Sports
The Battalion
Page IB • Monday r April 19, 2004
ranyon leads Maroon over White
ly Jordan Meserole
THE BATTALION
The Maroon squad of the
asA&M football team drove
(yards down Kyle Field to
in the final minute of the
|oon and White scrimmage
prday, defeating the White
Id, 21-17.
dter the game, there was a
around Kyle Field about
juarterback who is not
Sed Reggie McNeal or
Stephen McGee. Sophomore
HBranyon, who walked on
the team his freshman year,
ped all quarterback statis-
pcs Saturday, throwing 1 1
passes for 119 yards, three
^thdowns and rushing for
Jther 68 yards.
■Ty may be the most
■roved player in our program
right now,” said A&M head
■h Dennis Franchione. “He
^a solid day and didn’t make
many mistakes out there.”
[he defense on both sides of
I ball dictated much of the
■ for the first three quarters,
tall; mg up six total sacks, knock
ing vn a handful of passes and
■ing crucial tackles.
■l thought we played pretty
■d most of the time on
■nse,” Franchione said. “We
■ft miss a lot of tackles and if
■ did, there were some guys
■eenough to keep the ball car-
■ from getting much farther.”
■The first quarter ended in a
■ tie, but it wouldn't be long
■ore points would be put up
on the board. After leading the
■roon team on a 63-yard
■ledown field, Branyon con-
^Btedwith senior wide receiv-
erlTerrence Murphy on a 17-
yard fade pass
to the corner of
the end zone.
Junior place-
kicker Todd
Pegram nailed
the extra point,
putting the
Maroon up 7-0.
The Maroon
team added
seven more
points almost
two minutes
later on a 21-
yard pass by
Branyon to sen
ior wide receiv
er Terrence
Thomas.
Freshman
quarterback
Stephen McGee
and senior run
ning back Keith
Joseph led the
White team on
80- and 64-yard
scoring drives
in the second
and fourth
quarters,
respectively, to
even up the
score at 14.
McGee, who
was given play
signals by
injured junior
quarterback
Reggie McNeal
during the
game, finished
the day with
four completions in 13 pass
attempts for 35 yards. McGee
said McNeal has given him lots
of advice in the 15 practices
this spring.
"He’s helped me out in a lot
JP Beato III • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Ty Branyon prepares to throw a fourth quarter touchdown pass to junior wide receiver
L’Tydrink Riley during the Maroon and White scrimmage Saturday at Kyle Field. The touchdown would give the Maroon team a
21-17 win. Branyon led the Maroon team by completing 11 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns.
of areas that coaches sometimes risky 56-yard field goal to take
the lead. With strong winds at
his back, freshman kicker
Layne Neumann sent the ball
perfectly through the middle of
the uprights.
“That caught every coach’s
can’t,” McGee said. “He gives
me the quarterback view of how
the plays work out on the field.”
With the score tied at 14 and
just 1:26 left in the fourth quar
ter, the White team attempted a
eye to go out there and bang
out a 56-yarder in that kind of
situation,” Franchione said. “It
has to be the biggest surprise
of the day. It makes us sit up
See M&W on page 4B
&M loses decisive
;ame to Big 12 foe OU
A&M lady netters
shut out Kansas State
By Jordan Meserole
THE BATTALION
[Parents’ Weekend ended on a
jur note for some Sunday, as the
w. 13 Texas A&M baseball team
It to No. 18 University of
(llahoma, 9-5.
■The win gave the Sooners (25-13,
IJ-3 Big 12) the overall series win
■er defeating the Aggies (31-11,
■ Big 12), 8-7, Saturday keeping
bn one game behind top-ranked
University of Texas for first place
■the Big 12.
|The Aggies were
PBgued by unstable
pjchers who gave up
two home runs,
"|alked nine batters,
beaned three more
allowed baserun-
nfrs on wild pitches
ol errors.
J“We’re a real frus-
Jted team right now,
and I’m a real frus-
Wed coach” said
■bM head coach
[Mark Johnson. “1 was
really disappointed
ft we got discour-
[ed so easily.”
