SPORTS
The Battalion I 4.13.15
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FILE
A&M grad Ryan Plameer, shown at the Texas Valero Open,
finished tied for 33rd in the Master's.
Aggie Ryan Palmer wraps
up Masters in 33rd place
By Lawrence Smelsers
A&M graduate Ryan Palm
er finished his fifth Masters
Sunday, posting a score of even
for the tournament, putting him
in a tie for 33 rd.
The Aggie shot 1-under par
during Sunday’s round. He shot
a 37 on the front nine and began
making a run on the back nine
after making an eagle on the 13th
and then back-to-back birdies on
15 and 16. He ended up nulli
fying the birdies, and his round
slowed down as he finished with
two fives on the par-four 17th
and 18th holes.
Jordan Spieth kept his foot on
the gas and shot 19 under par to
win his first major. The 21-year-
old from Dallas now shares the
Masters record for lowest score
with Tiger Woods, and he was
also the first person to ever reach
19 under par at the Masters.
Tiger Woods finished tied for
17th, his best finish since 2013.
The top five was rounded out by
Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson,
who tied for second, Rory Mcll-
roy and Hideki Matsuyama.
Taplin nearly edges
Olympic champ in 400
By Seth Stroupe
Senior Bralon Taplin posted a
collegiate leading time in the
open 400 at the Siin Angel Clas
sic in Tempe, Arizona, where he
finished second to the defending
Olympic champion in the event,
Kirani James ahead of the reign
ing Bowerman trophy winner,
his teammate Deon Lendore.
, „ Taplin posted a, time of 44.89
in his outdoor 400 debut. Lendore
finished third behind James with a
time of45.18. Taplin and Lendore
now sit at number three and num
ber five on the current world list.
“I went into the race as an
underdog,” Taplin said to the
media after the race. “The race
was billed as Kirani vs. Lend
ore, so there was no pressure on
me. My goal was to win and I
thought I had the race at 300m. I
kicked pretty hard, but then Ki
rani kicked hard to pull away. I
wanted to win, and I was going
for the win. I’m happy that I ran
that fast, I’ve been waiting to run
44 for a long time, so feels good
to finally run it.”
On the women’s side, the
quartet of Jennifer Madu, Ashton
Purvis, Kamaria Brown and Aali
yah Brown posted a world-lead
ing time of 43.03 in the 4x100
relay. They usurped the previous
mark of 43.13 set by Jamaica’s
University of Technology in
Febmary.
Other results saw Shelbi
Vaughn claim her fourth straight
victory in the discus with a throw
of 192 feet, seven inches. Vaughn
finished over seven feet ahead of
runner up Siositina Hakeai of
New Zealand.
ATHLETICS
SPORTS PASS RENEWAL
DEADLINE APPROACHES
Friday marks the last day for
students to renew their sports
passes for next year. This $290
12th Man Pass will grant access
to any A&M football game at the
newly renovated Kyle Field and
all other home athletic events.
In addition, two four-game
packages are available. The
Maroon Pack provides access
to home football games against
Nevada, Alabama, South
Carolina and Western Carolina.
The White Pack provides
access to home football games
against Ball State, Mississippi
State, Auburn and Western
Carolina. Each four-game pack
costs $150 and includes access
to any non-football home
athletic event during the 2015-16
school year.
12th Man Passes will also
become available for purchase
May 6 and 7 for registered
A&M students and May 28 for
incoming Fall 2015 students.
OO O . TOP-RANKED AGGIES
TAKE ANOTHER SERIES
Takeaways from sports reporter Andre Perrard on the series win over Mississippi State.
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A&M's bullpen is fantastic
The Aggie bullpen has been put in precarious situations this sea
son, but every time it comes through in a big way. Through the
series, the pen two runs on only six total hits. In two of the three
games, the relievers pitched scoreless baseball. Ryan Flendrix
has been a machine in the relief role. This weekend, Flendrix
worked a total of five innings, and in those innings, he pitched
scoreless, hitless baseball. He has conceded only one earned run
all year, and has five saves to his name. Mark Ecker picked up his
sixth save this season on Friday, and even in a tough situation
still managed to get the outs he needed to secure the win.
Logan Taylor is a name all
pitchers need to know
Logan Taylor has been putting on a slugging clinic this season.
So far in 2015, Taylor has hit 357 with eight home runs, which
leads the team, and 30 RBIs. He hit two huge home runs this
weekend for the Aggies, and he hit 5-for-11 (.454) with three
RBIs in the three-game series. Taylor is a powerful hitter who
can make any pitcher nervous when he is at the plate.
Grayson Long is A&M's ace on
the mound
The Aggie pitching staff has had to deal with some injuries this
year. Before the year began, the Aggies lost Tyler Stubblefield to
an ACL injury, and in the middle of their undefeated run they lost
Friday night starter AJ Minter to Tommy John surgery for the
year. Enter Grayson Long, who has been lights out for A&M this
year. During his start on Friday night, Long worked seven innings,
allowing only one unearned run on three hits with four strikeouts
on 116 pitches. Long is 7-0 this year with a 2.12 ERA. Moving
forward, Long will continue the role of the Friday night pitcher.
