaving to pursue a career in professional bpseball. The Boston Red Sox selected Possum With the 48th overall pick in the 1999 Ma- jov League Baseball draft. Possum said he is excited about his being drafted. “Boston is a good team,” Possum * {said. “I think I’m going to fit in well ■ with them.” The lefthander will be remembered ■ ai one of A&M’s most successful pitch- . ejs, A&M pitching coach Jim Lawler : slid. “You’ve got to put him into the top "^jgr, up,” he said. Possum struck out 162 batters last 3ai|dm;season to break Jeff Granger’s single- season A&M strikeout record of 150. I Lawler said he is sorry to be losing — his ace pitcher, but he said he knows FAssum will have an impact on his fu ture team. “You know he can go get the left- handed hitters,” he said. “That’s one of the first things professional baseball looks at.” Possum is not sure when he will start playing, but he will most likely gain ex perience as a pitcher for a Red Sox mi nor-league team. He is currently work ing on contract negotiations and hopes to take the mound as soon as possible. “I’d like to get out there and start playing again,” Possum said. CASEY FOSSUM 1999 STATISTICS RECORD — 12-7 WINNING % — .632 ERA — 3.64 OPPONENTS’ BATTING AVERAGE — .231 STRIKEOUTS — 162 Possum said he is uncertain what his role will be with his new team. If he be gins play as a starter, he should be able to throw the ball hard on every pitch and maintain his velocity. On the other hand, if the team decides to use him as a re liever, he is confident he can pitch 25-30 pitches an outing. Although Possum is anxious to start playing, he also is ready to give his arm a well-deserved rest. Possum pitched 133 innings this season, the most ever by an Aggie in one season. While at A&M, Possum has prepared for his next career step, pitching suc cessfully to strong batters with alu minum bats for the past three years. “A good hitter with an aluminum bat is comparable to a real, real good ma jor-league baseball player with a wood en bat,” Possum said. “If I can pitch to that, I can pitch to anybody.” Possum had an opportunity to sign with the majors when he was drafted out of Midway High School in Waco, but he decided to try to improve his game at A&M. “Had I signed out of high school, I might have been a little behind where I am right now,” he said. Possum ended his final season for the Aggies with a 12-7 record and a 3.64 ERA, earning the C. E. “Pat” Olsen Out standing Pitcher award and a trip to the College World Series. Possum said he will return to A&M in the fall for workouts and to take classes if his schedule allows. He hopes to go to instructional league during the winter break at the Boston Red Sox spring training facility. SALLIE TURNER/The Battalion A&M junior pitcher Casey Fossum, who this year set the single-season Aggie record for strikeouts with 162, was taken with the 48th overall pick of the major-league draft by the Red Sox. iami title a team effort rtyJ' raebei! arekl) otMM 13; Fad Ond® cetosf atC# jtionT' OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — This season’s University of Miami team was different from those of recent years and not just because the Hur ricanes finally won a champi onship for coach Jim Morris. This year, they were better as a nit. “I’ve always said when I’ve got the team that wins the national ti tle, that’s going to be my best team, nd this team plays together the iest,” Morris said after the Hurri canes beat Florida State Universi ty, 6-5, for the NCAA champi onship. I In his first five seasons at Mia- mi, Morris always brought a con- fender to the College World Series. Those big-hitting teams often left disappointed, labeled as under achievers. I The 1998 Hurricanes, led by No. 1 draft pick Pat Burrell, set school records for homers, RBIs, total bases, runs per game and slugging percentage. They left Omaha after scoring eight runs in three games. 1 In 1997, Miami won its first two CWS games but was eliminated by consecutive losses to Alabama, one of the teams the Hurricanes al ready had beaten. I Then there was the haunting end to the 1996 season. Miami was one out from the national title when Louisiana State University’s Warren Morris lifted the Tigers to a 9-8 victory with a ninth-inning homer. Finally, in his sixth year, Morris got his title, the school’s third. And it was a scrappy team that won it, surviving injuries, winning with singles and bunts and getting out standing pitching. “Growing up in Miami, I re member how it felt in 1996 just be ing a fan,” outfielder Manny Cre spo said. “I remember ’97 and last year, when we came here and failed to