■The first inning would be tough
on both teams’ starting pitchers.
A&M senior Justin Moore let six
bitters come to the plate in his two-
tlrds inning of work, walking two,
bitting one with a pitch and allow
ing two runs to score. Sooner junior
Daniel McCutchen also faced six
baiters in one-third of an inning,
allowing the first three consecutive
bailers to reach base on a walk, hit-
by pitch and an error. McCutchen
gave up a grand slam home run to
the next batter he faced, A&M sen
ior outfielder Cory Patton.
■ “We have some good pitchers
oui there, but this is the second
Sinday in a row where we’ve strug
gled on the mound,” Johnson said.
|‘We’ve got to get some guys to step
up right now because their confi
dence level is down.”
■ The fourth inning would be the
breakout inning for the Sooners,
scoring six runs against the Aggies.
■ A&M sophomore pitcher Dan
Donaldson, who came in for Moore
in the first inning, walked Sooner
junior third baseman Brenan Herrera
and freshman outfielder Ryan
Mottem to start off the inning. On an
attempt to keep Mottern close to first
base, Donaldson overthrew A&M
sophomore first baseman Coby
Mavroulis, sending the ball into
right field. Herrera scored from sec
ond base and Mottern moved up to
third base on the error.
To make matters worse for the
Aggies, Donaldson hit freshman
catcher Josh Stinson in the back on
the next pitch.
A&M junior
pitcher Kyle Marlatt
replaced Donaldson
on the mound and
experienced prob
lems as well, giving
up a grand slam to
sophomore shortstop
Ryan Rohlinger
three batters later,
pushing the Sooner
lead to 8-4.
The Aggie offense
was shut down after
the first inning by
Sooner senior pitcher
Mike Swindell.
We're a real
frustrated team
right now, and I'm
a real frustrated
coach.
— Mark Johnson
Texas A&M
head baseball coach
Swindell lasted six innings, struck
out four and retired the Aggies’
order three times during his stint in
the game.
“I won’t take as much credit as
the defense should,” Swindell said.
“That’s been one of our strong
parts all year long. Fortunately I
was able to last that long and help
stabilize the game.”
Johnson said the game’s woes
weren’t all due to pitching prob
lems — the offense struggled as
well. The Aggie hitters stuck out
twice and grounded out twice with
runners in scoring position, leaving
a total of 10 runners on base.
“The other side of it is that
(game problems) are contagious,”
Johnson said. “The hitters didn’t do
as good as they could have and left
a lot of batters on base.”
A&M will take Monday off
before travelling to Arlington,
Texas, to face the University of
Texas-Arlington Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Evan O'Connell • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M senior Roberta Spencer hits a forehand during her doubles match Saturday at the
George R Mitchell Tennis Center. A&M beat the Wildcats, 7-0.
By Jon Gilbert
THE BATTALION
With so much at stake the next week, the
No. 16 Texas A&M women’s tennis team
may have been looking ahead. Yet, they still
knocked off Kansas State University on
Saturday, 7-0, setting up a showdown with
No. 12 University of Texas for supremacy in
the Big 12 on Tuesday.
The Aggies (17-6, 9-0 Big 12) had a
fight, but in the end came away with a 7-0
shutout of the Wildcats (5-13, 1-9) on a
windy afternoon at the George P. Mitchell
Center. The match lasted alfnost four hours
as four singles matches went down to the
wire. A&M came out of every one with a
win, a tribute to the players’ determination
and mental toughness, according to A&M
head coach Bobby Kleinecke.
“Having to win when you’re not playing
well is a booster for your team,” Kleinecke
said. “We would like to have easier matches,
but the reality of it is that some aren’t going
to be like that. So, when you can come
together and get a win like that it’s huge.”
The Aggies came out strong in doubles
and got the point. Senior Roberta Spencer
and junior Helga Vieira defeated the
Wildcat tandem of junior Judith Diaz and
senior Hayley Mclver, 8-2, on court No. 2.
Then, on court No. 3, Aggie freshman Anna
Lubinsky and sophomore Nicki Mechem
won their match, 8-2, as well.
