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SPORTS IN BRIEF
A&M baseball
avoids sweep with
9-7 win Sunday
After dropping the first two
james of a three-game series
Oklahoma State University,
the No. 9 Texas A&M base-
N jail team avoided the sweep
lsei )>Jwith a 9-7 win Sunday in
Stillwater, Okla.
lysis' With a 9-4 lead heading into
ory,»i the bottom of the eighth
latmi nning, the Cowboys (20-11,
3-3 Big 12) scored three runs,
tor (fcompting A&M head coach
Mark Johnson to move sopho-
nore shortstop Cliff
Pennington to the mound with
10 outs.
Pennington began his pitch-
g stint by walking OSU fresh
man center fielder Keanon
Simon to load the bases.
Pennington then got OSU sen
ior right fielder Rod Allen to
ground to second base to end
the Cowboy threat.
Pennington earned his sec
ond save of the season, and
also went three-for-four at the
plate with two RBIs.
The win pulls A&M (26-8,
4-5) into a fifth-place tie with
Baylor University in the Big
12 standings.
The Aggies will host Sam
Houston State University
vfr Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Olsen
before resuming Big 12
in Lawrence, Kan., Friday
a three-game series with
the University of Kansas.
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Aggie softball
sweeps Iowa
State in Ames
The Texas A&M softball
team completed its second
consecutive weekend sweep
Sunday as it beat Iowa State
University, 3-0, in Ames, Iowa.
The Aggies (22-16, 4-1 Big
12) didn't allow a run in the
two-game series.
was really pleased that
our pitchers came and gave
us a chance to win," said
M head coach Jo Evans,
e struggled a bit offensive-
this weekend, and when
your pitchers keep you in the
game as long as ours did, it
gives you an opportunity to
get comfortable at the plate
score some runs.”
tM sophomore shortstop
Adrian Gregory broke a score-
ess tie in the top of seventh
inning with a lead off home
run. Iowa State (9-18, 1-3)
allowed the Aggies to score
twice more in the inning, giv-
A&M senior pitcher
Jessica Kapchinski a three-
run cushion in the bottom half
on the inning.
Kapchinski, who earned the
in in both games on the week
end, threw two scoreless
innings in relief Sunday, strik
ing out four batters.
The Aggies will next face the
University of Texas
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at
McCombs Field in Austin.
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A&M women’s
tennis remains
unbeaten in Big 12
The Texas A&M women’s ten
nis team remained undefeated
in the Big 12 by knocking off
the No. 63 University of
Colorado Sunday, 6-1.
Fresh off a 6-0 win over
Texas Tech University on
Friday, the No. 14 Aggies
came out and set the tone by
winning all three doubles
matches to take the doubles
point. Then, A&M (14-6, 6-0
12) took five of six singles
matches to secure the win, its
consecutive victory. The
Aggies have now won 11 of
their last 12 matches.
Senior Jessica Roland, jun
ior Helga Vieira, junior
Lauren Walker, sophomore
Mechem and freshman
Anna Lubinsky all earned
wins in singles against
Colorado (9-6, 2-4).
The Aggies face another dif
ficult road test when they
travel to No. 45 Baylor
University Thursday.
Sports
The Battalion Pa g e 5 * Monday, April 5, 2004
The life of a walk-on
A day in the life of A&M men's basketball senior Dylan Leal
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M senior guard Dylan Leal likes
basketball so much it’s criminal. Literally. In
high school, he was arrested for breaking into
the gym on a Saturday night to shoot hoops.
The charges were later reduced to a cur
few violation when the coach told police he
had given Leal the key to the gym.
“I told my mom not to buy me video
games for my birthday because it was time I
needed to spend shooting,” Leal said. “I was
all about basketball.”
Leal’s dedication paid off in the form of
scholarship offers from several schools such
as Holy Cross and Lehigh College, both
schools known for academics with strong
athletics. Leal said the scholarships were
tempting but he wanted to stay in Texas, close
to his two younger brothers. A&M already
had given away all of the scholarships it had
that year but after a conversation with former
A&M assistant coach Tom Bill iter. Leal
decided to come as a non-scholarship athlete.
