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Aggie Softball Complex
The Battalion
Page 5 • Friday, February 27, 2004
.'Weekend tournaments roll into Aggieland
tygies try to keep winning streak alive over weekend
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By Kyle Davoust
THE BATTALION
The No. 14 Texas A&M
team has started the
•ason as impressively as its 7-
record indicates. The start has
ififans to wonder what has
more impressive: the
je pitching or offense?
ii giving out its weekly
Kids, the Big 12 Conference
as not able to make this dis-
inction as it awarded senior
icier Justin Moore and soph-
iniore shortstop Cliff
Phillips 66 Pitcher
(lie Week and Player of the
W honors, respectively.
Moore, who battled back
rm a shoulder injury that lim-
ledhim to eight total innings in
lotol ®,continued his impressive
whack by allowing two hits
shoes itightinnings of work in an 8-
lnctory over South Alabama.
Pennington helped keep the
pbats hot, as he had a .647
igaverage with five RBIs
ida.882slugging percentage.
Me it took the Aggies a
le more than a week to play
their first seven games, the
flsix will come in a three-
marathon as the Aggies
nstthe 2004 Domino’s Pizza
gie Baseball Classic, which
tgmsFnday.
The weekend tournament
ilbe a double round robin,
ii three games against both
kUniversity of Arkansas and
ileUniveisity of New Mexico,
tit will be a big chai
ns, and I hope I don’t
(a lot of guys six
pies; that's not the plan. The
planislogetquite a few guys in
ifrMane," said A&M coach
M Johnson. “Six games in
days, nine innings a piece, it
tales a lot of mental toughness, it
ties a lot of teamwork, it takes a
SPORTS IN BRIEF
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JP Beato III • THE BATTALION
A&M redshirt freshman pitcher Jason Meyer pitches in the Aggies’ 4-3 win over South Alabama Friday at
Olsen Field. Meyer is 3-0 on the season coming out of the bullpen.
Softball hopes to rebound
in Aggie Invitational II
lot of accountability that you have
to show up and be able to play.”
First up for the Aggies in the
tournament will be Arkansas,
which the Aggies have not
faced since the Razorbacks
defected to the Southeastern
Conference back in 1991. The
Razorbacks have also started
the season hot. compiling a per
fect 8-0 record behind an
offense that is generating 10.6
runs per game.
“Arkansas is putting up a lot
of runs, but I don’t think they’ll
be able to do that against our
pitching because our pitching is
really good,” said sophomore
first baseman Coby Mavroulis.
“It will be a contest to see if
their offense is better or if our
pitching is better, and I think
that our pitching is better.”
Arkansas coach Dave Van
Horn believes that this experi
ence will prepare his team for
the road ahead.
“Playing a team like A&M on
the road three times should help
get us ready for what we’ll see in
(the Southeastern Conference):
good pitching, good hitting and
probably some rowdy fans,” Van
Horn said. “It should help get us
ready and let us know what
we're going to be up against.”
Almost forgotten in the
three-team tournament is the
University of New Mexico (0-2-
1), which enters this weekend
looking for its first win. Van
Horn cautions, however, that the
team should not be overlooked.
“I've been telling our play
ers that New Mexico can hit,”
Van Horn said. “They've only
played three games, and they
tied one and got beat by a
good Nebraska team. They’re
going to come in here hungry
to play. Believe me, we're not
looking past them. We’re
throwing one of our best
pitchers out at them.”
By Ryan Irby
THE BATTALION
With its second home tour
nament scheduled in two
weeks, the No. 23 Texas A&M
softball team will bring three
new opponents into Aggieland
this weekend to compete in the
second half of the St. Joseph
Aggie Invitational.
No. 17 Oregon, Southern
Mississippi (5-7) and Penn State
(0-5) will bring stiff competition
to the diamond as the Aggies (8-
7) look to gain valuable experi
ence before moving into confer
ence play. Last weekend, A&M
defeated Boston University
twice, dropped two to Illinois
and finished out the weekend
strong with a four-hit shutout
over Texas A&M-Corpus
Christi to compile a tournament
record of 3-2.
