AGGIU THE BATH; ne came; Sports The Battalion Page 5 • Friday, March 28, 2003 1 Head Coach Dennis Fm ved play of A&M ated a lot of buzz recenil; mg to capture that has filmed this samec ICLA, Michigan and ollegiate video games ■ industrial distribution ;aid NCAA Football has he best games out tere on Saturday for tk Kyle Field. )3 is the most fun sports aid. “It’s exciting that we art of the new game at AM: iA 2(X)4 and see if I madeit' re encouraged to ame with “Maroon Out 12th Man Towels andotheti ernalia. able to see if they are 04 hits store shelves in Am birthday. She was sixth grade at Middle School. That was the last her mi Wanda Pevia, knew this month, when Danasto up at the U.S. ConsulateCe* office in Guadalajara. Coisi officials contacted the Ni Center for Missing and ^ Children, which Hoke County sheriff's On Wednesday nij Pevia was finally ggies begin three-game series with Baylor - * A . Durham International Aiipttt "Oh, my god, my baby," Wanda Pevia repealt: she and her embraced, tears stre» down both their faces. Dana declined to speii JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION junior Justiin Ruggiano gets a hit against Lamar University on Vednesday night. The Aggies won the game, 6-3, at Olsen Field. By Dallas Shipp THE BATTALION The No. 23 Texas A&M baseball team will face one of its toughest challenges this weekend when it travels to Waco to face No. 6 Baylor on Friday night to kick off a three-game series. Friday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m at Reckling Park in Waco. The Aggies are coming off a 6-3 win over Lamar University at Olsen Field on Wednesday night. A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said the win was a “comfortable” win for the Aggies who jumped out to a 3-0 lead against the Cardinals in the first inning and never looked back. Johnson said he knows A&M will have a much tougher time feeling comfort able this weekend against Baylor in a series that has become one of the best rival ries in Big 12 baseball. “It was good to get a win and get ready for Baylor,” Johnson said. “We’ll go on the road and hopefully have a good outing up there and come back down here for two. “Baylor is a challenge for anyone in the country,” he said. “It’s a well balanced ballclub.” Offensively, junior left fielder Scott Beerer has become the Aggies’ biggest threat at the plate. In his last four games, Beerer has ham mered the ball, including a 4- for-4 performance Wednesday night against Lamar. “I’m excited about Friday night,” Beerer said. “Baylor’s facilities are pretty awesome and coming back home is going to be great to have the fan support. They are playing really good baseball but so are we, it’s going to be an exciting series.” Beerer is among the top five on the team in 15 different cate gories including hits, RBI and a team-best .347 batting average. Juniors Justin Ruggiano and Corey Patton have also provided offensive firepower this season. Sophomore right-hander Logan Kensing will get the start for the Aggies in Friday night’s game. Kensing has been the victim of facing other teams’ No. 1 starter in his past few games, keeping the Aggies from giving him run support. “We’ve lost two one-run ballgames on Friday nights but our guys have (bounced) back,” Johnson said. “I would like to change the tune on Friday night because that makes Saturday and Sunday so much easier.” Kensing is heading into the weekend with a 4-3 record. He is second on the team with 33 strikeouts behind only senior Zach Dixon and has an ERA of 4.40. “He’s a sinkerball pitcher so he’s going to‘get a lot of ground balls and all the ground balls fell through against Texas Tech (last Friday),” Johnson said. “A lot of times those balls are going to be double plays.” The Bears are coming off a tough 4-3 loss to No. 1 Rice on Tuesday night. Rice scored two runs on walks and another two unearned runs to edge the Bears. Baylor (21-7) scored three runs late and had the tying run on third with one out in the ninth inning, but Chris Durbin grounded into a double play to end the game as the Owls extended their winning streak to 22 games. Game two of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday night at Olsen Field with game three on Sunday at Olsen Field at 2 p.m. Women’s tennis team hosts Demon Deacons By Blake Kimzey THE BATTALION With the disappointment of its first dback at home behind it, the Texas her daughter-andheite women’s tennis team will take grandchildren - at the te :othe court this weekend to square off igainst non-conference foe Wake Forest University. It took four hours for it to happen, (ki^but on Wednesday night the Aggies lurrendered their first home loss of he season. After securing the doubles joint with the help of the No. 38 dou- reporters then or at the*# les team in the country, juniors Thursday news conference! ,essica Ro land and Roberta Spencer, 7 No. 28 Aggies (10-7, 5-2 Big 12) ell to No. 44 Baylor University in a Peterkin said she told authi that after a couple of moiifs Mexico, Frausto abandoned' with his relatives. They ilis her and wouldn't allow tej leave, the sheriff said j "She could not gooiAoft! sight," he said. After a couple of yeas) oefriended a local world eventually took her awaylc Tausto's family and hmf ler to live with his w ’eterkin said. He said Dana tried ler mother and grar mt they had changed lli fione numbers, ew family took hertotlie(| ulate's office. Police confirmed thatFas| le father of 3-year-old $a» ana's oldest child. 1 ot say who is the ft tonth-old Francisco. Warrants have been ® larging Frausto wit id statutory rape. I austo is in the United States "There's no doubt in my mi at Hector knows we're I r him," Peterkin said. 4-3 marathon match. However, when the Demon Deacons hobble into College Station on Saturday, they will be in search of just their second win this season, coming off the 2002 season in which they tied their school record with 26 wins. With much of its team intact from last year’s squad, Wake Forest is at the bottom of the ACC standings with a 1-15 record. WFL Head Coach Brian Fleishman, the 2002 ITA National Coach of the Year, expects a heated contest in the match with A&M. “Every time Wake comes down to College Station, we have to expect a battle,” Fleishman said. “I expect this match to be just as exciting as in the past.” In lieu of what Wake Forest’s record might convey to the lay, A&M Head Coach Bobby Kleinecke is very wary of the threat that a 1-15 team presents to his club. “You can look at their record and ... think that they are really down this year, and they probably are down a bit confidence-wise,” Kleinecke said. “But, this is a very capable team that has lost a lot of 4-3 matches this year to a lot of good teams, from the top 20 all the way down.” The Aggies will be looking to sen ior Ashley Hedberg to continue her strong play of late. After being moved up to the No. 2 singles position three matches ago, Hedberg has yet to lose and has defended her court in con vincing fashion. South African sopho more Karin Coetzee, who is ranked No. 79 in the national singles rank ings, leads Wake Forest in doubles and singles play. “This is a team that has made it to the NCAA quarterfinals, so when you go out there and start play even at 0-0, those records don’t mean anything,” Kleinecke said. “Most important for us is we need to bounce back from the Baylor loss. It will be necessary for us to put our best match on the court.” First serve is set for 1:30 p.m. this Saturday at the A&M Tennis Center as the Aggies look to improve to 11-7 on the year. SPORTS IN BRIEF Softball team takes on Mizzou The No. 20 Texas A&M softball team will travel to Columbia, Mo. for a two-game series with the University of Missouri. The Aggies are coming off a two-game sweep of the Southwest Texas State University Bearkats. A&M beat the Bearkats 5-3 and 11-0 in consecutive games on Wednesday night. A&M junior Jessica Slataper pitched a perfect game in latter victory. The Missouri Tigers recently split a two-game series with the No. 4 University of Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers took the first game 2-0 before falling to the Sooners, 5-1. A&M and Missouri are scheduled to start play at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with a second game to follow at noon on Sunday. 0