Nick Banks is deserving of his
All-American status
Nick Banks has been tearing up pitchers this season. Banks has
a .417 average with 26 RBIs. More impressively, he has reached
base safely in all 35 games and is on a 13-game hitting streak.
In the series this weekend, Banks hit a grand slam on Sunday,
and for the weekend he hit 4-for-12 (.333) with four RBIs. He
was named an All-American during the pre-season, and he has
proven himself worthy of that title.
No matter the score, A&M is
jiever put of the game
All year, A&M has come back from having its back against the
wall, but no matter the final outcome, the Aggies always find a
way to hang around until the end. Saturday, Mississippi State
played its best game of the season, and the Aggies still had an
opportunity to win the ballgame in the ninth inning. No matter
the matchup, the Aggies will be a tough outing for any team
they face for the remainder of the season.
By Andre Perrard
Vanesa Pena —THE BATTALION
From Top: J.B. Moss, Grayson Long and Blake Allemand
BASEBALL CONTINUED
the inning on a passed ball and an
RBI from Ronnie Gideon to make
it a 2-2 game.
The Bulldogs (22-16, 6-9 SEC)
would not go away, capturing an
RBI single in the second inning to
gain the 3-2 lead. However, A&M
earned the lead it would keep in the
bottom of the inning. An RBI from
Michael Barash tied it, and a sac fly
made it 4-3 A&M.
In the fourth inning, the Aggies
(33-3, 11-3 SEC) loaded the bases.
Nick Banks stepped up and crushed
a pitch over 400 feet for a grand slam,
his fourth home run of the season,
and the Aggies gained an 8-3 lead af
ter four frames.
“I just got a pitch I could handle
and did a little damage to it,” said
Banks about his grand slam. “Any
where I hit in the lineup is OK with
me as long as we keep getting Ws.”
Ronnie Gideon joined in on the
home run fun in the eighth inning.
After A&M loaded the bases, Gideon
smacked a ball over the scoreboard in
left to give A&M a 13-5 lead. A&M
hit two grand slams on the afternoon.
After getting into a jam in the fifth,
Ryan Hendrix came on in relief and
was lights out for the Aggies on the
mound. Hendrix pitched 3 1/3 in
nings of scoreless, hitless baseball to
help A&M secure and maintain its
lead. Hendrix appeared twice this
weekend and did not surrender a hit
or run throughout the entire series.
“Give the props to our offense,”
Hendrix said. “They’re the ones who
really got me in the game and had me
comfortable in the end. Sol put it all
on them.”
The series win improves A&M to
25-2 at home this season. The Ag
gies will continue their homestand at
6:35 p.m. Wednesday night against
Abilene Christian.
A&M Quidditch teams compete in 80-team tournament
By Keely Wirries
Two teams of Aggie Quidditch
players trekked to Rock Hill,
South Carolina, this weekend for a
national championship tournament.
The sport, pulled from the pag
es of popular fantasy series “Harry
Potter,” has developed a strong fol
lowing, as 80 teams turned out for
the World Cup Tournament. Both
A&M teams, Silver Phoenix and
Texas A&M Quidditch, failed to
advance to bracket play in World
Cup 8. Of the two, Texas A&M
Quidditch finished highest, landing
in 25th.
The comparatively inexperienced
team fought hard and did even bet
ter than was expected of it, said
Rachel Nicoletti, interdisciplinary
studies sophomore and Texas A&M
Quidditch member.
“We played our hearts out in ev
ery game,” Nicoletti said. “Consid
ering we are a brand new team and
that half of us had never even heard
of Quidditch before the MSC Open
House, I think more than anything
what we wanted out of this year was
to gain experience, which we did.
We qualified for World Cup and we
got fifth in the Southwest Regional
Tournament when no one was ex
pecting us to do tliat.”
The death of teammate Karen
Barnett in March — whose jersey
number the team recently retired
— pulled the team especially close,
Nicoletti said.
“The team is definitely a family,”
Nicoletti said. “With the passing
of a teammate, we play for her and
under the circumstances we played
alright. But instead of letting that
defeat us we pulled through and it
was a lot of fun for us. We play to
have fun, we play for our teammate
Karen Barnett who passed away,
and I think that is a lasting memory
that I will remember forever. ”
The team finished with a 12-11
record, along with a winning record
at the World Cup, 3-2. Still, despite
its effort to be recognized as a club
sport, the Quidditch team remains a
student organization.
“We applied last year and the
year before but were turned down
both years,” said Brady Thomas,
wildlife and fisheries sciences fresh
man and Texas A&M Quidditch
member. “Our hope is that we can
become a club sport so that it will
be easier for us to have a designated
place to practice and host tourna
ments because other teams we play
already have that and they can do
more with their team because of it.
I think that it helps our case that
even with a team made up almost
entirely of freshmen and in a sport
that is based on experience, we still
did great this season and made it to
World Cup.”
With only two seniors leaving,
the team will almost completely
stay intact and the relationships that
were built this year will stay strong,
said Cody Mckenzie, animal science
freshman.
“I’m so happy I made the choice
to come try out for the team and
made the team with all these people
because now my teammates are my
best friends,” Mckenzie said. “We
hang out all the time and it builds
such chemistry between us on and
off the field so we are able to en
joy each other’s company wherever
ever we go.”