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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2000)
Wednesday, March 1,2(0 Wednesday, March 1,2000 SPORTS THE BATTALION Page? !T VILLANUEVA I III BaITAIJOS for four-year-old Ags explode against Islanders BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team had its first trip to Olsen Field Tuesday. The Texas A&M baseball team sent them back to Corpus, showing the first-year team they have a lot to work on. The Aggies lit up the Islander pitching for 17 hits and capitalized on six TAMU-CC er rors as they cruised to a 20-4 victory in seven innings. It was the fourth straight win for A&M as it improved to 9-7 on the season. The loss evens the Islanders record at 6-6 on the year. A&M baseball coach Mark Johnson said the Aggies capitalized on the inexperience of the TAMU-CC team. it was one of those games,” Johnson said. “Corpus is just starting its program and they need Division I games, so we certainly want to tn and help them. They’re young right now. It was good for us in that we got to throw some pitchers we haven’t seen, and we got to play a lot of guys. “We kept the offense going. In that regard it was a good game for us. It didn't give us a real edge, and I think the guys know that. It did help some guys offen sively to hit the ball.” As they have been doing in the past few games, the Aggies jumped ahead early. A&M junior right fielder Daylan Holt got the Aggies on the board in the first inning with a mammoth two-run home run over the right field wall to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead. The Aggies tacked on two more runs in the second inning on a ground ball by senior sec ond baseman Sean Heaney that scored junior catcher Jason Gremminger and a sacrifice tly by Holt to make it a 4-0 A&M lead. Holt said starting out with a home run helped him to get in a groove. “I’m just glad the umpires called that one fair, because it was kind of close,” Holt said. “It feels good to come in there and finally re lax. I think that was the main thing 1 had to do.” The Islanders bounced back in the third in ning when third baseman Ryan Clyde hit a three-run home run over the left field wail to cut the A&M lead to 4-3. Then the Hood gates opened for the Aggies. The Aggies scored 16 runs over the next five innings, including nine in the second to put away TAMU-CC. The Aggies’ offensive dominance helped Johnson get a look at some of his new pitch ers’ some work. A&M freshman pitcher Steven Ponder looked good as he got the start for the Aggies. In his first action of the season, Ponder (1-0) went four innings, giving up four runs, only one of which was earned, on three hits. Senior pitcher Larry Martin also saw his first action of the season, going two innings and only giving up two hits. Senior pitcher Matt Knight finished the game for A&M, giving up only one hit in one inning. Johnson said one of the keys of the game was getting to see how his pitchers performed. “The three pitchers hadn’t thrown at all,” Johnson said. "Ponder and Martin hadn't been across the line yet. So that was a plus for us, and we needed to do that.” TAMU-CC pitcher Larry Olivarez took the loss for the Islanders. Olivarez (2-1) gave up 13 runs on nine hits in 2 1 /3 innings pitched. A&M starts up Big 12 play again this Fri day as they play Baylor University in a three- game series. Holt said the roll the Aggies’ offense has been on will be beneficial heading into the se ries with Baylor. “You want to be sure and go up there and have good ABs [at-bats],” Holt said. "1 know the pitching isn’t the same as we’re going to face against Baylor, but a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike. It doesn't matter how fast it’s coming.” CHAD ADAMS/Tm BATTALION A&M sophomore Blake Whealy backhands a ball in the Aggies’ 20-4 win over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi University Islanders Tuesday at Olsen Field. nference. It was for all Greek he bus, minorities hangt«‘ sians, one I lispanic and there •e going to our bus, and alii* re like 50 ofthem and they w bus, and we were like ‘Youa with us’ and 1 knew half of ilia were like ‘Come sit with us a* id w hen they realized that tki basketball coach me ugly faces. I was At the Rec Center they arestf is for 30 minutes. And they'd week forthe Aggies it 15 minutes. I heard this® Jo he at peak form turn this nigger music off. : to deal w ith thisonaconsa season, it would a fraid of us for no reason. \\}i. have to be now. The lat intimidates you? Orisiti Aggies close out t? What about me? It is o goes to how you were ras: be multicultural, like marm Men’s basketball team hosts 20th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners BY JASON LINCOLN The Battalion If Texas A&M ^ Melvin Watkins could pick only one KING the Big 12 regular season this week with a pair of home games. Wednesday, the Aggies face off :ause I am not just black,la against the No. 20 University ofOkla- lot of these parents