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The Battalion
Page 7 • Tuesday, April 1, 2003
Baseball team hosts SHSU in midweek game
Ags hope to keep momentum from weekend series
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
JOHN C. L1VAS • THE BATTALION
A&M’s Scott Beerer releases a pitch against Baylor on Sunday. The
Biggies beat the No. 6 Bears in two games of their three-game series.
Texas A&M baseball has been down on
its luck since reaching the College World
Series in 1999. Since the visit, the Aggies
have suffered three seasons without a post
season appearance. But early season success
against a pair of conference rivals could be
a'sign that 2003 is the year the Aggies will
return to Big 12, and national, prominence.
So far, the No. 22 Aggies (23-9 overall, 5-
4 Big 12) have already won two three-game
series against perennial national power No.
16 Nebraska and No. 6 Baylor. Every week
end the Aggies are in a battle against a Big
12 opponent with the same thing on their
minds: a Big 12 championship.
“I think the history of the league indi
cates that it will be very close,” said Baylor
Head Coach Steve Smith. “Last year was
almost comical with eight teams that could
win it in the last weekend of the year.”
With the weekend Big 12 matchups
weighing so much, it is hard for the Aggies
to stay focused on their non-conference,
mid-week Tuesday matchups with teams
that should be easier to beat than their
nationally-ranked Big 12 competitors.
This week the Aggies will face Sam
Houston State (12-17) Tuesday night at
Olsen Field with first pitch set for 7 p.m.
“We’ve only experienced two weeks of
Tuesday ball games since the start of con
ference,” said A&M Head Coach Mark
Johnson. “Tuesday games are a lot harder,
and I’ve had championship ball clubs not
play well on Tuesday nights.”
After the Aggies took two of three games
from Nebraska in a thrilling weekend to
open Big 12 play, A&M went on the road
and lost 6-5 in San Antonio to the University
of Texas at San Antonio.
Now the Aggies will try to keep the
momentum rolling into Tuesday night’s game
with the Bearkats after an emotional 4-3 win
to capture the weekend series with Baylor.
Sam Houston is coming into College
Station with a weekend series win of its own
as it took two of three games from
Southland Conference rival Lamar.
The Bearkats are not afraid of Big 12
opponents either, as they have already hand
ed Nebraska a 10-3 defeat earlier this season.
“I reminded (the team) that this is going to
be critical,” Johnson said. “We have to take
care of our homefield, and Sam Houston’s
coming in and wanting to play well.”
The Aggies beat Sam Houston 8-0 in
Huntsville in the teams’ first meeting this
season. Since then, the Aggies have proved
to be a tough team by beating nationally-
ranked ball clubs and holding a 16-3 record
at Olsen Field.
“We’re starting to realize how good we
really are,” said A&M junior Scott Beerer.
“We’re getting that swagger.”
flexas, Ford eye championship; Michigan State fans react
/an
tZcyy^
By Jim Vertuno
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — At a school with little
basketball tradition, the Texas
Longhorns should be content just to
reach the Final Four.
I Right?
I Don’t try telling that to T.J. Ford,
c6ach Rick Bames and the rest of the
cjew in burnt orange. They’ve got far
lot tier goals.
I When Ford hugged Barnes after the
Longhorns’ victory over Michigan State
in the South Regional final, the coach
quickly reminded his star point guard
that the team’s goal is a national title.
V “We’ve got more work to do,”’
BJames told him.
I Texas is the only No. 1 seed in the
Final Four, and the Longhorns like their
chances in New Orleans. The other No.
is, Oklahoma, which reached the Final
Four last season, and traditional powers
Kentucky and Arizona are gone.
K The Longhorns (26-6) play Syracuse
(28-5) in the national semifinals on
Saturday. Kansas faces Marquette in the
Other semifinal.
I Making its first Final Four appear
ance in 56 years, the Longhorns are
generating a buzz in a city where foot
ball is king.
