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THE BATTALION
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Sports
The Battalion Page 5 • Friday, February 14, 2003
A&M kicks off three-game weekend
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Aggie catcher Justin Pouk holds onto the ball as he tags an A&M-Corpus Christi
baserunner. The Aggies begin a three-game weekend on Friday against Rice.
By Kevin Espenlaub
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M baseball
team will take its swings at
two national powerhouses
this weekend when it travels
to Houston to compete in the
third annual Minute Maid
Park Classic.
The Aggies will open
action against the nation’s No.
2 Rice University Owls
Friday night at 7 p.m. at
Minute Maid Park, home of
major league baseball’s
Houston Astros.
The Owls (1-0) will open
their season without the serv
ices of All-American right
hander Steven Herce, who is
expected to miss the first two
months of action due to
shoulder inflammation.
Rice Head Coach Wayne
Graham is searching to
replace his star pitcher and
has spent a considerable
amount of time working his
pitchers in intersquad
scrimmages as opposed to a
heavy early season schedule
of games.
“I think everybody else
started early,” Graham told
the Houston Chronicle. ‘Td
rather have my arms past the
point of where I think there’s
a possibility of hurting them
before I start.”
Graham will start right
hander Jeff Niemann against
the Aggies (1 -0) Friday.
Niemann made his first
career start last season on
April 23 when the Owls
defeated A&M at Olsen
Field. Niemann left the
game after 4.2 innings and
was not awarded a decision
in the contest.
Friday will be Niemann’s
second career start and he will
face off against Aggie junior
left-hander Kyle Parcus, who
is making his first appearance
of the season.
Parcus finished last season
5-4 with a 3.56 earned run
average and is expected to be
a leader on a team with 16
new faces on the roster.
The Aggies will begin
play early Saturday after
noon with a contest against
University of Louisiana-
Lafayette at 3 p.m.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (3-1)
will likely take to the plate
against A&M senior left
hander Zach Dixon, who
impressed Aggie coaches on
opening day by fanning six
batters in only 2.1 innings of
work against A&M-Corpus
Christi Tuesday.
“I thought Zach Dixon
was a key guy (against A&M-
CC) because he beat the three
and four-hole hitters and
those were their top hitters,”
said A&M Head Coach Mark
Johnson. “He stepped in and
beat them twice, and that was
huge for us.”
While Johnson was pleased
with the pitching perfcrmance,
he was concerned about the
team’s offensive struggles
early in the game against the
Islanders and hopes his team
will not repeat the perform
ance this weekend.
“(A&M-CC) threw a lot
of offspeed pitches, which
series
is really tough to face early
in the season,” he said. “We
didn’t do a good job with
runners on and less than
two outs.”
The Aggies will try to
avoid a repeat from last year’s
tournament on Sunday as they
battle the No. 13 University of
Houston Cougars, who three-
hit A&M in last season’s tour
nament in a tight 2-1 decision.
Parcus pitched five innings
in the game and recorded the
loss despite allowing only one
run on four hits while record
ing six strikeouts.
This year, the Aggies will
put junior transfer Scott
Beerer on the mound. Beerer
pitched two hitless innings in
the Aggies’ victory over
A&M-CC.
UH will counter with left
hander Danny Zell, who went
8-2 last season with a 2.86
ERA. Zell is 1-0 this season
after pitching seven one-hit
innings against Pepperdine
Saturday.
UH has won its past three
games against the Aggies.
Women’s team to face Nebraska
v
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
Junior guard Toccara
Williams will stare down his
tory again when the Texas
A&M women’s basketball
leam(9-12, 2-8 Big 12) takes
on the University of Nebraska
Comhuskers (8-13, 1-9 Big
12) Saturday at Reed Arena.
Williams has already bro-
ifflA&M’s all-time steals
record, surpassing Lisa
Branch earlier this season.