Leal brought his dedication with him to
A&M, earning playing time his freshman
year. As a senior. Leal was voted captain by
his teammates, said A&M assistant coach
Bobby Kummer.
“No one thinks of him as a walk-on,”
Kummer said. “He never complained; that
was one of the great things about him.”
Leal said many of his teammates didn't
even know he was a non-scholarship athlete.
“Many of the guys would ask me when
we were getting our scholarship checks, and
I didn't know,” Leal said. “Nobody treated
me any different than anybody else.”
Leal said his hard work earned him play
ing time his freshman year, but after his time
dropped in his second season, he thought of
transferring with his best friend Nolan
Butterfras to nearby Sam Houston State
University in Huntsville.
“We would talk about it,” Butterfras said.
Leal said, with advice from Kummer and
his teammates, that he decided to stay at
A&M despite never earning a scholarship.
“I decided to stick it out, and 1 am glad
I did,” Leal said.
Now, with no more eligibility and a year
left before graduating, he said he has no
regrets and is enjoying having time to work on
his Ford Bronco and relaxing during the week.
“We got Sundays off so that leaves
Saturday nights for socializing,” Leal said.
Leal said that before last Saturday he was
busy preparing for Chilifest.
“We spent all (Thursday) out in Snook
getting ready,” he said from a booth at his
John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M senior guard Dylan Leal is a non-scholarship athlete for the men’s basketball team and was voted captain prior to the 2003-04
season, Leal’s final year with the team.
usual Thursday destination, the Tap.
He said that last year he was on a team at
Chilifest, but his daily routine usually con
sists of more business than pleasure. He said
that, like most athletes, he would wake up
early for morning classes, eat with the team,
lift weights and then go to practice through
out the afternoon.
Even though his classes may have been
harder, Leal said most of the rest of col
lege life was spent as a normal student. He
lived in Cain Hall his freshman year, play
ing practical jokes on other freshman
including his former teammates Bernard
King and Jamaal Gilchrist.
“We filled a 50 gallon trash can full of
water and leaned it on their door. We
knocked and ran off and when they opened
the door water went everywhere,” Leal said.
“They got us back by taking (Butterfras')
underwear and putting it on the door.”
Leal said that after graduation he plans to
stay in basketball by coaching on the.college
level. He said he hopes to begin his career
with a position as a graduate assistant at
A&M. He said he has met new head coach
Billy Gillespie and wishes he could be a part
of the new regime.
Even though he said he now rarely picks
up a ball, coaching may not be able to com
pletely fill the void left by not playing. Leal
may not miss the early classes but he said he
definitely misses the team.
“I wish I had another year,” Leal said.
Countdown to Student-
Athlete Day
APRIL. 6
A day in the life of...
WED.
• Lester Cook
Tennis
• Jennifer Jones
Equestrian
• Jana James
Softball
THURS.
FRI.
MON.
TUES.
• Jamie Riojas
Track & Field
• Justin Moore
Baseball
• Dylan Leal
Basketball
• Terrence Murphy
Football
Aggie tennis falls to Baylor
Evan O'Connell •THE BATTALION
Texas A&M junior Ante Majitevic returns a serve during his doubles
match Saturday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Despite winning
his match with partner junior Lester Cook, the Aggies lost the doubles
point and the match, 5-2, to Baylor University.
NCAA title game:
Centers of attention
By Staff and Wire
THE BATTALION
For the past four years, the
winner of the annual match
between the Texas A&M and
Baylor University men’s tennis
teams has gone on to win the Big
12 regular season championship.
All signs point to the Bears
winning their third straight title,
with No. 2 Baylor defeating No.
25 A&M, 5-2, at the George P.
Mitchell Tennis Center Saturday.
“I saw two teams playing very
hard out there,” said A&M head
coach Tim Cass. “There was no
rivalry in this sport between Texas
A&M and Baylor four years ago,
but you could see the passion in
the kids’ eyes out there today.”
TheAggies (16-7, 3-1 Big 12)
started off well at doubles when
juniors Lester Cook and Ante
Majitevic, the No. 1 doubles
team in the country, beat Baylor
junior Benedikt Dorsch and
freshman Matije Zgaga, 9-8 (2).