win. “This year, we just had guys keep stepping up and battling and pulling off wins. We had so many guys do it. I’ve never seen a team play as tight as we did this year.” On Saturday, the biggest con tributor was Kevin Brown, who homered in the second inning to tie the game, 2-2, and hit a three- run double in Miami’s five-run fifth to put the Hurricanes ahead for good. “I thought the home run was huge because it tied the game and got us going,” Morris said. “All of Kevin’s home runs have been big this year, whether here, in the Re gional or Super Regional.” Stars take sports eyes away from ’Boys DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are no longer riding high on the local sports scene. Six years after moving to town, the Dallas Stars have taken over. The Stars won the NHL title ear ly Sunday, the first Stanley Cup for a team from the Sun Belt. For the Stars, who moved from Minneapolis in 1993 to raised eye brows about their prospects on the sunbaked plains, the Stanley Cup affirms hockey’s place in the pantheon of Texas sports. “We’ve come from the point where peo ple didn’t know what a goal was or any of the rules to every body being crazy about the sport — it’s gone 180 degrees,” said Craig Ludwig, one of three former Min nesota North Stars still on the roster. “It’s incredible.” The Stars won the first title in the 32-year history of their franchise when Brett Hull scored in triple overtime, giving Dallas a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 and 4-2 series win. The Cowboys, who have won five Super Bowls, had been the only local team to win a major sports ti tle. Baseball’s Texas Rangers have won one playoff game since arriving in 1972; basketball’s Dallas Maver icks haven’t made the playoffs since 1990. While football will always be king in Texas, for now the guys with stars on their sweaters are more pop ular than the guys with the stars on their helmets. “This is the first time somebody besides the Cowboys has won a championship. This is a whole new ball game,” Joe Nelson, 22, said. “There’s something besides football in Texas.” “It’s great,” Cowboys quarter back TYoy Aikman said earlier this week of the Stars’ championship run. “It brings back a lot of fond memories for us. ” The Stars’ headquarters is less than a mile from the Cowboys’ training facility in Valley Ranch, near Irving. Many football players are regulars at hockey games and everyone has seen the city swept into a Cowboys-like frenzy. “If they win, you will see this city stop talking about the ’Boys and talk about the Stars,” running back Em- mitt Smith predicted Tliesday. Many Stars fans were asleep Blues acquire Dallas goalie ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Blues acquired Dallas Stars backup goalie Roman Tlirek on Sunday in hopes he will challenge 37-year-old Grant Fuhr for the starting job. Turek, 29, the backup to Ed Belfour in Dallas, cost the Blues a third-round pick in the Entry Draft. He was 16-3-3 with one shutout and a 2.02 goals-against average last season for the Stan ley Cup champions and tied for 10th in the NHL with a .925 save percentage. when the game ended at 12:32 a.m., missing many newspaper deadlines but not The Dallas Morning Nevus, which splashed “Overjoyed” across the front page. Local television cov erage of the locker-room celebration lasted until 2 a.m. About 200 fans greeted the team’s arrival around 6:45 a.m., shouting “We want cup! We want cup!” as players climbed aboard a bus. Goaltender Ed Belfour obliged, hoisting the trophy over his head as he walked along a chain-link fence, allowing fans to touch it. Dallas will throw a parade fol lowed by a rally today at Reunion “We believe Roman has the ability and character to be a No. 1 goaltender, and he’ll get the chance to prove that,” Blues gen eral manager Larry Pleau said. “Roman should be an excellent fit for our club. “His experience playing for a Stanley Cup champion should benefit us next season and into the future.” Pleau said he will likely expose Fuhr in the expansion draft on Fri day and did not expect to lose him. Arena, the 17,001-seat venue where the Stars sold out their last 49 games despite being ousted in last year’s Western Conference finals. Just the opposite happened in Minnesota after the North Stars lost in the finals in 1991. Small crowds prompted then- owner Norm Green to consider leaving Minneapolis. Dallas seemed an unlikely choice, but it was part of the NHL’s overall plan to spread its sport. Texans were not always sure what was happening in games, but they bought into the slogan that the NHL was “the coolest game on ice.”
