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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2004)
Sports The Battalion Page 6 * Monday, February 16, A&M baseball starts off 3-0 Texas A&M senior outfielder Cory Patton runs to third base past a diving A&M-Corpus Christ! third baseman Robert Sedillo in Saturday's season opening 15-0 Aggie win. By Kyle Davoust THE BATTALION A primary lesson from childhood: When your little brother steps up to challenge you, knock him back down. This weekend, the Texas A&M baseball team applied this les son by sweeping, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a three-game series by a combined run total of 29-8. Due to rain, the series was moved back a day, with one game on Saturday and a dou bleheader on Sunday. The Aggies flexed their muscles in the Saturday game as junior left-hander Zach Jackson threw a no-hitter in a 15-0 romp of the Islanders. Jackson’s no-no was the 10th in A&M’s history and the first solo effort since Matt Blank shut down Texas-Pan American in the Aggies’ 1996 home opener. Besides calling a great game for his pitcher, catcher Craig Stenson also helped carry the offense by going three-for-four and knocking in six runs. The second game of the series proved to be more difficult for the Aggies, as they needed 10 innings to escape with a 4-3 win. For nine innings, Corpus Christi pitchers junior Mike Hatfield and senior Jorge Huerta slowed the Aggie bats, allowing just five hits before the 10th. “(Hatfield) pitched well and did well early in the count,” said A&M head coach Mark Johnson. “And we never really did a good job of staying ahead of the count because he threw that breaking pitch in there on 0-0 and 1 -0. He did a good job and their reliever did well too.” In the bottom of the 10th, however, soph omore first baseman Coby Mavroulis, who had already homered and driven in two runs, nailed the ball to the right field fence, scor ing sophomore shortstop Cliff Pennington from third to win the game. Pennington had led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on Senior outfielder Cory Patton’s single. Both runners then advanced on a wild pitch, setting up Mavroulis’ game-winning hit. “He threw me a down-and-in fastball, the same pitch that I hit a home run on earlier in the game, and I was just lucky enough to get enough of the bat on it ,to get it over (the right fielder’s) head,” Mavroulis said. “I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as 1 could and get it out into play somewhere.” Mavroulis, who redshirted last year due to a back injury, finished the game three-for- four with a home run and three runs batted in. “He’s a batter, and it’s fun to watch him play,” Johnson said. “He sat out last year and that wasn’t fun, so he’s got a lot of spark to him right now and he’s really getting after it.” In the final game of the series, the rest of the Aggies’ offense quickly awoke from its one-game slumber to better their previous run total before the Islanders could record the first out. The five-run first inning could have been a lot worse for the Islanders if it wasn’t for an inning-ending triple play resulting from a great catch by center field er Charles Carter. Corpus Christi then fought back, making the score as close as 6-5 in top of the sixth when left fielder Mark Schlekewy hit a RBI double off the right field fence. But that’s as close as the Islanders got, losing eventually by a score of 10-5. The Aggies distanced themselves for good by scoring two runs in the bottom of that same inning. The Aggies will again be in action this Tuesday in Huntsville against Sam Houston State at 7 p.m.. Men drop tenth » straight, 78-72 £ By Jordan Meserole THE BATTALION It wasn’t such a happy Valentine’s Day for the Texas A&M men’s basketball team on Saturday. The University of Oklahoma (16-5, 6-4 Big 12) gave the Aggies a 78-72 loss in place of the traditional flowers or candy hearts. The Aggies (7-14, 0-10), who have now lost 10 straight games, had what could be con sidered their best outing in con ference play this season on the floor. The team shot above their season averages in all three offensive categories and grabbed 25 rebounds. But a strong showing by the Sooners late in the second half kept the Aggies from capturing that pre cious first conference win. Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson said the game was close, but the deciding fac tor was the Sooners’ focus in the last minutes of the game. “Our guys just hung in there,” Sampson said. “Of all our wins this season, I was most proud of this one.” The Sooners dictated much of the pace in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field and hitting seven three- pointers. Oklahoma also capital ized on Aggie mistakes, scoring 15 points off 11 turnovers. The Aggies started the sec ond half in dismal fashion, going one-for-six in the first five min utes. The game turned around when A&M sophomore forward Antoine Wright made an enor mous block on a shot by Sooner freshman guard Lawrence ’ : r ' McKenzie. Wright finished fc night five-for-six from the field The Aggies took their lead of the game after a layupi heavy defensive traffic by seniu forward Jesse King. A&M‘ lasted until the final two mints of the game, when Sooner frei man guard Drew Lavendei drowned A&M’s hopes forawi with a long three-pointer. Lavender, the smallest playti on the court at five foot sevei inches, had the biggest nightlij far. Lavender finished will career-high 31 points, 18 those coming from behind three-point line. Lavender s the strong work ethic demanded by Sampson in practices carried ? over to the games. “I just wanted to go out to and play hard for coaci,' Lavender said. “My shots were just falling tonight and that's!’ A&M head coach Melvii Watkins said the closing ni utes of all the games this season seem to be the toughest for tke team. Watkins said mental takes and errors on A&M’s have caused them to lose games in a similar fashion to Oklahoma game. “You give any team any of opportunity and they’re gi to take it,” Watkins said. Watkins said he is still pleased to see the team’s good despite the 10-game losing stneai and that he knows the teami playing to the best of its ability. “They’re not quitting evt though they have every reason to quit,” Watkins said. “It’s those closing moments that art keeping us from getting overlie hump and getting a win.” i Mazda 323 ! jjiesten@hotrr 198. I Ma (pi/ider, a/c, < ft $3200. (! „ BFG all te K iread. $3 S]220-6076 BED AND a® Boltom PI MM events gradua •aways. I Rebecc tm COM laptop, 20GI 2000, c lS450/obo. mg computer |i Call Colt ft I can com 2 Rate: $30/1 re Brana Pent F0f Moomapar rreoearcampu Ilf needed, d itemet indudi 213(94521. tllba In di bos-route. !I-2214724. 2 Ojple*, w/d, «ymi. 713^68- tya Walk-i t nj Ians, w/d trad yards, on II97745776. M (liplen 1616 6 a, aw. m 312 *#», 2339 care-slMerajc WM 979. Blair’s troops drop tight game to No. 6 Texas Tech, 59-58 JP Beat© III • lilt BATTALION Texas Tech center Cisti Greenwalt draws a foul from A&M senior guard Toccara Williams with 15 seconds left in the game. By Brad Bennett THE BATTALION Head coach Gary Blair needs two recruits next year to keep what happened on Saturday to his Texas A&M women's basketball team from happening again: a six-footer to rebound and a witch doctor to remove the curse that causes his team to play so well but always come up short. The Aggies (8-15, 1-11 Big 12) were ahead of No. 7 Texas Tech, 58-57 with 14.4 seconds to go at Reed Arena. Aggie senior point guard Toccara Williams, was shooting one- and-one off a second half foul. Williams missed the first shot, and Tech sophomore guard Erin Grant came down with the rebound. Grant found Tech forward LaToya Davis on the other end of the court for a layup with 2.9 seconds remain ing to give Tech (21 -4, 7-4) the 59-58 victory. “I was just in the right place at the right time,” Davis said. The Aggies went on a 12- point run with 2:25 left in the second half, eventually taking a three-point lead with 19 sec onds left. A questionable foul on Williams led to Tech center Cisti Greenwalt’s two free throws that cut the lead to one. “I would love to see that film,” Blair said. “We were not trying to foul Greenwalt. I’m not sure if there was a foul. We were just trying to play good defense.” It was Williams’ fourth foul, but Blair said he didn’t tell her to back off at all. Williams collect ed seven steals in the game run ning her Big 12 record to 432. “You don’t tell the nation’s leader in steals to back off,” Blair said. “We don’t back off, we attack.” The Aggies had only 24 rebounds, compared to Tech’s 42. “They were pounding us on the inside,” said Aggie senior forward Lynn Classen. “They did an awesome job with their post players inside.” Despite Tech’s rebounding, the Aggies still took 18 more shots than Tech. “We forced 24 turnovers to our seven, we had 15 steals to their one and we do not get any easy baskets - we’re not rewarded at the end,” Blair said. “We are not converting and that’s just something we’ve got to work on.” Tech head coach Marsha Sharp said her team took advantage of the Aggie pres sure defense. “Sometimes when people play pressure defense the shots are going to be easier shots to make,” Sharp said. “We got some people some looks around the rim because of it.” Blair said he was pleased with the pressure his team put on Tech. “I thought our kids did everything they possibly could to win that ball game,” Blair said. “We had a great defensive game plan even though they shot whatever they shot and got out-rebounded by 18, we still played our style of ball. “I am tired of people pat ting me on the back. I am tired of the little applause for nice effort. I am not in this game