“We competed well with the
No. 1 team in the country (Cook
and Majitevic) at one and lost the
tiebreaker,’’ said Baylor head
coach Matt Knoll. “Doubles is
huge when you are playing on
the road against a good team.”
Despite losing the first doubles
match, Baylor (19-2,4-0) won the
other two doubles matches to cap
ture the doubles point, giving the
Bears an early 1-0 lead.
“Doubles has been disappoint
ing this year,” Cass said. “We
have enough players to be able to
find combinations to win. It’s a
momentum point in our sport, but
I don’t think our guys panicked.”
In singles, Baylor kept the
momentum from swinging to the
Aggies as the Bears won the first
three matches that finished in
straight sets to clinch the victory.
Dorsch avenged his earlier
doubles loss by defeating Cook,
6-3, 6-2.
Baylor junior Benjamin
Becker, the No. 13 singles play
er in the country, defeated
Majitevic, 6-3, 6-4.
“It was the best match I’ve
played this season,” Becker
said. “I’m still a little inconsis
tent, but I’m improving.”
Despite being down 4-0 with
just three matches left, the
Aggies rallied to push all three
matches to a deciding tiebreaker.
A&M freshman Brett
Joelson defeated Zgaga., 6-4,
4-6, 6-4, while A&M senior
Khaled El Dorry won over
Baylor senior Reinor Neurohr,
6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4).
A&M senior Mohamed
Dakki was unable to close out
Baylor senior Matias Marin, as
Marin won, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(12-10).
Despite the loss, Cass said he
was pleased that A&M did not
give up after Baylor had already
clinched the win.
“You realize in this busi
ness that so much comes down
to heart,” Cass said. “1 think
it’s a test of a young man’s
character to finish when the
match is already decided.”
By Jim O'Connell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO —There’s
no mistaking Emeka Okafor.
He’s the All-America center
from Connecticut, the sure lot
tery pick in the NBA draft.
There’s also no mistaking
Luke Schenscher. He’s the 7-
foot-1 Australian with the
shaggy red hair who plays cen
ter for Georgia Tech.
The gap has closed consid
erably between the two since
Okafor was selected consensus
national preseason player of
the year and Schenscher was an
anonymous player in the ACC.
They'll see a lot of each
other in Monday night’s
national championship game, a
battle in the middle that could
decide whether Connecticut
wins its second national title or
Georgia Tech wins its first.
College basketball hasn’t
had many prominent center
matchups lately, and the
national title game hasn’t had
one between real big men
since Patrick Ewing of
Georgetown and Hakeem
Olajuwon of Houston hooked
up 20 years ago.
“We don't like to call them
centers, we like to call them
power players. It’s kind of the
upgraded word for center,”
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun
said. “It’s one of the few games
where you’re going to have
legitimate guys who can both
put 20 on the board, double-fig
ure rebound, both affect the
other team’s offense by being a
defensive presence inside.”
Okafor is quicker, smoother
and NBA ready. Schenscher
still is a work in progress,
showing flashes at times while
trying to overcome occasional
awkwardness.
Okafor, a unanimous selec
tion to The Associated Press’
All-America team and the run
ner-up to Jameer Nelson of Saint
Joseph’s as player of the year,
easily wins the numbers game.
He averages 17.5 points,
11.4 rebounds and a nation
leading 4.1 blocked shots while
shooting 59.9 percent from the
field. He led the country with
23 double-doubles this season.
Schenscher is averaging 9.2
points and 6.5 rebounds while
shooting 56 percent from the
field. His numbers have
improved all season, and two
of his most impressive games
are among his last seven — 17
points and 17 rebounds in a
win over North Carolina and
19 points and 12 rebounds in
the 67-65 victory over
Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Okafor also had the statisti
cal advantage when the teams
met in the Preseason NIT semi
final in November, a 77-61
Georgia Tech victory. Okafor,
bothered for the first time that
game by back spasms that lin
gered into March, had nine
points and 13 rebounds, while
Schenscher had two points and
three rebounds.
See NCAA on page 7