Baseball challenges rival Texas A&M

---

by John Fredland

---

In each of the past two springs, the Rice baseball team has used its series with Texas A&M University as a springboard from a slow start to a successful season.

The 1994 Owls entered their Cameron Field showdown with a 1-2 mark in the Southwest Conference.

Three victories later, Rice was on its way to winning nine of its next 10 SWC games and finishing in second place, one game short of the conference title.

Last season, the Owls came to College Station with a 2-2 mark and left having won two of three games over the Aggies.

That started an 11-4 run that enabled Rice to gain second place again, one game behind Texas Tech.

With the Aggies in town this weekend, the Owls hope again to use the series as a means to vault forward in the SWC race.

Entering the three-game set, Rice (29-15 overall, 4-10 in the SWC) stands far behind conference front-runners Texas (12-2 in the SWC) and Texas Tech (11-7).

However, they can close the gap between itself and the middle of the conference pack -- Texas A&M (8-7), Texas Christian University (7-6) and Baylor University (6-8) -- with a successful weekend.

On top of its significance for the SWC standings, though, this Owl-Aggie series has the added dimensions of controversy and history.

When Rice and Texas A&M squared off earlier in the season, a 6-2 Owl victory in the final game of the First Pitch Tournament, the Owls charged the Aggies with attempting to videotape Head Coach Wayne Graham's signals.

Later in the game, Texas A&M pitcher Chris Conrad threw two pitches dangerously close to Rice centerfielder Bubba Crosby's head, which prompted more accusations.

It will also be the final SWC regular-season encounter of any kind between the Western Athletic Conference-bound Owls and Big Eight-bound Aggies.

Rather than focusing on the pomp and circumstance, however, Rice is trying to concentrate on continuing the improvement that they have shown in the last two weeks and on catching up with the Aggies, who are ranked 23rd by USA Today/Baseball Weekly .

"Anytime you play a good conference opponent, you're going to be up, regardless," Graham said.

"We're more concerned with getting back into the race and playing good ball. We feel like Bubba Crosby was thrown at unnecessarily, but that's beside the point; we need to get our act together and play good baseball."

The players appear to be in the right frame of mind. "We hate the Aggies, and we're going to hate them as much as we did before," third baseman Jacques Landry said.

"It gives you a little extra incentive when they try to film your signs and they try to throw at a player, but we'll just have to put that behind us and beat the heck out of them like we want to."

The Owls look like they are overcoming the problems that plagued them in their SWC losing streak with TCU and Texas costing them their No. 9 national ranking.

Rice followed two wins in three games against then-second-ranked Texas Tech by sweeping a doubleheader last Saturday against Dallas Baptist University, formerly ranked first in the NAIA, and by taking two games from Southwest Texas State University on Tuesday.

As the reasons why the Owls have been improving, Graham singled out Shawn Onley's pitching and the skills of Stephen Bess and Matt Anderson, as well as the play of shortstop Joseph Cathey. Onley pitched Rice's first complete game of the season.

"The main key is the pitching," Graham said. "Onley and Bess have been pretty good, and so has Anderson. If they pitch well, we'll get enough out of the rest of the staff to do well.

"Joe Cathey is really doing a remarkable job -- he has come in and really stabilized the infield. He's a guy of high character and good skills, and we feel really comfortable with him out there."

Texas A&M enjoyed a top-20 national ranking earlier in the season but dropped out after being swept by Texas Tech and Dallas Baptist -- only to resurface this week, thanks to sweeping TCU.

The Aggies are an outstanding example of the good-hit, no-pitch teams that have populated the SWC in the last few seasons.

Their .331 batting average in SWC play ranks them first in the conference; their 7.90 earned-run average ranks them next-to-last.

Texas A&M, however, will send Shane King to the mound tonight -- he is the type of crafty left-handed pitcher who usually causes trouble for Rice.

"Their biggest question is pitching," Graham said. "I think we have more talented pitchers than they do. The teams are similar in some ways -- it's a pretty good matchup.

"The Aggies have a better record at this time, but these are two evenly matched teams."

This item appeared in the Sports section of the April 19, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.