Now with 499 assists,
Williams is moving in on
Branch again as she is sec
ond to her in all-time career
assists. With one more assist
Williams will become only
the second player in Big 12
history to score 800 points
with 500 assists and 300
steals. Ironically, the only
other Big 12 player to do so
was Nicole Kubik, who
played for Nebraska from
1997-2000.
The Aggies have done
well as a team in creating
opportunities for them
selves. For the third consec
utive season, A&M leads
the conference in steals per
game at just less than 14
takeaways per game.
The Aggies are coming
off their worst loss of the
season, an 83-38 thrashing
by No. 7 Texas Tech in
Lubbock on Wednesday.
Williams and freshman
Melissa Picone each led the
Aggies with just seven
points. A&M scored only
18 points in the first half,
which tied its lowest output
in a half this year.
“I thought we competed
in the first half,” said A&M
Head Coach Peggie Gillom.
“We shot 28 percent...if we
had only made our shots.”
In the second half the
Aggies shot even worse to
finish with 25 percent
shooting from the floor for
the game.
“We had open shots and
open looks and couldn’t
score,” Gillom said.
The Aggies are hoping to
rebound in front of a home
crowd against a struggling
Nebraska team. The
Cornhuskers have lost 11 of
their past 12 games. The lat
est loss came from No. 5
Kansas State 64-47.
“We don’t feel good about
losing by 17 points,” said
Nebraska Head Coach Connie
Yori. “But we did outscore
them in the second half.”
Junior forward Alexa
Johnson leads the
Cornhuskers with 15.7
points and 6.8 rebounds. If
the Aggies are to win this
game, they will have to con
tain Johnson in the paint.
This may be difficult for
the Aggies with the rash of
injuries suffered in the Tech
game. Williams, sophomore
Sabrina Mitchell, senior
Tressie Mason and junior
Lynn Classen all left the
game due to injury. Classen
could be the largest concern
because of her presence in
the post. She is second on
the team in scoring with 9.1
points per game.
“We had four players
hurt,” Gillom said. “But
they played and fought
(against Tech). When you
don’t have four in good
health, it’s going to be a
long night.”
Injuries have simply
added to a difficult Big 12
season for A&M. Kim
Moore retired earlier in the
year, and the Aggies have not
been as successful since los
ing her rebounding ability.
One bright spot for
Gillom and her team has
been the play of junior Janae
Derrick. In Moore’s absence,
she has taken over the posi
tion of A&M’s leading
rebounder, averaging 6.2
boards per game.
The Aggies hope to avoid
another long night in a
game that should see
Williams reach another
milestone in her already sto
ried career at A&M.
The Aggies will face
Nebraska on Saturday at 2
p.m. at Reed Arena.
Softball team hosts BYU, McNeese St.
By Pete Burks
THE BATTALION
After a tough weekend in Phoenix
against three highly-ranked opponents
and two veteran squads, the Texas A&M
softball team returns home for a
Valentine’s Day weekend tournament at
the Aggie Softball Complex.
The Aggies had to endure a brutal
schedule in the Fiesta Bowl Softball
Tournament a week ago, beating Utah
and No. 15 Fresno State and dropping
games to No. 2 Arizona, No. 10 Cal
State - Fullerton and Mississippi State.
A&M will seek redemption this
weekend when it hosts Brigham Young
University (2-2) and McNeese State (0-
0) in the first part of the St. Joseph’s
Invitational. The second half of the tour
nament will take place next weekend.
While the Aggies did not play poorly in
Arizona, A&M Head Coach Jo Evans
said she sees room for improvement.
“We hit a few home runs this past
weekend, but we need to work on put
ting some hits together,” she said. “We
need to work on getting more consistent
hitting. However, it’s always good to
play tough competition, and you leam a
lot about your team when you do that.”
BYU will likely be looking to wreak
havoc on the bases this weekend, led by
All-American first baseman Oli
Keohohou. The Aggies and Cougars will
square off in an afternoon tilt today at
2:30 p.m. in A&M’s first game of the
tournament. This will be BYU’s first trip
down to College Station, but the
Cougars are not likely to be intimidated.