for the effort I am in this game for wins and eventually they will come our way.” A&M men’s tennis dominates Lamar in first home match By Jordan Meserole THE BATTALION Although the No. 9 Texas A&M men’s tennis team had to wait an extra day to take on unranked Lamar University, it didn’t wait long to hand the Cardinals a 7-0 loss. The Aggies (7-3) were origi nally scheduled to play Lamar (0- 4) Saturday afternoon, but chilly and wet weather forced the match to be moved to Sunday. The wait rewarded the teams with sunny skies and mild temperatures. “The weather was awesome,” said Texas A&M head coach Tim Cass. “You couldn’t have asked for a better day.” With the national No. 1 A&M doubles team sitting out and get ting rest, doubles matches would prove to be the toughest spot for the Aggies all day. Lamar would get its only win of the day in dou bles, as Cardinal juniors Juan Alatorre and Emilio Kirby scratched out a narrow 9-8 (7-4) CASS tie break win against the A&M combo of junior Zack Malmgren and sophomore John Nallon. The other two A&M doubles teams would come through, squeaking by with wins over the Cardinals, 8-6 and 8-3 respectively. Lamar head coach David Wong said he was surprised but pleased by the performance of his doubles teams. “I think this is the best I’ve seen these teams play this year,” Wong said. “They played hard and they played intense.” Cass said doubles matches have seemed to be the soft spot for the Aggies this year, and today was no different. “It’s been a bit frustrating why we haven’t been getting better in doubles as the year goes on,” Cass said. “We just haven’t figured out combinations yet.’ the The Aggies didn’t hesitate M show their true power on the sin gles side, dropping only games out of the 72 played. Hii most intense match of the was between A&M sophomoit Matt Loucks and Lamar jui Ignacio Melus. The match woiii also be the longest on the lasting just more than 40 minutes Loucks, playing in his fits match this spring, cruised to 6-0, 6-1 win despite the stroi competition. Loucks said the competiti during the match helped play on a higher level, whichli Wpta, 82 Duplexes, Aj K Fenced yar Wealdoor, $9( 177(-I270,82i '2tkiptaes. Pre like new. Owner mar MOOO/mo. 6 Btosedoseto Game-rc «l open deck. ^|Station to Manuel Drive Answer to | the Aggies. “Our intensity in singles ii really hard to match,” Louth said. “We yell for each otherii that adds that much more.” Lamar junior Jonatte Capps, who is from Colles See Aggies on ACROSS I Dtessmake border 5 numerical f lot short 9 Produce, as a play It First cousin mother 15 Greek lettei olTroy 17 22nd and 2 Women handle Rice with ease y in blu 21 Commando By Jon Gilbert THE BATTALION Texas A&M women’s tennis head coach Bobby Kleinecke and his players talked all week about the advantages that play ing outdoors again would give the team. Sunday, the team learned that it takes longer than expected to get reacclimated. Nonetheless, the No. 19 Aggies blanked the Rice Owls (4-4) 7-0 in a hotly-contested match at the George R Mitchell Center. The score was deceiv ing, though, as Rice led A&M (3-4) in three of the six singles’ matches before eventually fold ing to the Aggies. “(The outdoors) did have a factor,” Kleinecke said. “It’s tough to go from indoors to out doors. The ball bounces a lot slower when you’re outdoors.” Senior Roberta Spencer and junior Lauren Walker helped get the Aggies going with a convincing 8-3 doubles win over the Rice tandem of sopho more Blair DiSesa and junior Erika Villalobos. “We came out strong and its good to know we’re going to take care of business,” Walker said. “It helped our No. 3 dou bles come back.” Two courts away, A&M jun ior Helga Vieira and freshman Anna Lubinsky rallied past Rice seniors Yasmin Fisher and Annie Goodrich to clinch the doubles point for the Aggies. Despite winning the doubles point, Kleinecke said he is not totally pleased with his team’s performance in doubles. “I’m concerned with doubles. I’m pleased with our effort, our character, our fight and all ofll* intangibles. But we have soiK improvement to do in doubles.! didn’t walk away totally satis' fied with doubles.” In singles action, the Aggie 1 won all six matches. It # easy though as three of tfc matches went into an extH game, and Lubinsky’s victoi) against Goodrich involved* second set tiebreaker. With A&M leading the overt! match, 3-0, the remaining fart hovered over the last four singlrt matches and cheered on tk* Aggies. This, along with menial toughness, may have been tk* deciding factor in the outcome. “I think (mental toughne® was a factor),” Walker said. "1 know I can do it and my ^ was behind me.” See Tennis on page! 22 Comrades 23 Sand panic M Jealousy 15 Cowboy ro| message: Abbr. 32 29 Across, lotexampli 33 Verdi opera 31 Airline to Tel Aviv 3513th presid 3! 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