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Sports
The Battalion
Page IB • Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Patton-led Aggies streak into Huntsville
Padres' loss is Aggies' gain as Patton stays at A&M A&M baseball tries to
make it four in a row
By Troy Miller |
THE BATTALION
For most elite college base-
ballplayers, careers are finished
in three seasons instead of the
usual four. With professional
contracts awaiting them in the
minor leagues, once that third
collegiate season is finished,
iky’re usually gone.
Once in a while, a player will
inishout his eligibility in hopes
of increasing his draft status,
kit when a player is drafted in
fie sixth-round after being pro
jected much lower, the response
is usually "Where do 1 sign?”
But that wasn’t the case with
lexas A&M senior outfielder
Coty Patton. Patton declined a
lixth round pick from the San
Diego Padres to return for his
tenior season as an Aggie.
“It was a tough process,”
Patton said. “1 was kind of
teed out about it. Nobody told
me 1 was going to be drafted that
tiigh, so 1 was kind of shocked.”
The prospects of having
Patton’s bat in the third spot of
the Aggie lineup after hitting
331 with 13 home runs and 58
RBls is a pleasant surprise to
Aggie faithful, but A&M head
coach Mark Johnson said
Patton’s return is also valued
because of the leadership Patton
provides in the clubhouse.
1 think it’s huge (to have
Pattonback),” Johnson said. "We
ludted out. and I think Cory is
going to have a great year.”
toon has been the star
everywhere he’s gone. At
Owasso High School in
to, Okla., Patton led his
Ottathe Oklahoma Class 6A
Slate Championship his junior
season and to a state runner-up
senior season. He hit
Joshua L. Hobson • THE BATTALION
A&M senior outfielder Cory Patton is warming up in the on-deck circle before batting in the second inning of
Saturday's 15-0 Aggie win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christ!. Patton returned to A&M this season despite being
picked in the sixth round by the San Diego Padres in the 2003 Major League Baseball draft.
.380 and .388, respectively.
Patton then moved on to
Seward County Community
College in Liberal. Kan. In the
2002 season, Patton hit .465 and
led the nation with 31 home runs
and 119 RBls. He was also named
National Junior College Player of
the Year and NJCAA Male Athlete
of the Year in the 2002 season.
With an impressive junior
campaign after transferring to
A&M, Patton proved that he
could put up big numbers no
matter the competition.
But playing for a national
championship and increasing
his draft status weren’t the only
reasons Patton stayed at A&M,
nor were they the main ones.
This past August, Patton got
married, and now that he is
starting a family, he said getting
a degree became more impor
tant than an early paycheck.
Although Patton hopes baseball
can pay the way in theTuture. he
knows th^t, the odds of making
the major leagues are long.
“After my second semester
last year. I was really close to
getting my degree,” Patton said.
“I had the opportunity to stay
and play and finish my degree,
and getting married definitely
had a lot to do with it too.”
Junior agricultural develop
ment major Bobbie Patton,
Cory’s wife, said she wasn’t
influential in Patton's decision
but she knows their future
together weighed in.
“Playing ball is what he
See Patton on page 3B
By Kyle Davoust
THE BATTALION
After opening the season
with a three-game sweep over
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the
No. 21 Texas A&M baseball
team will travel to Huntsville
Tuesday to square off against
Sam Houston State, which is
looking to improve on last year’s
disappointing 9-18 record.
The Bearkats opened their
season in the UTPA/A1 Ogletree
Classic in Edinburg, Texas, two
weeks ago. They played three
games in the tournament, each
producing a different result: a
win, a loss and a tie.
SHSU started off the tourna
ment with a 7-2 victory over
Texas-Pan American in which
senior Ryan Raferty and fresh
man Chris Cresset combined to
pitch a four-hitter.
The loss came at the hands
of Southland Conference foe
Lamar University. The Bearkats
gave up seven straight runs as
Lamar was able to rally from a
4-0 deficit to win 7-4.
However, in the consolation
game against Kansas with the
score knotted up at 8-8 after the
eighth inning, the game was
called due to a curfew rule in
order for KU to make a 4:20 p.m.
flight back to Kansas City, Mo.
“I’ve never been involved in
a baseball tie other than maybe
Little League and certainly not
on this high of a level,” said
Bearkats assistant coach Phillip
Gutzman. “There was an agree
ment before the game that we
couldn’t start an inning after a
certain time because they had a
plane to catch, so that’s just
kind of the way it went. It was
tied and we reached that limit,
so there was nothing we could
really do about it.”
While the Bearkats have
already felt the after-effects of
these three contrasting results, the
Aggies have only felt the joy of
winning this season. The Aggies
are hoping to carry their winning
momentum into Tuesday’s game.
Its not going to
get any easier, so
we're going to
have to get better
and improve."
— Mark Johnson
Texas A&M baseball
head coach
“Definitely, to start off 3-0
and sweep our first series, that’s
big for us,” said sophomore first
baseman Coby Mavroulis. “And
we’ll carry some of that momen
tum into (Sam Houston State).”
Aggie head coach Mark
Johnson said he was happy with
his team’s play against Corpus
Christi, but that he still sees
room for improvement and
hopes to see more out of his
club with each passing game.
“It’s not going to get any
easier, so we’re going to have to
get better and improve,”
Johnson said. “But we’re learn
ing more about our ballclub and
See Baseball on page 3B
—
Meet Navah Perlman
the Norah Jones of classical piano
itainmeK
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openiif
and#
ay, isW
titutefo
itivep* 1
Trui
Gifted. Beautiful. Extraordinary. Pianist Navah Perlman is fast
becoming one of the brightest young stars of the classical music world.
In this one-night-only concert, Navah will be joined by over 100 of
Russia’s finest musicians and vocalists. If you’ve yet to discover the
undeniable beauty of classical music, this concert is your big chance.
MOSCOW STATE RADIO
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS
Navah Perlman, pianist
Wednesday, February 25 at 7:30 PM
Rudder Auditorium
TICKETS: 845-1234
or www.MSCOPAS.com
LAGNIAPPE LECTURE SERIES:
Join us for an informal discussion previewing the concert!
Part of The OPAS Guild’s Patricia S. Peters Lagniappe
Lecture Series, the discussion will be held prior to the
performance at 6:30 PM in the Forsyth Center Galleries
of the Memorial Student Center.
buy tickets,
be inspired
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