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.
See Showdown on page 2B
>o
Brick
r CSISPJ
MASTER BR
br
BR #2
Plan
1390
PRE-INVENTORY SALE
• 30-60% off all Aggie merchandise
• Selected tees I 5. 00
• 50% off all backpacks, briefcases, duffles,
and all other bags
• 10% off all calculators and software
BOOKSTORES
• Northgate • Culpepper Plaza • Village Center
Aggie Unlimited
Post Oak Mall
1-800-699-1 142
Sale now thru April 12
5 a <e does not include diploma frames and sale prices cannot be combined with any other offer.
Kathy Mayfield-Lynch
Realtor/Broker, ABR, CRS, GRI
Aggie Mom
Your Real Estate
Connection
Solving Student Housing Needs at A&M
for over 26 Yrs.
Build Equity, Grab Appreciation.
Choose your own roommates!
AFFORDABLE!
Houses, Duplexes, Condos.
Let Your Investment Soften the
Education Cost.
Contact Kathy and “Be Sold on Service”
(979) 777-4116
kathy@tca.net
ASHFORD
SQUARE
^ REALTY