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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2003)
SCI|TEC THE BATTALIC Texa > bread Sports The Battalion Page 7 • Tuesday, April 22, 2003 clear facili s on residue founc actor containmenl the South Texas || ;lear facility indicate n reactor coolanttr - | OKLA. ARK, EXAS Austin. Baseball team looking for sweep against SHSU >mmitted to u ;h us.” ex as must confer*; .sion before em air plan, and the pi d not to restaif appears fixed, nt's other unit con ate at full power, i reactors combini more than of electricity, nt supplies power; from Houston id San Antonio risti. JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION Junior Justin Ruggiano swings at a pitch against OSU on Sunday during the Aggies' win. By Dallas Shipp THE BATTALION The Texas A&M baseball team will host Sam Houston State University tonight at Olsen Field in the teams’ final meeting of the season at 7 p.m. The No. 14 Aggies (32-12, 12-6 Big 12) have won the first two meet ings this year against the Bearkats, including a wild 15-8 win at Olsen Field on April 1 in a game that lasted more than three and a half hours. A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said even though the Aggies have won the first two meetings, he isn’t taking anything for granted. “We had a great ballgame with this team last time,” Johnson said. “I don’t think anyone is assuming we will go out and roll over this team.” The Aggies have been on a hot streak the last two weeks, winning eight of their last 10 games. One of those two losses by A&M came against No. 1 Rice during its 32-game winning streak. Two of the Aggies’ last three wins have also been won in the final two innings, including a dramatic come- from-behind win in the 11th inning against the University of Texas- Arlington last Tuesday. After dropping Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State, the Aggies rebounded to win game three and take the series on Sunday. “It’s a completely different per sonality (this year) than we’ve been looking at the last three years,” Johnson said. “I am pleased with the resolve and the character of this year’s ball club.” With the win on Sunday, the Aggies are now just one game behind Texas and Nebraska, who are atop the league standings. Junior center fielder Justin Ruggiano has been a big part of the Aggies’ recent string of wins, batting .448 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in his last seven games. Ruggiano leads the Aggies with seven home runs and is second on the team with a .344 batting average and 35 RBIs. Ruggiano isn’t the only player having success at the plate for the Aggies. A&M has six players batting more than .300, and another two that are within .008. While the Aggies have been hot, the Bearkats have not. Sam Houston has lost 16 of its last 20 games, including a three game sweep by See Sweep on page 10 No. 18 Aggies to host rival Texas does not have I as found in lab» le the immune syi- acteria, viruses and a study in tlie tional Academy ol ay. using human volt tune system blood ■sponded five times I the blood cells o‘ i, a researcher at Hospital in Boston School, said the i/e dear proof that ay sharpened tilt By Pete Burks THE BATTALION Today at 6:30 p.m., the bat tle for softball supremacy in the Lone Star State will com mence as the No. 18 Texas A&M softball team hosts the No. 4 Texas Longhorns. When the Longhorns head into College Station, they will face an Aggie team looking to avenge a 1-0 defeat against the (Longhorns in Austin earlier this month. The Aggies (33-15, 9-5 Big 12) will square off with a Longhorn team that has won eight of its last 10 games, including wins against the highly ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers and Oklahoma Sooners. The Longhorns (35-7, 12-2 Big 12) have been riding a hot streak, as they have not lost since April 5. In addition, the Aggies are likely to face Texas’ ace pitcher. Cat Osterman. In the Longhorns’ series against the Kansas Jayhawks last weekend, Osterman got the win in game one coming in as a reliever while she also record ed the win in game two as she pitched five innings of her scheduled start. Osterman was a terror to Jayhawks hitters, striking out 13 and allowing only two baserunners in the two games combined. Also, Osterman gained the 55th and 56th wins of her career, tying the Texas career victories record. A&M Head Coach Jo Evans said it will be no easy task defeating the Longhorns. “We played well against them last game, but we have got to find a way to put the ball in play as much as possible,” Evans said. “We have got to find a way to score some runs because Cat (Osterman) is a great pitcher, and you don’t get too many chances to put runs on the board against her.” Meanwhile the fact that the Aggies are playing at home should make a big difference if the game shares any similari ties to the first game the in state rivals played together. Although they lost a tough game to the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday, the Aggies still hold a considerable homefield advantage over their opponents, as their 19-2 home record will attest. In addition, the Aggies were able to find some consistency in the batter’s box against the Cyclones as they scored 13 runs in the two games against ISU, as well as pounding out close to See Texas on page 10 AL1SSA HOLLIMON* THE BATTALION Senior catcher Selena Collins congratulates junior pitcher Lindsey Wilhelmson in the Aggies’ matchup against Nebraska. A TTENTION GRADUATING SENIORS YOU’VE GOT THE EDUCATION EDGE WITH w* SI"' MITSUBISHI BIGGER BETTER ZERO EVENT ® 0 ;2Sno^ ! wake up and drive' ZERO DOWN PAYMENT ZERO INTEREST PAYMENTS AND ZERO CAR PAYMENTS TIL 2004. PLUS GET $1500 CASH BACK** "1500 CASH BACK VALID FOR 2003 MITSUBISHI GALANT WITH EDUCATION EDGE. SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS. *338 _ , ^ ^ Eclipse Coupe 2^ 2003 MODELS Lancer • Galant • Eclipse Coupe • Eclipse Spyder Outlander • Montero Sport • Diamante • Montero $323* ^ Outlander $340*- >✓ / V s " Galant *ALL PAYMENTS ARE DEFERRED UNTIL 2004 AT 7.9% WAC EXCEPT OUTLANDER AT 8.9% PAYMENT OF GOVERNMENT FEES AND DOC FEE ARE EXTRA. 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