i
MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
UNSTOPPABLE
IBISB US .
few* & *» t t ^
. ; ;v
. / - m w - ' : ' - ■ w\ ' ■
- - ^ - -• ^ . .o ,
ophomore outfielder, hit a grarad slam at - ■
Nick Banks, sophomore outfielder, hit a grand slam at
Sunday's game against Mississippi State.
■ - - ... ■ : -f
is*-W&S'M
Cody Franklin — THE B.
IATTALION
By Andre Perrard
■■■ he Aggies continued
their dominant run this
weekend with another
I SEC series win, this time
over Mississippi State. The se
ries was tied going into Sunday,
but a 13-5 win — highlighted
by two grand slams — helped
A&M clinch the series.
A&M has not lost a weekend
series this season. When coming
off a loss in a weekend game, the
Aggies have outscored their op
ponents 38 to 12.
“It went back and forth
early,” A&M head coach Rob
Pair of grand slams power A&M past
Mississippi State to take series
Childress said about winning the
series Sunday. “We made some
mistake defensively in the first
couple of innings to allow them
to have hope, but each time they
would score, we would answer
back.”
On Friday night, the Ag
gies topped Mississippi State
3-1 behind a fantastic pitching
performance from starter Gray
son Long. On the night, Long
worked seven innings, allowing
one unearned run off only three
hits. There was a stretch during
the evening when Long retired
10 Bulldog batters in a row.
Logan Taylor’s two-mn
homer put the Aggies in front
2-0 in the fourth inning, a lead
they wouldn’t relinquish.
The win streak would come
to a close on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs came away with
a win behind an outstanding
performance from their starting
pitcher and bullpen to earn a 3-2
win.
A bright spot for the Aggie
offense during the afternoon was
Taylor, who hit his eighth home
run of the season and second of
the series to try and lead the Ag
gie comeback, but the bats could
not get going behind him.
Sunday would decide the se
ries, and both teams came out
firing to start the game. Mis
sissippi State took an early 2-0
lead. The Aggies got two runs
of their own in the bottom of
BASEBALL ON PG. 3
AROUND TOWN
STUDENT MEDIA
Oliva Adam — THE BATTALION
Profits from Chilifest will be counted in the next
two weeks.
Chilifest aims to
aid local charities
THAT DAY,
The next step
Organizers hope to hit
$2.5 million mark
By Olivia Adam
While many associ-
* ate this year’s Chilifest
with downing cases of beer
and performances by the Eli
Young Band and Josh Ab
bott Band, Chilifest orga
nizers say a large part of the
event is about raising money
for charities.
The first Chilifest started
as a fraternity philanthropy
concert and chili competi
tion in 1991. It has contin
ued to expanded in venue
size, number of attendees
and donations. Now in its
24th year, Chilifest Inc. is
approaching $2.5 million
total dollars in donations to
other nonprofits.
Tyler Luxion, senior ac
counting major and presi
dent of Chilifest, said Chil
ifest, a 501c (3) nonprofit,
took on Miller Lite as its
title sponsor in 2000. Since
then, Luxion said they have
expanded their donations.
“We’re coming up on
this $2.5 million mark in
donations since inception,
hopefully to be achieved if
not this year, by our 25th
anniversary next year,”
CHILIFEST ON PG. 4
A
Jg
The Battalion
takes home 26
TIPA awards
By Katy Stapp
^ weekend at the annual Texas Intercolle
giate Press Association competition, including
a first-place award for overall excellence.
TIPA, a statewide college media board,
holds contests among university-level stu
dent-run magazines, radio and television pro
grams, yearbooks and newspapers at its annual
convention.
The Battalion, a daily student-run news
paper, competed in Division I and received
awards recognizing articles, columns, graph
ics, photos and page designs published in
2014.
Aimee Breaux, managing editor for The
Battalion and applied mathematical sciences
junior, won first place in the general
column and critical review
categories as well as second
place in the opinion page
design category. Breaux said
while some newspapers might
produce content influenced by
what they think TIPA judges
will want to see, this is not the
focus of The Battalion.
