Women’s
Tennis
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George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
Sports
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The Battalion
nnual Maroon and White
lame slated for Saturday
Iowa
B Jordan Meserole
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M football
am will hold its annual
aroon and White scrimmage
sideit aim. Saturday at Kyle Field,
rtlandfovii ing Aggie football fanat-
Ifeip, Iitlui temporary football fix
til the first regular season
ifrj rolls around in the fall.
SBe annual scrimmage marks
’"THnal spring practice for the
mil team and gives coaches
1;st chance to take notes on
areas before practices
in the fall.
“We’ve made a lot of
M,at|L,;ss in these 11 practices,”
head coach Dennis
cctjonRhione. “The guys have
Mthinta very purposeful in prac-
lookfTs and are working hard
alittltmng they want to improve.”
j ^IFi nchione said he and the
eflZB coaches have been focus-
Bl little more on the defense
■Spractices. Last season, the
(k&S c * e * ense ranked near the
ta\ B 11 most B'g 12 defensive
categories and
often let oppo
nents score as
many as 30,40
and even 70
points a game.
“In every
aspect, year
two is easier
than year one.
The defensive
guys are more
familiar with
the scheme
now and are
playing faster,”
Franchione
said. “We’re
not where we
want to be yet
and we’re not
disappointed
in what we’ve accomplished in
this amount of time.”
Fans will get their first look at
freshman quarterback Stephen
McGee who came to A&M a
semester early after graduating
from Burnet High School in three
and one-half years. Despite last
JP Beato III •THE BATTALION
Texas A&M redshirt freshman running back Courtney Lewis scores a touchdown in A&M's 45-33
win over the University of Kansas on Nov. 3, 2003, at Kyle Field. A&M will host the annual spring
Maroon and White game Saturday at 3 p.m. at Kyle Field.
season being clouded with a quar
terback controversy over sopho
more Reggie McNeal and junior
Dustin Long (now playing at Sam
Houston State University),
Franchione said there is no con
troversy this season.
“Reggie McNeal is our starting
quarterback,” Franchione said.
“We believe Reggie deserves to be
in that position at this point in
time. Stephen and Ty (Branyon)
are making great progress toward
being the next in line to Reggie.”
See M&W on page BB
FRIDAY
f - 7 p.m.
001
vs.
No. 18 Oklahoma
Olsen Field
Page IB • Friday, April 16, 2004
Aggie baseball hosts
first-place Sooners
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
Parents won’t be the only
ones coming to Aggieland this
weekend as the No. 18
University of Oklahoma base
ball team has a three-game
series with No. 13 Texas
A&M at Olsen Field starting
at 7 p.m. Friday.
Parents’ Weekend has his
torically drawn some of the
largest crowds of the season;
three of the top 15 crowds at
Olsen Field have been during
Parents’ Weekend in 1999,
2002 and 2001.
The fans should not be dis
appointed as the Aggies (30-
9, 6-6 Big 12) fight to gain
ground on the Big 12-leading
Sooners (23-12, 10-2). A
sweep would put the Aggies
one game behind OU, hut
sophomore first baseman
Coby Mavroulis said he is
not focused on sweeping the
Big 12 leader.
“We got to at least take two
and try to get a sweep from
them,” Mavroulis said.
A&M head coach Mark
Johnson said the two teams are
evenly matched.
“Oklahoma is 10-2 (Big
12) so they are sitting on top of
this thing,” Johnson said. “We
are similar ball clubs in that
they have two pitchers domi
nating the ball club.”
Johnson said OU senior
pitcher Mark Roberts is the
biggest threat on the mound.
Roberts is leading his team
with a . 172 ERA.
Johnson said he is confi
dent in his remaining pitching
staff, besides Texas A&M’s
two top pitchers junior Zach
Jackson and freshman Jason
Meyer. But he said all his
pitchers need to have more
confidence in themselves.
“It is just typical freshman
stuff.” Johnson said. “We just
need to move past that.”
The Aggie bats have been
hot lately, with all hut two
See Baseball on page 4B
tennis travels to Austin for showdown with Horns
Xi&M men’s
By Kyle Davoust
THE BATTALION
IpaflfsHseems as though the No. 21 Texas
Inals,»i men’s tennis team is finally liv-
ffloin? igupto its preseason potential as the
p ■ season winds down,
etimtioBieAggies (18-f, 4-1 Big 12)strug-
haniaHthrough much of the early season,
Ath,tough losses on the road to ranked
opponents. As of late, however, A&M
has been on a tear, winning seven of the
last eight matches beginning with an
emotional 4-3 win over the University of
Tulsa on the road and culminating in a
home win over No. 11 Rice University.
“Before the match against Tulsa, we
said everything that needed to be said and
we got everything out, and I think that
was the turning point for us,” said A&M
junior Lester Cook. “It was a really tough
match that came down to the last match,
and I don’t know, but something just hap
pened and we came together and have
been a better team ever since.”
The Aggies hope to continue this
recent surge as they head into an impor
tant match Saturday in Austin at the
Penick-Allison Tennis Center against
rival No. 30 University of Texas. With
Baylor University already clinching the
Big 12 regular season title, this match
has become a battle for second place as
well as seeding for the conference and
national tournaments.
The Longhorns (13-7, 4-1) are in
desperate need of a win, after being
blown out in consecutive matches by
Baylor and Rice, respectively.
“Make no mistake, we’ve gotten
beat badly. We just haven’t played well
the last couple of matches,” said Texas
head coach Michael Center. “We had a
few guys out against Rice, and we just
don’t have the depth that we’ve had in
past years.”
Despite its obvious importance, this
match is as much about pride as anything
See Tennis on page 3B
IS just J|
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