University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Things Can Only Be Every athlete probably remembers at least one disap- pointing game he wanted to forget the minute it was over. The Longhorns baseball team had an entire season full of upsetting games to forget. After a 34-game win- ning streak in 1977, the only happy thought at the end of the ' Horns ' 1978 season was that things could only get better for the team next year. The men were unable to sweep even one Southwest Conference team. The ' Horns ' fifth-place finish in the SWC kept them from getting the chance to redeem themselves in the South- west Conference post-season baseball tournament. Inexperience, injuries and lack of power hitting plagued the ' Horns throughout their season. Andre Robertson and Kern Wright were the only starters who returned from last year ' s squad. Injuries slowed down pitchers Kern and Ricky Wright and shortstop Ronnie Gardenhire. The ' Horns had a .21 1 team batting average in conference play, seventh in the SWC. Head Coach Cliff Gustafson said that the one good thing about hit- ting .21 1 was that you can ' t go down much more. Continued Andre Robertson watches as a pilch apparently crosses the strike zone. I Burton Burrows moves backwards as a pitch seemingly comes close to hitting him during the first game of a doubleheader against Baylor. 140 Baseball

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1 0 The men ' s tennis team effectively courted victory by concentrating on defeating opponents. Ail-American Gary Plock and Kevin Curren helped lead the ' Horns to a 7-2 victory over The University of Oklahoma. Plock defeated John Staub 6-3, 6-3, and Cur- ren took care of Brian Crozier 6-3, 6-3. Oklahoma City University ' s Nick Mohtadi probably felt like going home for a long practice session after he lost to Curren 6-0, 6-0. Curren ' s win helpe d the ' Horns beat OCU 6-3. Injuries did not stop the ' Horns from winning the Austin Westwood Tournament. Curren sprained his ankle, and Plock hurt his shoulder, but the team managed to squeeze past SMU by one point to win the tournament. Steve Denton and Brad Nabors saved the ' Horns from defeat by winning their doubles match against Rice ' s Jay Evert and Bob Paulsen. The ' Horns finished second at the Cajun Tennis Classic in Lafayette, La. Plock lost to 1977 Wimbledon finalist and Stanford team member John McEnroe in the first tennis match in the Special Events Center. The Cardinals defeated Texas 7-2. Although the team ' s chances for victory ended when Nabors lost in the quarterfinals at the Texas Sectionals tennis tournament, Head Tennis Coach Dave Snyder saved the ' Horns from complete defeat. Snyder and his son Dave captured the father-son doubles cham- pionship. If the ' Horns maintain their winning ways next year, fans should enjoy some exciting matches. Against OU. this UT player shows determination in returning a shot. During warm-ups of the OU-UT match which Texas eventually won 7-2 in Austin, these players exchange practice shots. f

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Better Next Season One of UT ' s catchers. Kevin Shannon, tags out a Baylor haserunner attempting to cross homeplate Baseball 141