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The Battalion I 4.21.15
7
Sanden "Sandy"
Stewart, or
"Stat Boy," has
attended baseball
games at Olsen
Field for 11 years.
Slat Boy: The Olsen Field super-fan
The Battalion reporter Grade Mock spoke with Sanden "Sandy"
Stewart, Class of 2008, to talk about various A&M baseball
traditions. Stewart works at the Health Science Center at Texas
A&M, but is known at Olsen Field as "Stat Boy" — an Aggie
baseball super-fan with more than 1,500 Twitter followers who
keeps statistics at the games.
THE BATTALION: Of all the
traditions, what is your
favorite and why?
STEWART: That's tough. I like
the strikeout thing, that's cool.
All the sound effects, [Olsen
Field PA Rick Hill] up there
doing effects and how the fans
interact, that's a fun tradition.
I really don't have one favorite
tradition, I just enjoy everything
really.
THE BATTALION: Can you
explain the pink onesie you
wear in the sixth inning?
STEWART: A few years ago,
some guys in our section
started doing this thing called,
"pants down, fifth inning," and
it was kind of funny. But kind
of jokingly I was like, "That's
stupid, I'm going to do shades
on sixth." So I started doing
shades on sixth, and that
same year we came back a
few times in the sixth inning
and then we scored a bunch
of runs in the sixth inning, so
it kind of stuck. To advertise for
shades on sixth, I had this pink
onesie, and I don't know why
I originally bought it, I was just
like, "I'll bring it." So I brought it
to the game to kind of advertise
for shades on sixth and that's
how that started. I've tried to
stop doing it a few times and
people are like, "No, you have
to do it," and I'm like, "Okay, I'll
keep doing it."
THE BATTALION: How did the
new bubble tradition start?
STEWART: The players started
that. Corbin Martin on the
team, one of his favorite
movies is Anchorman and one
of the guys, the sportscaster
in that movie, his catch
phrase is, "Whammy." Then
Patrick McLendon, he wanted
something cool to do when we
scored a run, so he thought it
would be cool to bring a bubble
machine and he named him
Whammy. And, you know, the
game it happened, someone
hit a home run and it kind of
kept going. We continued it
with Whammy Jr. and then the
bubble machines.
THE BATTALION: What kind
of reception do you get from
fans?
STEWART: It's fun. A lot of stuff
I try to do, people don't catch
on, but it's fine. The whole
reason why we're here is to
support the team and get into
the heads of players. Another
part is we enjoy making people
have fun when they come
to the games. It's not only
the student section, it's the
GA section so it's fun having
families come out here and all
of that.
THE BATTALION: How have
the baseball players reacted
to this?
STEWART: They love it. They
love that we get involved and
they just love the support and
everything.
THE BATTALION: If you had
a walk-up song, what would
it be?
STEWART: I don't know, it
would always change. It would
always be different because
I'm always changing my mind.
"Cheap Sunglasses," I guess,
since the whole shades on
sixth thing.
THE BATTALION: How
did you get so into Aggie
baseball?
STEWART: I don't know. I
barely came to games with
any friends, I just kind of came
on my own and then the guy
in our section kind of took me
under his wing and it kind of
kept going. I fell in love with
Aggie baseball and it kept going
and going. I've only missed a
handful of games in my 11th
season now.
SOFTBALL
Late bomb
from Cuyos
snaps long
home streak
from LSU
By Milkyas Gashaw
Even though the Texas A&M
^ softball ultimately lost the series, a
final-game 5-2 win over LSU snapped
the Tigers’ perfect home record, bring
ing it to 30-1 on the season.
The No. 23 Aggies (34—14, 9-9
SEC) began Monday’s game with an
offensive mindset, with Breanna Dozier
hitting a double in the second inning
to kick-start the Aggie offense. A&M
capitalized on the Dozier double with
getting Alex Masek and Ashley Walters
on base, loading the bases for Brittany
Clopton. Clopton drew a walk to give
the Aggies the early 1-0 lead.
The Aggies continued their rally
by adding another unearned run to
increase their lead to 2-0 in the third.