Of the three teams squaring
off against the Aggies this
weekend, one has already lost
to A&M. Oregon (8-4) fell to
the Aggies, 8-3, in the Fiesta
Bowl Tournament played in
Phoenix, Ariz. on Feb. 13. Head
coach Jo Evans said she hopes
history will repeat itself.
“We have already played
Oregon,” Evans said. “We played
well against them, and I hope we
can get back to that level.”
Evans’ comments come as a
result of play over the past two
weeks that she viewed as being
less than the Aggies’ best.
“In most of the games, we
did not play very well,” said
A&M junior shortstop Adrian
Gregory. “Once we get a few
more games under our belts and
find our comfort zone, we will
be good to go.”
A&M dropped a double-
header to Houston two weeks
ago when they were outscored
9-5 and let a four-run lead slip
away in the first game. In tour
nament play last weekend,
A&M outscored opponents 12-
9 and came away with two
shutouts. After focusing on
improving defensive play in the
Aggie Invitational I, Evans said
the squad has pinpointed offen
sive production as its objective
this weekend.
“I want us to be more
aggressive at the plate, because
1 don't see us doing that right
now,” Evans said. “I am looking
forward to it.”
The improved A&M offen
sive attack is something that
this weekend’s opponents will
not be looking forward to as the
Aggies continue to dominate on
the base paths, compiling stolen
bases at a blistering pace. The
Aggies have racked up 41
stolen bases on just 43 tries,
acquiring an impressive .953
stolen base percentage.
Freshman centerfielder
Sharonda McDonald is a per
fect 11-11 on the bases and
leads the team with 16 hits.
Gregory leads the team in
RBIs with 14 and is tied with
senior Sherah Atkins for the
team lead in homeruns with
two. A&M's 8-3 victory over
Oregon marks their highest
offensive output of the season. .
The Aggies will do battle
with Oregon at 2:30 p.m.
Friday, followed by a matchp
with Penn State at 4:45 p.m. at
the Aggie Softball Complex.
A&M will play twice again
on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and
4:45 p.m. against Penn State
and Oregon. The Aggies will
finish with Southern
Mississippi Sunday at 12 p.m.
kas comes back in day
two of championships
Aggies expect close game from Colorado
event of the Big 12 Swimming
ill Diving Championships in Austin took
see Thursday night, but Texas senior Ian
Wertook all the excitement out of the
ityard freestyle as he set a new Big 12
a time of 19.18 - 0.59 behind
senior Matt Rose.
Goiptodaytwo, the Aggies held a 74-40
ver Texas on the strength of their
The 24-time defending Big 12 cham-
Longhorns came back strong on day
mmgfourof the day’s five events,
te lone Aggie win was impressive
as the A&M 200-yard freestyle
broke the Big 12 record in a time of
11
iNo, 14 A&M women entered the day
i a first place tie with Texas, but the
ns also took four of the five events
n’s side.
freshman Alida DiPlacido won the
leter diving competition to give' the
air lone gold medal of the day.
preliminaries start at 10 a.m.
fithefinals starting at 6 p.m.
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
When the Texas A&M men's bas
ketball team takes the court against the
University of Colorado 12:30 p.m.
Saturday at Reed Arena, the Aggies
will only be playing for pride.
With only three games left to play,
A&M (7-17, 0-13 Big 12) is guaran
teed to finish last in the Big 12 while
the Buffaloes (16-8, 8-5) are currently
tied for fourth and are on the bubble
for an NCAA tournament bid.
“For that (CU to finish in the top five
of the conference) to happen, and us not
to go (to the tournament), they’d have to
take (Texas) Tech or (Oklahoma), and
we beat both of them,” said Colorado
senior guard/forward Blair Wilson.
“They haven't beat anyone we haven’t
beaten. We’ve got close to 20 wins, and
if you throw in a couple of sorry teams,
we would have had that, but we chose
not to go that route ”
Wilson is actually incorrect in one
of his statements. The only team that
Texas Tech and OU have beaten that
Colorado hasn't is A&M - not that
Colorado is shaking in its sneakers.