do notsh homa Sooners at 7 p.m. in Reed Arena, ng. They teach them things'*, On Saturday,the Aggies host the Univer- rson. | at i f you have self confulm .it other people think about yo sroom, you should not won n is going to get up and mot o that if someone smells lil cmell of smoke, 1 am goinci never noticed if someone In gain I know that white peep hey try to befriend me all I it you have to have self coni nom taught me. ‘They areu ic, you do not hold yourki id up high, because you arc« nd that is the type of mental y speaking, the world consk crimination but you can noil on have to hold your heads : the same as them. sity of Nebraska to close out the season. The pair of games has the potential to be huge for A&M (7-18; 3-11) going into the Big 12 Tournament next week. With a pair of wins the Aggies could be placed as high as the eighth seed. Yet, with only three conference wins, winning two back-to-back games to close out the season will be a daunting task for the young, struggling A&M men. “We’d just like to finish up strong. We have Oklahoma coming in Wednesday and then Nebraska on Saturday,” Watkins said, “ft would be nice to get these two w ins heading into the conference tourna ment.” The Sooners pose the biggest, most’ immediate threat for the Aggies. A&M first dueled OU in the conference opener during early January. The Aggies were trounced in the road match by a score of 78-53. The Aggies will welcome back senior Aaron Jack. Jack spent 1 1/2 games out due to dehydration. Despite the return of Jack, the Aggies will continue to rely on their youth. In the first match-up, A&M freshman guard Bernard King caught the Sooners offguard. King had 18 points, thanks to his perimeter prowess. Rest assured, Oklahoma is looking at King now. The Sooners are sure to focus on keeping King in check for the second round. “They didn't know' Bernard and they didn’t know his capabilities,” Watkins said. “That certainly has changed but Bernard has changed and become a bet ter player since then.” King is not the only Aggie that has stepped up his game since the January contest. The next dozen Big 12 matches showed the rise of a few other freshmen performers. Tomas Ress has found a home starting at forward, Andy Slocum has learned to play with the other big boys in the paint and a host of other fresh men have found a home making an im pact off the bench. Slocum’s improvement reached a new high on Saturday against the Uni versity of Texas, when the starting center had 14 points playing against Big 12 Player of the Year candidate Chris M ihm. “He started ofTslow, but most big kids do,” Watkins said about his new big man. “Now he’s beginning to gain some con fidence after putting a couple games back-to-back in which he’s played pretty good. He’s starting to see his upside that we saw a lot sooner.” A&M needs more than improved per- formance by a few freshmen to overcome the veteran OU line-up. The Sooners are led by 6-8 forward Eduardo Najera. The senior has been making a run at Big 12 Player of the Year, averaging a double-double with 18.4 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game. With nobody on the roster that can match-up well against Najera, Watkins looks to counter the threat with a mix of double teams, traps and zones. Backing up Najera’s efforts in the Aggieland »ue s each team lege Station rge Bush) 07 Andy : 574-8859 50 -ivo WED Mar8 THUR Mar 9 r »HYS 208 Test Review Hardy & Fry HYS 218 Test Review Welch PHYS 212 Test Review Kamon CHEM 107 Test Review Brown CHEM 107 Test Review Hughbank CHEM 102 eview Part 3 CHEM 102 Review Part f V1ATH 141 Review #4 MATHff] Review#? iHEM 102 Test #4 CHEM 102 Test#? Phys 201 Test #2 Phys 201 Test #3 ^ 3ene 301 Review III Gene 301 Review !V^ Math 152 Review 3 Math 152 Review L-- )HEM 227 Review 3 . paint is a well rounded, experienced sup porting cast. Junior guard Nolan Johnson will look to post his ninth straight game to score in double figures. Freshman guard Hollis price has picked up his As sists and scoring in recent games to go along with sophomore guard J.R. Ray mond who ranks 11 th in the conferente scoring lists. “OU is obviously a NCAA team apd has a lot on stake as they jockey for the fourth seed [in the tournament],” Watkiris said. “They’re going to be ready to play and have the components to beat you pretty bad.” The Aggies will try and minimize OU’s threat and capitalize on the home advantage to pull yet another top 25 upset. Everybody Scores! REGISTER WITH MYBYTES.COM AND SCORE BIG! GET fl FREE SONIC ABYSS MULTIMEDIA CD and QUTOMPTICALLY BE ENTERED INTO OUR Score Big, Score Often Sweepstrkes. YOU COULD WIN AN INSTANT PRIZE! Plus, you'll hove a chance at $100,000 TO W A R D S your college education. bweeDsraKes TM Tipao^ *'-■,* CALGON tstSKECHERS well fcSJj El! Si BSD Triprjufj.com Your Student Travel Source /frx UNIVERSAL V ry No Purchase Necessary. Void in Florida and where prohibited by law. 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