The Tiger offense, on fire in the pre
vious two games, was subdued by the
pitching of Rachel Fox, who did not
allow a run until the fifth inning when
Constance Quinn singled to left field to
drive in catcher Kellsi Kloss. The Tigers
had more opportunities to score in the
fifth, but A J. Andrews grounded out to
the pitcher to end the inning.
LSU (41-6, 13-5 SEC) tied the
game in the sixth with a solo homer
from Sahvanna Jaquish, but the Aggies
responded in the top of the seventh
with a three-mn homer from Fresh
man Kristen Cuyos to put the Aggies
ahead for good.
The Aggies are on the road again
this weekend as they battle the No. 1
Florida Gators in a weekend series. Play
begins on Friday.
Vanessa Pena —THE BATTALION
No. 17 Logan
Taylor rounds
the bases
during last
weekend's
series loss to
Arkansas.
With LSU looming, A&M keeps
its sights set on UT-Arlington
By Andre Perrard
Over the weekend, the Ag
gie baseball team dropped its
first weekend series of the season
to the Arkansas Razorbacks. On
their first losing streak of the sea
son, the Aggies look to rebound
Tuesday in their mid-week con
test against the UT-Arlington
Mavericks.
A&M is undefeated in mid
week games this season, out-scor
ing its opponents in those games
80 to 22. Looming this weekend
is a three-game series in Baton
Rouge against No. 1 LSU, but
the Aggies refuse to look ahead.
“The most important game of
the year is Tuesday,” head coach
Rob Childress said. “I’m not go
ing to focus on next weekend.
We need to get this taste out of
our mouth on Tuesday and play
better.”
UT-Arlington (17-21) comes
in after winning its conference
A&M vs. UTA
when
2 p.m. Tuesday
where
Olsen Field
series against Troy this week
end. Levi Scott and Travis Sibley
lead the charge on offense for the
Mavericks. Scott leads the team
with 33 RBIs and Sibley is sec
ond with 31, and both have bat
ting averages well over .300 for
the season. Scott leads the team
with four home runs, and Sibley
is second with two.
The Aggies (35-5, 12-5 SEC)
have many weapons in the line
up, but the hottest of late is Logan
Taylor. He hit two more home
runs over the weekend and now
has 10 on the season. Taylor also
leads the team with 38 RBIs this
year. Also hitting well is Nick
Banks, who hit his second grand
slam over the weekend. Banks,
who is batting .408 on the year,
said the team’s bounce-back from
the weekend loss will be impor
tant.
“We have to respond against
UTA. The response will re
ally show a lot about our team,”
Banks said on Tuesday’s oppor
tunity. “We hadn’t lost back to
back games yet, so we’ll be look
ing to make a big turnaround.”
On the mound for A&M will
likely be freshman Turner Lar
kins. In his last outing on Tuesday
against Abilene Christian, Larkins
went four innings, allowing two
earned runs on three hits. He is
4-1 this season in 10 starts, with
a 3.52 ERA.
The Mavericks are 6-8 on the
road this year, while A&M hold
a 27-4 mark within the confines
of Olsen Field. Game time is set
for 2 p.m.
FOOTBALL |
Junior WR
decides to
transfer
from A&M
Gonzalez
By Alex Scott
LaQuvionte Gonzalez,
one of seven wide receiv
ers signed to Texas A&M in
2013, notified the public via
Twitter that he will transfer.
“Thank you to Texas A&M
University Coaches & Fans
for believing in me I Thank
God For Giving Me the Op
portunity To Play Here But I
Have Decided To (TAKE MY
TALENT ELSEWHERE),”
he wrote in the tweet.
Gonzalez was a four-star
player upon signing with
A&M. As a true freshman,
he recorded 21 receptions for
240 yards, ranking fifth on the
team. However, in 2014 his
stats dropped to just five recep
tions and 77 receiving yards.
With Gonzalez departing,
15 members of the highly an
ticipated Class of 2013 are no
longer with the Aggies. Only
two of the original seven re
ceivers remain — Ricky Seals-
Jones and Jeremy Tabuyo.