NEWS
THE BATTALION
NEWS IN BRIEF
:e respond to
de call and
i is fatally shot
Sports
/an man was
police officer Saturda)
ig after receiving a phone
am a psychologist
ed that the man
med suicide,
four-hour ordeal I
oolice responded toasui-
all, only to find D
J Knudson locked ir
jse refusing to come
Bryan Police Departmenl
release stated that
on's psychologist reported
)n had taken several pills
reatened to take his own
provoking a police office
)t him in self-defense,
i police surrounded the
:rying to contact Knudson
: er him medical and psy-
ical treatment. Durinf
ime, the police held
dus telephone converse
vith Knudson.
17 a.m. Knudson rushed
e door, bearing what
like a "long gun" and
I it at an officer in a
ning manner. Later inves
discovered the weapon
tion was an air rifle,
refusing to respond to
cers' verbal commands,
ired three shots and said
jck Knudson in the chest
officer involved in the
g has been placed on
Iministrative leave pend-
her investigation.
rk
nued from page 1
the proposed
y about
on.
are living in a world
growing smaller and
ntertwined everyday,"
af said. “We should
every opportunity as
ans and as global citi-
reach out and forrarela-
>s, which allow us to
etter communities. ®i |
>re meaningfu/ lives
The Battalion
Page 3 • Monday, February 17, 2003
Aggies close with win over UH
k&M finishes Houston tourney with 2-1 record
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
HOUSTON- Aggie sophomore Logan
Kensing gave up two earned runs and
seven hits in eight innings to earn the vic-
loiyover No. 13 University of Houston 4-
2 in the Minute Maid Park College Classic.
“(Kensing) gave us a big time outing,”
said Texas A&M baseball Head Coach
Mark Johnson. “That was a great perform
ance. He had good movement and kept the
hall down, so I thought that Logan was the
ley for us.”
Houston’s only runs against Kensing
came in the bottom of the fourth inning
whenHouston junior Adam Bluhm singled
home two runs.
Kensing threw nine strikeouts in the
•ame and earned all-tournament honors in
lis first career start.
“I woke up today and it was probably
ihe longest day I’ve had in a long time,”
Kensing said. “(Houston) chased a lot.
They were looking for a fastball right off
the bat so I tried to bust them in and then
they’d back off.”
After three scoreless innings where
Houston owned the lone hit, the Aggie bats
came alive. Junior center fielder Justin
Ruggiano started the fourth inning by dou
bling to the gap in right-center field. Junior
catcher Justin Pouk was then hit by
Houston pitcher Garrett Mock. Junior des
ignated hitter
Scott Beerer singled home Ruggiano on
the next at bat. Beerer went 2 for 4 in the
game as he was selected to the all-tourna
ment team. Freshman Cliff Pennington and
junior Brian Bowe both earned a RBI in
the inning to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
After the two-run fifth for Houston the
Aggies added an insurance run when
Beerer singled on a 0-2 pitch to bring jun
ior Cory Patton home to give Beerer his
second RBI of the night.
“Beerer got us a big hit with two strikes
and no balls,” Johnson said. “I’m sure
they’d like to have that one over again.”
A&M sophomore pitcher Robert
Ramsey earned his first save of the year as
he came in to pitch the ninth inning and
struck out the side.
The Aggies’ win gave them a 2-1 mark
in the tournament. A&M began by playing
No. 2 Rice and loosing 10-5.
The Aggies bounced back Saturday and
beat the University of Louisiana-Lafayette
11-1 before taking on Houston Sunday.
Senior Zach Dixon earned the win and a
spot on the all-tournament team by striking
out 12 in 8.1 innings of work.
“We’d like to have won all of them,”
Johnson said. “The best ball game played
by one team was Rice against us.
Everybody is a good ballclub, it’s a good
tournament.”
The Aggies see their next action when
they travel to Huntsville to take on Sam
Houston State. The game will begin on
Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Logan
JP Beato III • THE BATTALION
Kensing helped the Aggies to a 4-2 victory over the University of Houston.
Tennis teams sweep weekend action
Men claim doubleheader
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By Jeff Allen
THE BATTALION
A little more than two weeks
ago, Texas A&M men’s tennis
Head Coach Tim Cass sat
Wind his desk at the Varsity
Tennis Center and said his team
was heading to Florida in search
of an identity.
“Right now our identity is in
lepast,” he said. “The reason
we are ranked No. 12 is based
on what we did in the past, and
fc team is going to have to
a whatever they are capable
/T/arning.”
Back at the Tennis Center
Saturday, the Aggies (5-3), now
ranked No. 19, faced a familiar
situation. After losing their last
Ihree matches, the Aggies stood
across the court from No. 24-
ranked LSU (5-1) in the first
match of a doubleheader. Spme
of the Aggies’ questions were
answered in the 5-2 win over
the Tigers. Any remaining
doubts were cleared up five
hours later in a 6-1 win against
the University of Texas-San
Antonio Roadrunners.