“BYU is a great hitting team,” Evans
said. “Oli Keohohou is a great
hitter...and they have surrounded her
with other great hitters.”
Unfortunately for BYU, its All-
American first baseman may not even
be able to step on the field due to an
injury. Keohohou’s health will be
worth monitoring.
“It’s going to be a really good chal
lenge for our team, and we look for
ward to these challenges,” said
Cougars’ Head Coach Gordon Eakin.
“Oli Keohohous is questionable to play,
suffering a minor injury this last week
and will be a game-time decision as to
whether she plays or not.”
Losing Keohohou would be a major
blow to BYU, since she led the team to
a 2-2 record last weekend in the
Southern Utah University tournament,
hitting two home runs including the 40th
of her career.
McNeese State is a team that will
look to gain early season experience this
weekend. The Lady Cowgirls have yet
to play a game this season, and they
know that stealing two wins from the
Aggies in a round-robin tournament is
no easy task.
“We’re not quite sure what to expect
from our team at this point,” said
McNeese Head Coach Scott Eastman.
“We are a young team, and I know we’ll
be nervous going in to a place like
A&M. We haven’t played them in a
while, but they're always a tough team.”
The Aggies will have a busy week
end, playing each team twice on Friday
and Saturday. The first meeting with
McNeese State will take place at 5 p.m.
today. Saturday’s games against the
Cougars and Cowgirls will also be at
2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively.
JOHN C. I.IVAS • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M freshman guard Antoine Wright puts up a shot against Missouri on
Wednesday night. The Aggies upset the No. 21-ranked Tigers.
Aggies head to Colorado
By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M men’s basketball
team is hoping it can bottle up some of
the momentum gained after
Wednesday night’s win over No. 21
Missouri at home and take it on the
road in the high altitudes of the Rocky
Mountains against the University of
Colorado Buffaloes.
The Aggies are hoping to get a win
on the road in a venue that has been a
speed bump for two of the top teams in
the Big 12. Colorado has knocked off
No. 6 University of Texas and No. 9
Kansas at home this year and are 10-1
at home this season.
Texas A&M Head Coach Melvin
Watkins said he knows it is a tough
place to play, and the team is taking
steps to prevent fatigue due to the
extreme altitude in Boulder.
“As with most Big 12 teams,
Colorado is very tough to beat at
home,” he said. “They’ve already beat
en Kansas and Texas up there, so we
know what kind of challenge this
game will be.”
The Aggies have not beaten the
Buffs on the road in their previous four
meetings. In all four trips, the Aggies
played well until fatigue set in late in
the ballgame.
This year the Aggies are not travel
ing to Boulder until Saturday morning
before the game.
Colin Killian, associate media rela
tions director, said Texas and Kansas
traveled the day prior to their games,
as A&M has done in the past. But this
year the Aggies are going to try some
thing different.
“The altitude doesn’t affect you for
the first 24 hours,” Killian said. “We
are going to try to put that to the test
and see what happens.”
The Aggies may not be used to
playing in the mountain tops of
Colorado, but they did show
Wednesday night that they are used to
playing the top teams of the Big 12
with a 72-70 win over Missouri.
Watkins said that he is proud of the
fight he has seen in his team and reem
phasized that it is a big difference from
his teams in the past.
“I like the effort that we’re giv
ing right now,” he said. “It’s very
important for us to try to build on
the momentum from the Missouri
game as we head into the last half of
conference play.”
The Aggies are still without the
services of junior Andy Slocum who
was arrested earlier this season. His
absence will be felt against Colorado,
which likes to use its 7-foot sopho
more center David Harrison down low.
Harrison is second on the team in
scoring with 13.3 points per game.
“Colorado is very strong inside
and we’ll have to find a way to keep
them from hurting us down low,”
Watkins said.
The Aggies are hoping senior guard
Bernard King can put on an encore
performance of his 29-point effort at
home against Missouri and that fresh
man forward Antoine Wright can
rebound after an unusually slow game
Wednesday.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.