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Tuesday, October 23, 1996
PECOS, Oct. 23 -- The Pecos Eagles' cross country team will be seeking
its first regional berth in three years on Saturday, when they compete
in the District 4-4A meet in Big Spring.
"It should be a competitive meet," said coach Brannon Jackson, who added
the top two teams and the top five individuals will advance to regional
competition on Nov. 2 in Lubbock.
"We've had excellent workouts in practice this week, even with the cold
weather, so I'm looking forward to having a chance to go to regionals,"
he said.
"Lake View looks like they should do pretty well, so Andrews and Fort
Stockton should be our main competition," for the second regional berth
behind the Chiefs, Jackson said. Pecos edged out Lake View in 1993 for
regionals, but have missed out the past two seasons, due in part to a
shortage of runners.
"We'll have a full team competing at the district meet," said Jackson,
who hopes senior Mauricio Villescas can take home top honors
individually.
"Justin Haby from Lake View and (Jason) Sanderson from Big Spring should
be his main competition," he said. Sanderson won last month at home in
the Big Spring Invitational, while Haby and Villescas have split their
two meetings so far this season.
Jackson is also hoping for a big day from Billy Rodriguez, who missed
out on his chance at a regional berth in the 800 meters last spring due
to injury. Rodriguez didn't run the three-mile cross country course in
Big Spring last month, but the Eagles' coach said, "Billy's times have
been good. He hasn't had any competition yet, but it looks like he's
getting stronger each time, so I'm expecting him to pick up the pace on
Saturday."
Along with Villescas and Rodriguez, Jackson said Jose Perez, Jesus
Garcia, Louis Sanchez, Oscar Medrano and Dennis Harris would also
participate, and he was hoping that freshman Len Carson would also be on
the team at Big Spring.
Although the Big Spring area does have its share of mesas, Jackson said
the course is similar to the Pecos area. "It's very flat, which is an
asset for our runners. Plus, they've run there once before this season,
so they know what to expect."
PECOS, Oct. 23 -- Having the final bye date of the 1996 volleyball
season meant the Pecos Eagles didn't have to worry about a conflict with
statewide TAAS testing on Tuesday. But it also meant they'll have to
wait two more days before finding out if they've clinched a Class 4A
playoff berth.
The third place Eagles can clinch the final District 4-4A berth if
Andrews can win at Fort Stockton, in a game pushed back from Tuesday to
Thursday due to the test date. If the Prowlers pull out a win, Pecos can
still earn their first post-season trip in four years with a victory at
home on Saturday in their final regular season game, against San Angelo
Lake View, or by a Sweetwater win at home over Fort Stockton.
The Eagles are 5-4 in district, 13-15 overall after winning their last
three matches, including a win on Oct. 15 at Fort Stockton and a 6-15,
15-2, 15-11 win at home this past Saturday over Big Spring, which is
tied with the Prowlers for fourth place, 1½ games behind Pecos.
Big Spring faces Lake View on Thursday and closes their season at
Andrews. The Mustangs are 6-2 in district and are still seeking to catch
first place Lake View, which is 7-1 on the season.
In case you decided to do something else Tuesday night, and who could
blame you after a pair of horrific evenings in the Bronx, listen up.
The World Series is worth watching again.
New York won its sixth straight postseason road game, 5-2 over Atlanta,
trimming its deficit in the best-of-7 series.
Suddenly, everything about this Series seems different.
``Everyone was talking about how great the Braves were, where their
place in history was,'' said David Cone, who allowed one run in six
innings to win Game 3. ``Well, if we get one more win, the series goes
back to New York. That's interesting.''
Twenty-four hours earlier, the Yankees appeared ready to begin their
offseasons prematurely. They couldn't do anything offensively in the
first two games against John Smoltz and Greg Maddux. Their starting
pitchers didn't deliver and they seemed anxious to flee New York, where
the fans were getting restless.
But with Cone leading the way and Bernie Williams returning to his
October form with a two-run homer and three RBIs after disappearing for
two nights, the Yankees again are strutting with the same confidence
they showed in making short work of the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.
One win was all it took. One more and it's a best-of-3.
``Ielieve with one win that the whole mood and momentum changes,'' New
York manager Joe Torre said. ``Maybe getting away from home is the
blessing. We've played unbelievably well on the road all season.''
The Yankees have another thing going for them tonight as well. For the
first time, they won't be facing a pitcher named Smoltz, Maddux or Tom
Glavine. Left-hander Denny Neagle is no walk-over, but his name doesn't
bring a chill to the spine.
New York will counter with lefty Kenny Rogers, who was only granted a
start in the series when Game 1 was postponed by rain.
``I think they're still going to be the same Yankees we've seen this
series,'' Neagle said before Game 3. ``They'll try to come out and score
early. In the first two games, we got the lead, and that makes a
difference.''
The Yankees learned that lesson in falling behind 2-0 in the series.
Atlanta jumped to an early lead in both of those games by manufacturing
a run with positional baseball: Get a man on, move him over and get him
in.
Tim Raines walked leading off the first and Derek Jeter followed with a
well-placed sacrifice bunt. Williams, hitless in Games 1 and 2, then
lined a 1-2 pitch from Glavine to center, bringing in Raines.
The Yankees had one run, and it felt like five.
``That was very important, because of the fact that we haven't been able
to score a lot of runs lately,'' Williams said, ``especially playing on
the road with this crowd. It's very important just to score the first
run and just get going from there.''
New York added a run in the fourth when Darryl Strawberry, back in the
lineup after sitting out a game to rest his broken toe, singled home
Williams.
Meanwhile, Cone was making it very tough on the Braves. Helped by some
solid defense from catcher Joe Girardi and first baseman Cecil Fielder,
the right-hander went into the sixth inning with a two-run lead before
giving up a run by walking Ryan Klesko with the bases loaded.
Torre had already been out to visit Cone once in the inning, and the
right-hander convinced his manager to leave him in. With Javy Lopez
coming up, Torre never left the bench, putting the game in Cone's hands.
Cone got Lopez to foul out to Girardi, and for the first time in the
series, Torre was able to call on his bullpen with a lead -- something
he had pointed to as the key to the series.
``The courage he showed in the sixth, well, that's David Cone's heart,''
said John Wetteland, who pitched the ninth for a save. ``He really
exhibited everything he's about right there.''
Cone's effort was just his latest in a remarkable comeback since missing
four months after surgery to repair an aneurysm in his right shoulder.
``It's mind boggling,'' Cone said. ``It's tough for me to put in
perspective when I was lying in the hospital bed, I heard the word
`aneurysm' and didn't even know what it meant, so the World Series was
the furthest thing from my mind. I wish I was eloquent enough to tell
you how I feel. Suffice it to say, I never expected to be here, and I
feel pretty lucky.''
(Copyright 1996 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times
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