At around 2 p.m. a crowd
just short of 900 spectators wit
nessed the men finally break out
of the doldrums that have been
plaguing them and capture the
all-important doubles point
from LSU. It was the first time
the Aggies managed to grab the
point in their last three matches
— a trend that directly coincid
ed with a three-game losing
streak.
The doubles point in the
LSU match gave the Aggies
the momentum they needed to
capture the match and end
their losing streak, as well as
questions regarding a lagging
doubles game.
“We got the doubles momen
tum and it carried over to the
singles,” Cass said.
Once in singles competition,
the men were able to claim the
three matches they needed for
the win with relative ease, get
ting wins from senior Ryan
Newport, sophomore Ante
Matijevic, junior Khalid El
Dorry and freshman Matt
Loukes. The A&M men
dropped sets at two and six. One
of the losses was dropped by
sophomore Lester Cook.
When it came time to face
UTSA, the sun was down, the
wind picked up and the temper
ature was steadily falling.
About 30 brave souls shivered
in the stands as the Aggies
made quick work of the match
against the Roadrunners. The
victory extended the Aggies’
current home winning streak to
five games.
The match was over, but
A&M’s Cook, who had been
moved to court one due to
See Tennis on page 4
against rival LSU
Women topple Tigers, 5-2
PHOTOS BY ADAM A. KRAZER • THE BATTALION
Top: Sophomore Lester Cook returns a shot against UTSA this weekend.
Bottom: Junior Jessica Roland takes a forehand against LSU on Saturday.
By Blake Kimzey
THE BATTALION
Coming into last weekend’s
bout with the Texas A&M
women’s tennis team, the No. 63
Louisiana State Tigers had
recorded shutouts in each of
their five wins to open the season
at 5-1. The Aggies, on the other
hand, entered their home opener
carrying a deceptive 2-3 record
with hopes that facing non-con
ference rival LSU would be the
sparkplug they needed to get
them back on track.
The Aggies were able to cap
italize on being at home for the
first time all season as they
downed the Tigers 5-2. Both
teams faced the February ele
ments on Saturday that elevated
the level of match difficulty^
complete with the biting cold
and overcast skies that epito
mize late winter. The No. 32
Aggies came out sluggishly,
dropping two of the three dou
bles matches 8-6 and 8-4. LSU
went on to win the doubles
point, which put the Aggies in a
precarious situation, especially
early on in match play.
“It was a tough day to play,”
said A&M Head Coach Bobby
Kleinecke. “The wind was a
factor in the doubles, and to
drop the doubles point put us in
a dangerous position, especially
against a team such as LSU.”
The Aggies, nonetheless,
forged ahead, going into sin
gles play with a much-needed
win at the No. 1 doubles when
Ashley Hedberg and Lauren
Walker collabhrated to rally
back for victory.
“We were down, 5-1, at No. 1
doubles, but we took the momen
tum away from LSU by coming
back and winning that match,”
Kleinecke said. “That was a turn
ing point in the match.”
From that point there was
no looking back as the Aggies
went on to dominate singles
play. LSU had no answer for
A&M, which initiated a
healthy barrage of singles vic
tories from the No. 1 through
the No. 5 singles.
“It’s tough to have such a
young team go into a tough
environment like Texas A&M
and win,” said LSU Head
Coach Tony Minnis.
The lone Aggie defeat in sin
gles play came at No. 6 singles,
as LSU freshman Camila
Caliari downed A&M freshman
Seva Iwinski, 6-4, 7-6. The
Aggies showed the fire they
have been playing with all sea
son as they made easy prey of
the Tigers after facing early
match adversity in doubles play.
“The girls got fired up and
didn’t panic and won the first
four singles matches to decide
the match. That made it easy for
See Tigers on page 4
Aggies end two-game skid, 69-54 Softball team wins Invitational
By Marcus White
THE BATTALION
A crowd of 1,135 was on hand to see what
turned out to be freshman Melissa Picone’s com-
out party as the Texas A&M women’s basket-
team defeated the Nebraska Comhuskers 69-
Mat Reed Arena Saturday.
Led by Picone’s career-high 12 points, the
Aggies (10-12, 3-8) halted a two-game skid by
sending the Comhuskers (8-14, 1-10) back to
Nebraska with another conference loss.
Picone, redshirted for med-
1 reasons last season, was five
for nine from the field including
three-pointers that caught
Comhusker defenders off guard.
Picone had been averaging 1.3
points in just less than five min
utes per game this season before
Net explosive performance off
the bench against Nebraska.