After winning the doubles point,
Lubinsky and Walker won their singles
matches, 6-0, 6-1, and 6-0, 6-0, respective
ly. With A&M holding a 3-0 lead in the
overall match, Kansas State started to make
it tough on the Aggies.
A&M senior Jessica Roland, the team’s
No. 1 singles player, lost her first set to
Wildcat junior Maria Rosenberg, 6-4. Then,
down 5-3 in the second set and on the verge
of defeat, Roland fought back and won 7-5.
This led to her winning the third set
tiebreaker and the match.
“The match at No. 1 was a great match,”
said Kansas State head coach Steve Bietau.
“(Roland) made some big shots when she
See Tennis on page 4B
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Offense leads
Aggies to sweep
of Texas Tech
Texas A&M senior pitcher
Jessica Kapchinski's streak of
53 consecutive innings without
allowing an earned run was
snapped Saturday at Texas
Tech’s Rocky Johnson Field as
the Lady Raiders scored in the
bottom of the sixth inning.
The run didn’t help much
as A&M (27-16, 10-1 Big 12)
still run-ruled Tech (19-29,1-10),
11-1. The Aggies completed
the two-game sweep Sunday
with a 12-5 win.
Sophomore right fielder
Rocky Spencer led the Aggies
to an early 5-0 lead Sunday by
hitting two home runs in her
first two at-bats. In the first
inning, she hit a solo shot.
Spencer hit a three-run bomb
in the second.
Tech was able to score four
runs in the bottom of the third
off A&M senior pitcher Lindsey
Wilhelmson to bring the Lady
Raiders within one run.
Kapchinski entered for
Wilhelmson and quickly turned
the tide, allowing only one run
over the final five innings.
A&M used 11 hits to score 12
runs in the largest offensive
output for the Aggies this sea
son. Led by Spencer’s five hits
in seven at-bats with five RBIs,
the Aggies scored 23 times
over the weekend on 24 hits.
“1 thought that our kids really
swung the bat well," said A&M
head coach Jo Evans. “It was
an overall great team effort with
our hitting throughout the line
up and different people step
ping up getting big RBIs for us.”
A&M will travel to Stillwater,
Okla., Wednesday to face
Oklahoma State University in a
doubleheader with the first
game starting at 5 p.m.
A&M men’s tennis
defeats Texas in
Austin, 5-2
In an important match in
the battle for second place in
the Big 12 conference, the
No. 21 Texas A&M men’s ten
nis team defeated No. 30
University of Texas, 5-2, on
Saturday at the Penick-Allison
Tennis Center in Austin.
The Longhorns (14-10, 5-2
Big 12) jumped to an early 2-0
advantage by sweeping the dou
bles point and winning at court
No. 3 in singles. The Aggies
(19-8, 5-1) then responded by
winning five-straight matches in
route to victory. The win was
only the second ever for the
Aggies in Austin.
A&M is now in sole posses
sion of second place as it
heads into Saturday's season
finale with No. 29 Oklahoma
State at the George P. Mitchell
Tennis Center.
Dawson leads
Aggie archers at
Texas Shootout
Texas A&M junior Amber
Dawson earned a bronze medal
after placing third in the com
pound division at the 2004
Texas Shootout Sunday at A&M’s
Penberthy Intramural Fields.
Dawson, the top-seeded
archer in the tournament,
cruised through three rounds
before facing 2002 silver
medalist Jamie Van Natta in
the semifinals. Van Natta,
who lost to Dawson in the
gold medal match in 2002,
beat Dawson, 110-100.
Van Natta once again faltered
in the gold medal match as she
lost to high school shooter
Erika Anshcutz, 109-102.
Dawson was the only Aggie to
advance past the second round
in either the compound or the
recurve competitions.
A&M senior and world
champion Mary Zorn fell in
her first match after receiving
a bye through the first round.
Zorn lost to high school junior
Aprilyn Witt, 154-153.
A&M will not compete again
until May 14 when they begin
the three-day Outdoor
Nationals in Mays Landing, N.J.