A&M is in the midst of a 13-game
losing streak with its final three games
against two teams fighting for an
NCAA berth and Oklahoma State
University, who is currently tied atop
the Big 12 in first place.
“We can't manufacture an atti
tude,” said A&M head coach Melvin
Watkins. “It’s just hoping you’re going
to win, and in this conference you
can't hope you're going to win -
you've got to get it done.”
The Buffaloes have been able to
stay close to the top of the Big 12 due
to the play of seniors Wilson and
guard/forward Michel MorandaiS and
junior center David Harrison.
Harrison leads the Buffaloes with
16.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per
game. Morandais is right behind
Harrison averaging 16.3 points and
three assists per game.
Colorado head coach Ricardo Patton
praises his top three players, but he said
the team’s other players have made
Colorado a better ball club.
“In order to win basketball games,
you have to be able to depend on your
top players to show up every night,”
Patton said. “One of the things that
helps the top players show up is that
we are getting contributions from
other players to relieve some of the
pressure off the top players.”
A&M, on the other hand, hasn’t
received top play from its stars. After
garnering Big 12 Freshman of the Year
honors for the 2002-03 season, A&M
sophomore guard/forward Antoine
Wright has hit just 36 percent of his
field goal attempts this season, 28.5 per-
. cent from beyond the three-point arc.
Senior forward Andy Slocum has
averaged only 5.17 points in the last six
games despite starting off the season
averaging close to a double-double.
Senior forward Jesse King has fall
en off after a hot start to the season after
suffering a foot injury.
“We had the ball in the hands of
the people we want shooting it, and
it doesn’t go down,” Watkins said
after Wednesday’s 67-61 overtime
loss to Baylor. “Players have got to
make plays.”
Nobody has been making plays for
A&M all season, while Colorado
players have been stepping into the
limelight to lead their team to a prob
able NCAA tournament appearance.
That’s probably why A&M is in
last place and Colorado is fighting for
a conference title.
“It would hurt not to go to the
tournament,” Wilson said. “You
never know what happens, and
everybody needs to play with that
urgency and enjoy this because it
may not come again.”
TAU 1
12th Man Team
REWARDS PROGRAM
...Invites you to:
14
EarMiNg Rewards is Easy
3 Days * 6 Sports * *8 Events
^ Feb. 27 Saturday,
'^00p.m, - Women’s Tennis vs. UTSA 12:00 p.m. -
2: 30p.m. - Softball vs. Sothern Mississippi 12:30 p.m. -
100p.m. - Baseball vs. Arkansas 2:30 p.m. -
l'30p.m,. Equestrian vs. Auburn 3:00 p.m. -
^5p.m.. Softball vs. Penn State 4:45 p.m. -
J'OOp.m. - Women’s Tennis vs. Iowa St. 6:00 p.m. -
W p m. - Baseball vs. New Mexico 7:00 p.m. -
Feb. 28
Men’s Tennis vs. UTSA
Men’s Basketball vs. Colorado
Softball vs. Penn State
Baseball vs. New Mexico
Softball vs. Oregon
Men’s Tennis vs. SELA
Baseball vs. Arkansas
Sunday, Feb. 29
11:00 a.m. - Baseball vs. Arkansas
12:00 p.m. - Softball vs. Southern Mississippi
1:30 p.m. - Women’s Tennis vs. Missouri
7:00 p.m. - Baseball vs. New Mexico
Spirit Weekend
2004
Yell Practice @ Olsen After
TONIGHT’S Baseball Game
SATURDAY @ THE REC
5k Fun Run/Walk Benefiting Special Olympics $5.00 entry
fee includes a T-shirt Sign up TODAY from llam-3pm @
Rudder or Tomorrow at the race: Start time 8:30am
SUNDAY @ OLSEN PAVILION
4:30-7pm Silent Auction Benefitng Special Olympics
4:30-6:30pm Baseball BBQ
12MSF and AAI Members are Free
Guest are $5.00 for BBQ
any questions please call: 846-8193