The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 25

Sunday, April 11, 1993 ODESSA AMERICAN -i i i 3 Baseball 5 i 1 1 fa Amusements 5 i Business 8 SpoplsVisw Lmws Mm )(D mi WMMppiinuiiiMmn 1 JMUigiimni iw.wwiimiihi 'iiw jiu mm High winds make 4-shot edge huge Ed Stert LEADER BOARD Leaders after Saturday's third round of the 1993 Masters golf championship. Bernhard Langer 68-70-69207 Chip Beck 72-67-72-211 Dan Forsman, 69-69-73211 Lanny Wadkins 69-72-71-212 Steve Elkington 71-70-71-212 Russ Cochran 70-69-73212 Jeff 70-67-75-212 Fuzzy Zoeller 75-67-71-213 Greg 74-68-71213 Brad Faxon 71-70-72-213 Ray Floyd 68-71-74-213 Andrew Magee 75-69-70214 Jeff Sluman 71-72-71-214 Scott 72-71-71-214 John Howard Twitty Brett Ogle 70-74-71-215 Sandy Lyle 73-71-71-215 Seve Ballesteros 74-70-71215 Tom 67-75-73215 Corey Pavin 67-75-73-215 Mark Calcavecchia Larry Mize 67-74-74-215 "In '85, 1 had to go for everything. This is a little bit easier," he said. "I can afford to play less aggressive, hit shots to the middle of the greens and be happy with pars." The forecast indicates he's absolutely right. The winds are expected to be at about the same strength for the final round today.

And, with four shots in hand, Langer can afford the conservative approach that plays to his strength. It takes the pressure off his suspect putting and lessens the impact of the fact that he has not broken par in a Masters final round since his victory in 85. Under the forecast conditions, it may not be necessary for him to break par. Consider the way the leaders handled the final few holes in the third round. Langer played the last four one over par.

And he doubled his lead. "It was so hard," said Dan Forsman, tied for second with Chip Beck at 211. "There's no real way to explain it. It can make you want to run away and hide." Please see LANGER5D By Bob Green The Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. Whipping winds frustrated the world's finest golfers Saturday at the Masters, Everyone, that is, but Bernhard Langer.

The German with the peculiar putting style shot a three-under 69 one of only two sub-70 scores to take a 4-shot lead into the final round at Augusta National. Langer, with perhaps the most suspect nerves in the elite, international field, handled the conditions and the pressures better than anyone else. He carefully, calmly and craftily overcame the gusty, 25 mph winds and set himself up as the man to catch with a 54-hole total of 207. "I'd rather have a four-shot lead than be two behind," Langer said in his monotone, matter-of-fact manner of speaking. Langer referred to 1985, when he had to come from two behind to score his first Masters triumph.

3 Angels Stadium takes its toll AP Userphoto matter how good the prospect or Bernhard Langer gets a kick out cf this birdie putt on the eighth hole Saturday. BIN how well the Midland Angels play during spring training. Angels Sta- ATTRACTIONS Juco all-stars pull in coaches; USA defeats Texas, 121-96 By Garry Leavell The American MIDLAND The eighth annual Texas-USA All-Star Game at Chaparral Center was supposed to showcase the -nation's best junior college basketball talent. But as is usually the case, the real stars were the Division I coaches in the stands. And, like the sleepy crowd of about 500, they were far more interested in the players' abilities than the game's end result.

Palmeiro delivers victory for Angels By Garry Leavell The American MIDLAND If you had seen Orlando Palmeiro's first at-bat Saturday night, you would have played him to hit to the opposite field, too. In the first inning, the Midland center fielder was having trouble getting around against San Antonio southpaw Ben VanRyn. The left-handed hitting Palmeiro eventually worked the count full and delivered a fisted single over the shortstop's head but the Missions had clearly established where to pitch the Angels' leadoff man. Imagine their surprise then when Palmeiro yanked the first pitch he saw from reliever Isidro Marquez into a cavernous opening down the right-field line for a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the ninth as Midland rallied for a 4-3 victory before 4,293 fans at Angels Stadium. The clutch hit evened both teams' records at 1-1 on the young season and kept the Angels from crying over wasted opportunities in the seventh and eighth when they netted only one run despite serious threats in both frames.

Palmeiro fanned to open the eighth and wasn't sure he would get up again. "I definitely wanted another chance at the plate," he said. "I'm not feeling too comfortable at the plate. I guess it's the park. I'm thinking home run and I need to remember what my job is.

Hopefully, in a couple of days I'll get in a groove. That last time, (hitting coach) Nate (Oliver) told me to hit the ball down and I hit a line drive." Palmeiro's rip came after Chris Pritchett and Jorge Fabregas had singled and Missions second baseman Garey Ingram had booted a Please see ANGELS3D For the record, the outcome was USA 121, Texas 96. The victory was only the second in the game's history for the USA team and it was only the second time in the series that a team had failed to score at least 100 points. Midland College coach Steve Green, All-Stap scores Hera are the scores from all eight Texas vs. USA All-Star Games: 1986 Texas 11 3, USA 102 1987 Texas 111, USA 101 1988 Texas 123, USA 112 1989 Texas 110, USA 90 1990 USA 11 5, Texas 102 1991 Texas 126, USA 103 1992 Tex 115.