“You don’t know when your time’s going to
come,” said A&M Head Coach Peggie Gillom.
“You just have to be ready, and tonight was
Melissa’s night.”
Junior A&M point guard Toccara Williams
posted a double-double, leading the Aggies with
10 rebounds while chipping in 10 points. She also
tvent six for six from the free-throw line, leading
•heAggies to a season-best 85.7 percent from the
charity stripe. Junior center Lynn Classen added
12 points and sophomore guard Sabrina Mitchell
contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
A&M struggled on the floor in the first half,
PICONE
falling behind by as many as seven points.
Nebraska forward Alexa Johnson scored 13 points
on six of eight shooting in the first half as the
Aggies trailed the Comhuskers 34-29 at halftime.
Johnson and Nebraska faced a much more
determined Aggie team in the second half. Thanks
to sound shooting and stout defense, the Aggies
quickly ran off 10 points while holding the
Comhuskers scoreless for nearly six minutes to
open the period.
The Aggies were finding open shots in the
Comhuskers’ 2-3 zone defense throughout the
second half. Picone nailed her second three-point
er of the game during the 10-0 run that gave the
Aggies’ their first lead of the second half.
“I looked for (the shot), and it was there,”
Picone said. “So I took it.”
Nebraska’s first two shots of the second half
were back-to-back three-pointers from forward
Greichaly Ceparo and guard Shahidrah Roberts
that gave the Comhuskers a one-point lead that
which proved to be their last of the game.
On the following possession, freshman
Rhianna Reed dished one of her career-best seven
assists to junior Janae Derrick who hit a 20-foot
three-point baseline jumper that gave the Aggies a
one-point lead they would not relinquish.
Reed added a bucket and hit all four of her
attempts from the free-throw line in the game’s
final two minutes for six of her career-best 10
points on the afternoon.
A&M picked up their defensive intensity after
the first half, forcing turnovers and effectively
See Nebraska on page 4
By Pete Burks
THE BATTALION
In a weekend wrought with gloomy weather
and tough competition, the No. 24 Texas A&M
softball team fought off the elements, Brigham
Young University and McNeese State University
to come out on top in the first half of the St.
Joseph’s Aggie Invitational.
The Aggies went 3-1 on the weekend, becom
ing tournament champions by defeating McNeese
State twice, by the scores of 5-2 and 1 -0, and split
ting their two games with BYU. Although A&M
and BYU each posted a 3-1 record on the week
end, the Aggies were declared the victors, having
outscored BYU with a point differential of+10 for
the Aggies to +1 for the Cougars.
The results of the tournament came as a stark
contrast to those of the Fiesta Bowl tournament
the Aggies played in last weekend. In the series
held in Arizona, A&M struggled to a 2-3 record.
After this weekend, the Aggies improved their
overall record to 8-4 this season.
In their first game against BYU (5-3), the
Aggies came out with a vengeance, scoring six
runs in the first two innings on their way to a 9-1
rout of the Cougars. BYU starting and relief pitch
ers Nikki Anderson and Brooke Boyce felt the
brunt of the Aggies’ wrath, surrendering a com
bined nine earned runs and fourteen hits in four
and one-third innings of work.
A&M sophomore second baseman Adrian
Gregory and senior catcher Selena Collins helped
spark the Aggies to the win, each wielding a hot
bat throughout the game. Gregory went two for
four with three runs batted in, while Collins
slugged three hits and added two runs batted in
from the cleanup spot.
Aggie junior Jessica Slataper handcuffed
BYU’s offense with nasty pitching, holding the
Cougars to two hits and recording her fifth com
plete game this season. A run-rule of the Cougars
marked the second time this season A&M has
accomplished the feat.
“We’ve got to give the credit to their hitters
who hit the ball really well,” said BYU Head
Coach Gordon Eakin. “We are trying not to put
too much emphasis on the game today, but score
more runs than they do tomorrow.”
Eakin’s team did indeed respond the next day,
shutting down the Aggies 2-0. Although Slataper
made a valiant effort throwing her sixth complete
game of the season,, she was unable to get the help
she had received from her teammates the day
before. BYU starter Mandy Flint silenced the
Aggie bats, limiting A&M to just two hits.
The Aggies fared better against McNeese
State, completing a weekend sweep of the
Cowgirls. Defensively, junior A&M pitcher
Lindsay Wilhelmson led the charge, throwing her
first complete game this season with six strike
outs. Again, Gregory came through, going four for
four with an RBI to lead the Aggies to a comeback
win of 5-2 after falling behind early 2-0. When
the two teams tangled again, the Aggies came out
with similar results, giving Wilhelmson her sec
ond complete game win of the weekend.
McNeese State Head Coach Scott Eastman
said he was pleased with the work he got from his
team.