“Our main purpose throughout
the year is to provide content we
think students on campus want to
read and need to read,” Breaux
said. “So for us, TIPA is
a matter of taking a day
aside and just reflecting on
the past year’s worth of is
sues and really trying to see
what our strengths are —
TIPA ON PG. 4
Hillary Clinton announces presidential bid
STARTUP AGGIELAND
Aggie-made
app helps
pet owners
PetQuest gives advice from
American, Chinese veterinarians
By Josh Hopkins
With more than 35,000 followers on
the Chinese social media site Weibo, an
Aggie-founded online app that answers pet-
related questions in China has begun to gain
steam.
George Fang, PetQuest CEO and genetics
doctoral candidate, said PetQuest collects de
tailed information about an owners pet such as
vaccination records, age and size so it can give
specialized answers. The app has answered
1,300 questions in the past two months.
Fang, who used to work as a veterinarian in
China, said online information on pet health
care in China is often ambiguous. At the same
time, questions he would receive lacked the
specifics necessary for him to help.
“Did your cat eat something strange yester
day? Did this cat get an object in his stomach?
We don’t know,” Fang said. “So we have to
have some kind of system where we think
about that. Because every time we would go
back and ask another question it takes longer,
it’s not a real-time chatting.”
PetQuest, Fang said, was the solution. The
app has a mix of American and Chinese vet
erinarian volunteers who answer questions,
but he hopes to eventually transition to all
Chinese veterinarians, who would work on a
commission system.
The main benefit for veterinarians work
ing for PetQuest is the opportunity to practice
and create a name for themselves, said Xintao
She, biochemistry graduate student.
“In addition to solving the needs for pet
owners, we solve the need for those fresh Chi
nese veterinarians because this is where they
can get experience,” She said. “And this is
where they can build up their reputation. So
PETQUEST ON PG. 5
Weekend-long
startup event
expedites idea
creation
Students develop business ideas in
72 hours at 3 Day Startup weekend
Caroline Ann Thomas, English senior,
discusses her group's business idea.
By Josh Hopkins
Students from across campus created a
business from scratch in 72 hours at the 3
Day Startup weekend.
Richard Lester, clinical professor and exec
utive director of the Center for New Ventures
and Entrepreneurship, said the 3-Day Startup
weekend is intended to give motivated, en
thusiastic students from multiple colleges the
opportunity to learn about starting a business.
“My hope is that number one, educational
ly they understand the process of how to start
up a business,” Lester said. “How do you get
a team together, how do you form that team,
how do you rapidly start identifying whether
this startup business makes any sense or not.”
Tyler Pearce, management senior and head
of the leadership team at 3-Day Startup, said
each of the 30 participating students brought
in business ideas at the beginning of the week
end. Through a voting process, the 30 ideas
were narrowed down to six and participants
were divided into teams.
Jake Boaz, business administration sopho
more, said his idea, called Faux, revolved
around creating a new auxiliary cable for
phones.
“Basically the premise is whenever I try to
connect to a music device through auxiliary
with my phone, the cable never works with
my phone case on, and so I constantly have
to take my phone case on and off which is a
really big pain for me, Boaz said. “So I want
to come up with a cable that works with any
phone case.”
Another idea, Seat Hop, was presented
as a marketplace for sports fans looking for
better gameday seats. The idea was met with
STARTUP ON PG. 5
By Lindsey Gawlik
Putting to rest the speculation that has
surrounded her the last few years, Hill
ary Clinton announced Sunday afternoon she
will officially run for president in 2016.
The former secretary of state, senator
and first lady announced her candidacy via
a video titled “Getting Started.” The two-
and-a-half minute video depicts Americans
getting started on different projects or taking
new steps in their own lives, before Clinton
comes on screen.
“I’m running for president,” Clinton said
near the end of the video. “Everyday Ameri
cans need a champion, and I want to be that
champion. So you can do more than just
get by, you can get ahead, and stay ahead,
because when families are strong America is
strong.”
Clinton’s announcement comes a couple
of weeks after Sen. Ted Cruz’s announce
ment and just days after Sen. Rand Paul also
announced his bid.
Now that her candidacy has been formally
announced, Clinton’s next stop on her cam
paign trail will be first-to-vote Iowa, as she
looks to connect with voters on a more per
sonal level.
“So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote,
because it’s your time and I hope you’ll join
me on this journey,” Clinton said in the
video.