“We haven't won anything yet,”
Ford said. “This is a great feeling, but
I'd rather cut down a net in New
Orleans and put it on a national cham
pionship trophy.”
Bames has wanted to take a team to
the Final Four ever since 1981, when he
was an assistant at George Mason and
watched the games in Philadelphia. Until
this season, he had never been past the
round of 16 as a head coach.
“1 told myself then that when 1
became a head coach, the one thing 1
wanted to do for my team was to them
to a Final Four so they could experi
ence and feel it,” Barnes said. “Once
you get there and experience that feel
ing, they will never question anything
you tell them or get them to do in terms
of getting there.”
Texas was last in the Final Four in
1946, when the NCAA tournament field
had just eight teams. The Longhorns
reached the regional finals in 1990.
Bames has steadily built expectations
for postseason success. Texas won the
Big 12 in his first season, and made the
tournament in five seasons under Bames.
The Longhorns have been focused on
getting to the Final Four since losing to
Oregon in the regional semifinals last
season
Victories over North Carolina-
Asheville and Purdue in the first two
rounds allowed Texas to advance to play
in San Antonio, fueling criticism that the
NCAA but set up the Longhorns to suc
ceed by putting them so close to home.
Texas had been ranked in the top 10
all season, but finished second to Kansas
in the Big 12 and got bumped early from
the conference tournament.
The crowds in the Alamodome were a
definite advantage — more than 60,000,
most of them wearing orange, came to
watch and fill the arena with chants of
“Texas Fight!”
The Longhorns didn’t sell out any
of their home games during the regular
season.
UMATiiC:
“It was a great feeling to look up
and see so much orange,” Barnes said.
“These guys earned this. They
deserved it.”
The crowds at the Superdome won’t
be so pro-Longhorn, although the
prospect of a basketball championship
has Texas fans scrambling for tickets to
New Orleans.
“I expect a lot of people to jump on
the bandwagon,” guard Royal Ivey
said. “But that’s OK. I’m not going to
eject anybody.”
By Amy F. Bailey
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EAST LANSING, Mich. —
Michigan State University students and
local authorities said Monday they are
disappointed about weekend distur
bances after the Spartans’ appearances
in the NCAA Tournament, but said the
events were smaller than riots in 1999.
After trying to improve the relation
ship between the university and the
community in the four years since the
riots, police and students said they’re
discouraged there are still disturbances
at Michigan State.
“It’s frustrating to know that there’s
nothing more you can do other than ask
them not to,” said Misty Staunton, a 23-
year-old senior from El Paso, Texas.
Eighteen people were arrested
Friday night after students and fans
took to the streets to celebrate Michigan
State’s victory over Maryland to
advance to the NCAA Tournament’s
Elite Eight, East Lansing Police Lt.
Kevin Daley said Monday.
A woman was in critical condition at
Sparrow Hospital in Lansing on
Monday after she fell from a balcony
near campus Friday night, said East
Lansing Police Chief Louis Muhn.
On Sunday night, seven people were
arrested when about 2,000 people gath
ered near campus after the Spartans lost
85-76 to Texas, Daley said. Six of the
seven were identified as university stu
dents and the group included six men
and two women, he said.
During the disturbance, four cars
were overturned, several small fires
were set in bushes and Dumpsters, and
vending machines were damaged,
Daley said. Officers also set off tear gas
to break up a crowd earlier in the night
and a bus stop was damaged by revel
ers, he said.
Sunday night’s disturbances caused
about $40,000 in damage to university
property, Michigan State Police Chief
Jim Dunlap said.
University officials are researching
their policies for students arrested for dis
orderly conduct and other violent behav
ior, spokesman Terry Denbow said.
“This will not be tolerated,” he said.
After the Spartans’ 1999 NCAA
Tournament loss to Duke, police made
132 arrests that included 71 Michigan
State students. Rioting caused more
than $250,000 in damage to the city
and campus.
The university created a policy after
that riot allowing officials to punish stu
dents for crimes committed off campus.
Punishments could include suspension
and expulsion.
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