The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 18, 2015, Image 4

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    SPORTS
The Battalion I 2.18.15
4
■Inf
I Cali Lanphear is
I hitting .300 10
* games into the
Tim Lai —THE BATTALION
BASEBALL
Larkins' first start propels Aggies to win
Junior Lanphear on her
way to return to form
after sophomore slump
"'.-SSST'-
'4'"^ , 8*^5
Nikita Redkar —THE BATTALION
In his first career start Tuesday, freshman Turner Larkins struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings.
A&M's perfect start
continues Tuesday
By Andre Perrard
The Aggie baseball team
continued its hot start with
a 6-0 win over Stephen F. Aus
tin on Tuesday night.
The Aggies (4-0) were led by
freshman pitcher Turner Lar
kins, who had nine strikeouts in
5 1/3 innings of work, giving up
four hits and zero earned runs.
It was Larkins’ first career
start.
“After the third inning, coach
came to me and told me to get
my command right,” Larkins
said. “I lost it for a bit. But I
fought through and gained con
trol. To get guys out at this level
is not easy.”
The Lumbegacks (1-4) had
no response to the Aggie pitch
ing attack.
The scoring got started in the
first inning for A&M. A sacrifice
fly by Mitchell Nau and a Ryne
Birk run on a groundout by
Logan Nottebrok made it 2-0
A&M at the end of the inning.
The Aggies led 3-0 after three
innings when Nau picked up his
second RBI of the night on a
sacrifice fly.
Birk was the story on offense.
He went 3-for-5 with two RBI,
scored three runs and hit a home
run. Nau picked up two RBIs in
the effort. Nick Banks also went
4-for-4 with an RBI in the win.
Birk gave credit to his team
mate JB Moss after the game.
“It felt good, but I could not
have done it without JB Moss,”
Birk said about his home run.
“His at-bat right before mine,
he sucked nine or 10 pitches out
of him, and that left me a cookie
over the middle. I have to give a
lot of credit to JB Moss.”
On a cold night at Olsen
Field, the Aggie pitching took
over.
Larkins saw his night end
in the sixth inning. Kyle Si-
monds came through in relief
in a bases-loaded jam to keep
the shutout alive for the Aggies.
Simonds pitched in the seventh
and eighth inning as well, re
cording three strikeouts along
the way.
A&M head coach Rob Chil
dress was elated with the perfor
mance from his freshman.
“I am very proud of him,”
Childress said. “He got punched
a little bit early, but finally got it
together.”
Birk hit a two-mn homer in
the seventh inning to give A&M
a little cushion with a 5-0 lead.
Banks had an RBI single later
that made it 6-0 Aggies.
A&M is now 23-1 all time
against the Lumberjacks in base
ball. The lone victory for Ste
phen F. Austin over A&M came
in a 7-6 win in 2010.
The Aggies will keep their
13-game home stand going this
weekend against Penn State. It is
the first time the Aggies will host
a Big Ten opponent in baseball
since sweeping Michigan State
in 2012. First pitch is scheduled
for 6:35 p.m. Friday night.
SOFTBALL
CONTINUED
teams all receiving votes in
the preseason polls, the Ducks
outscored their foes 55-15
over the six games.
Oregon hit eight home
mns at the tournament while
not allowing a single long ball.
The Ducks hit .405 as a team
while Oregon pitchers held
opponents to a .204 combined
average.
Texas A&M (7-3) is pro
jected to face nine ranked
opponents before the season
comes to an end and is 1-1
against the top 25 after split
ting games with now-No. 12
UCLA. The Aggies are rid
ing a hot pitching staff with
senior Rachel Fox and junior
Katie Marks leading the way.
Fox said the relief pitching has
been strong.
“I’m really proud of our
staff out of the bullpen,” Fox
said. “Our pitching out of the
bullpen has been exceptional.”
Junior Cali Lanphear said
momentum will be important
going in to the clash with Or
egon.
“We had some success this
past weekend and that’s huge,
especially for the younger ones
going into a big game playing
against the likes of Oregon,”
Lanphear said.
First pitch is scheduled for
4:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged
to wear camouflage in an effort
to “hunt” the Ducks and the
first 300 will receive a cam
ouflage Texas A&M Softball
drawstring bag.
Tim Lai — THE BATTALION
Freshman Ashley Walters is one of several underclassmen
getting playing time early in the season.
By Milkyas Gashaw
lA fter a freshman season that consisted
of several shattered freshman Ag-
gie records and a second-team All
JBli America selection, Cali Lanphear
set high benchmarks for her sophomore cam
paign.
It didn’t go as planned. For the first time,
the outfieLder (Struggled on the softball dia
mond. And she’s ready to regain her old form
this season as a junior tasked with leading a
young team.
“Each year brings its own challenges and
great moments so you have to take everything
from each year,” Lanphear said. “Of course I
think back to [my freshman year] and it was
great how my swing felt, but I think last year
really set me on a good stage for this year. I
really learned a lot. I’ve never been in a posi
tion where I was struggling like that through
playing softball. I’d always had a lot of success
and never really had to worry about struggling,
but I think it has definitely made me a stronger
player on and off the field.”
Lanphear was recruited out of Montgom
ery, Texas, where she won three state cham
pionships. The accolades followed when she
stepped onto the diamond in Aggieland.
In her freshman season, Lanphear made
an immediate impact, earning 54 starts in the
outfield. She lead the team in batting average
(.362), runs (48), RBI (58), home mns (21),
extra-base hits (32), on base percentage (.439)
and slugging percentage (.855). She was placed
on the SEC All-Freshman team and later to
the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50
Watch List before the beginning of her sopho
more year.
But she struggled from the plate and com
peted for playing time behind seniors Emily
Albus and Cassie Tysarczyk and rising junior
speedster Brittany Clopton.
Lanphear is showing improvement already
this season with a .300 batting average and is
second on the team with six RBIs. The duo
of Lanphear and junior Alex Masek are ready
to lead a young Aggie softball club and are out
to prove people wrong.
“People aren’t going to expect anything
from us and we’re going to use that to our
advantage,” Masek said.
Head coach Jo Evans said Lanphear gets
along well with her teammates in the club
house.
“She’s upbeat but kind of quiet, not real
outgoing,” Evans said. “She definitely likes to
have fun, laugh and have a good time. She’s
someone that is really on task. She loves to
have all of her stuff in order and be on top of
things. She gets along great with everybody.”
The Aggies will have perhaps their most dif
ficult challenge of the year Wednesday when
they host No. 2 Oregon at 4:30 p.m. Lanphear
said her experience should help guide the team
this season and through challenges like this.
“Coming from high school softball, we
were all typically leaders on our high school
teams,” Lanphear said. “We were the above-
average players on our high school teams, so
we’ve all had experience of Peadership] in
high school. Now, it’s just your time to shine.
Experience helps tremendously when you’re
playing in these big games. This year, we have
a ton of underclassmen that we have to help
along. Playing [softball] is the same and we’ve
done that forever, but having that experience
to pass on helps a lot when you’re in those
big games.”