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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2002)
Sports SECTION THE BATTALION Friday, April 12, 2002 US Airways anj funded from the ew York-to-Washiij : , an non _ <0.000—21 20.000 S Doonn- !M ggies return to Big 12 play against KSU jk&M baseball team looks to cure hitting woes in three-game series against Kansas State d-trips between i and New Yon between Bostoc week. A compn te train-versui-p loing to taken!) in New York?' ional, an Engle* Travel Coalition.! ■i who have cutk >ort hassles as tkv ty was a dis ogue of Islamic tenff thousands dk' erba in thee#) t tensionsffl/rf noted mUtyjOT to Djei ingin? a nt tentpli 1 ! vas det ns in 58 in a git ue. umentedj conimuni the iOtkj 18th ce«i lortantW md honi and By Doug Puentes i THE BATTALION 1 After a two-week stint in non-conference |p|ay, the Texas A&M ’baseball team returns to Bg 12 Conference play this weekend as the fed hot Kansas State Wildcats head to town for ■hree-game series at Olsen Field. I The No. 16 Aggies (26-12, 5-4 Big 12) ended |eir eight-game, non-conference swing with a I ss than stellar performance on Tuesday ainst the seventh-ranked Houston Cougars. m A&M grounded into four double^ plays Jainst the Cougars en route to a 10-2 loss. I It was the Aggies’ second straight loss after a ven-game winning streak. “It was our tirst Tuesday loss of the season, ■hich is good,” said A&M head coach Mark ■hnson. “They’re a good ball club. We started Kht off the bat hitting into four double plays Id they played well. We couldn’t control their ifense. I “We don’t have the kind of offense where |eTl get six or seven hits in an inning so when lehit into a double play it’s probably going to a non-productive inning.” The offense was an area that the Aggies lanted to address as they stepped away from inference play, but they ended up with mixed isults. The Aggies hit .324 over their eight game |unt into non-conference play, but they tailed , hitting .254 in their last four games and coring only 12 runs. A&M has picked the wrong time to go into Jie of its hitting slumps as the ending of its ‘-conference stretch begins the toughest part [fits season. The Aggies’ will play 15 of their next 18 James against Big 12 competition where the top teams are separated by only a few games. The bats have been a concern all year,” Johnson said. “We’re going to struggle with it from time to time and other times we’ll do well. We ve circled the wagons around the defense and pitching as we’ve done all year. I wish we were going in with a lot of good feelings about ourselves offensively, but we don’t have that. We had a long team meeting on Monday and discussed that there were 18 games left on the schedule and none of them were easy. It’s the stretch run, it s why you play. We reviewed our goals and our goals are still in tact.” The Aggies’ goals of winning the Big 12 and making a regional are in tact, but they will get a serious test this weekend in the form of the Kansas State Wildcats. In the span of two weekends, Kansas State (18-14, 5-4) has turned its series with the Aggies from one that that could have been a pushover into a dogfight. The Wildcats are coming off series victories over Nebraska at home and Texas Tech on the road in consecutive weekends. The Cornhuskers were the same team that swept the Aggies earli er this season. “They have our guys attention no doubt about it, Johnson said. “They have played very well. Kansas State is probably the hottest team out there right now. They’ve come out of nowhere to all of a sudden win four of six con ference games against good ball clubs.” The Wildcats are led offensively by Pat Maloney, batting .409 on the season with nine home runs, nine doubles and 37 RBIs. The Aggies will go with a rotation of Justin Moore (3-1, 2.32 ERA) on Friday, Khalid Ballouli (4-1, 3.21) on Saturday and Ryan Warpinski (1-2, 4.70) on Sunday. The Wildcats will counter with Ross Howley (1-2, 4.63), Brock Smith (1-4, 6.23) and Kevin Melcher (5-1, 2.85). r T"m** r HSk- *-** * t -K * A&M junior center fielder Eric Reed attempts to lay down a bunt during the Aggies’ 9-1 victory over The Aggies will be without the services of first baseman Travis Wong for the weekend. “Wong isn’t with us right now,” Johnson said. “He’s got some academic problems he’s JOHN LIVAS • THE BATTALION the Texas A&M-Corpus Christ! Islanders April 2 at Olsen Field addressing right now, so he won’t be with us this weekend. We’ll see how that develops.” First pitch on Friday and Saturday will be at 7 p.m. with game time Sunday at 1 p.m. Ags set for showdown in Austin Men’s tennis team tries to keep up in conference race against UT time 1 I STUART VILLANUEVA • THE BATTALION fM freshman Lester Cook hits a backhand during the Aggies' match with Semeste| pperdine at the Varsity Tennis Center. By Kevin Espenlaub THE BATTALION The Texas A&M men’s tennis team will face its toughest challenge in Big 12 conference play Saturday in Austin against the No. 12 University of Texas Longhorns (17-2, 4-1 Big 12) in a 1 p.m. matchup at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The No. 14 Aggies (16-3, 3-0 Big 12) will enter Austin in the middle of a four-game road swing that already has seen them take matches from Texas Tech University and the University of Colorado last weekend. The match will also begin a string of four matches in the next week for the Aggies. At this point in the season, a loss to anyone would greatly damage the Aggies’ chances of defending their Big 12 title, with both Texas and Baylor University ranked above them in the national polls and sporting solid records. The only conference loss for the Longhorns this season was Wednesday against Baylor. The Aggies need a victory Saturday to keep pace with the Bears, whom they host next Saturday. “I think this match is extremely important for both of our teams,” said Texas head coach Michael Center. “If we don’t pull out a win against A&M this weekend, I don’t think we really have a chance to compete for the con ference title, and I think they will real ly be in a good position if they can pull out the win here. So both teams will work for the win on Saturday, and it should be a exciting contest.” The last time the teams met was earlier this spring when the Longhorns defeated the Aggies 4-2 in the Second Annual Texas Cup at the Westside Tennis Club in Houston. The match did not count toward the conference record, but the win gave Texas bragging rights for Saturday’s match. Texas has now won both of the Texas Cup competitions. “I think that the earlier match this season is motivation for the guys to play well,” said A&M head coach Tim Cass. “This is a much bigger match for us than that one was, because it will help decide the Big 12 title. Both teams have a mutual respect for each other, and I think it will be a good, hard-fought match.” The question remains whether the Aggies will enter Saturday’s matchup at 100 percent because of a string of injuries striking the club in the past few weeks. Sophomore Khaled El Dorry lost his past two matches after returning from a severe ankle sprain he suffered in a match against TCU two weeks ago, and No. 34 junior Ryan Newport missed action in the Texas Tech match last weekend due to injury. 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