US A 103 1993 USA 121, Texas 96 uium seems iu nave a way ui bringing the Halos rudely back to earth. When opening day starter John Fritz was introduced as "minor league base- ball's only 20-game winner in 1992" before Friday's Texas League opener with the San Antonio Missions you could almost feel the already stiff breeze blowing straight out to center field pick up velocity. Sure enough, Fritz was blitzed for four first-inning runs, including a home run by the Missions' Billy Lott. Fritz gave up seven hits (four went for extra bases) and seven runs (six earned) in 5'3 innings, making his opening Double-A ERA a stout 10.12. But if Fritz was proud of his 1992 totals of 20 wins and 4 losses, he shouldn't despair if he gets rocked a few times in this opening 10-game homestand in an unforgiving, blustery, short-fenced park.

Of Midland's current five starters, only Erik Bennett, who started seven games for the Angels after a late-season 1992 call-up, has any experience at Angels Stadium. Despite a respectable 3.91 ERA and giving up 16 walks in 46 innings pitched, Bennett was 1-3 in his seven starts. Before Friday's opening game, he said the secret to pitching in Midland is to concentrate on some specific goals. "I try not to get into the numbers, I just try to stay ahead of the hitters," Bennett said. "Especially pitching here, because the field doesn't allow you to put up great numbers." Well, it all depends on how you define "great." But using Bennett's scale, Fritz's outing doesn't look as bad as at first glance.

Fritz was ahead or even on the counts of 60 percent (15 of 25) of the batters he faced when they completed their turn at the plate Friday. As an example of a pitcher who learned to deal with Angels Stadium, Midland manager Don Long points to Steve Peck, who was 8-6 in 1992 with a 3.96 ERA without a great fastball and is at Triple-A Vancouver this year. "In terms of overpowering stuff, (Peck) didn't have it," Long said. "But in terms of knowing how to pitch, location and pitch selection, he knew how to stay out of trouble." John Jackson, the returning Angel who also played as a wide receiver for the NFL's Phoenix Cardinals last season, doesn't hide his displeasure at not being promoted to Vancouver. "I can't say I'm happy with the situation but I've got to make the most of it.

Hopefully, things will work out and I can play well and make the next jump. I think I should move up and if that happens, great. If not, then I have to do what's best for John Jackson." Jackson hit .291 for Midland last year, but only played in 40 games because he left the team for a pair of Cardinals mini-camps before leaving the Angels for good when NFL pre-season training camps opened in July. In three minor-league seasons, Jackson has only played a total of 80 games. "The lack of games I've played, I guess that's what (California's) worried most about." I guess.

Batting third in Friday's opener, Jackson was one of only two Angels to go hitless in a 12-11 loss to the Missions, although he drove in a run with a ground out and scored after ucing Iili wiili a plicii. Monty Hoppcl, Angels general manager, is confident his club in the country's smallest Double-A market can break the 200,000 attendance barrier this season with a little cooperation from Mother Nature. "We've never started strong (drawing crowds) and if we can have a good start and avoid the rain, I think 200,000 would be manageable." Four rainouts that couldn't be made up last season left the Angels knocking at the doqr of 200,000 with a total attendance figure of 195,626. The Odessa American: John Faught Johnny Tyson of Trinity Valley slam dunks for the Texas team and the NCAA Division I coaches attending the game during first-half action Saturday. ably interested in is Jerome Sweeting, who represented Odessa College because he was the only regular out of the Wranglers' limited pool of sophomore talent this past season.

member of the 10-man roster fired up at least one 3-point attempt and the Texans attempted 35 in all, hitting 13. "You're just out there to have fun," Howard forward Mark Davis said. "That's what it's all about." Watching the mirth was a small army of head coaches that included Bob Huggins of Cincinnati, Wake Forest's Dave Odom, Nevada's Pat Foster, Tom Penders of Texas, new Houston coach Alvin Brooks, Tim Floyd of New Orleans and Long Beach State's Seth Greenberg. The one player none of them is prob- who replaced Howard College's Jeff Kidder when Kidder resigned earlier in the week to become an assistant at Nevada, remains the only Texas coach ever to lose the game. He was also the coach in 1990 when the USA beat Texas 115-102.

But Green is to be commended because even though his players lost by 25 points, they may have had more fun. Every But in keeping with the game's any-thing-goes style, even Sweeting had his brief moment in the spotlight, sinking a 3-pointer with just under 10 minutes to play for his only points of the game. Sweeting did not attempt a 3-pointer in 36 games with the Wranglers this season. Please see ALL-STARS5D Permian rights ship with 13-6 win over Eagles i 'l i j-" WIIIIBII Mllflll I 'I 1' We're usually a good defensive ballclub, but when we get the bats going like we did today, there's no problem." It was a key win for the Panthers, who will send ace Donnie Bivins to the mound Tuesday to face Midland at Angels Stadium. Normally, Bivins would have gotten the start against Abilene.

But Bivins threw in excess of 125 pitches against Central, and Highley wanted to work Popejoy, who is recovering from an offseason arm Injury, back into the rotation. It proved to be the right move. Popejoy wasn't overpowering he gave up eigty hits, six runs and five walks but he was effective. He struck out six Eagle batters and didn't allow more than two runs in any one inning. "Craig came in and threw a real good ball game," Highley said.

"I pulled him at 100 pitches because his arm is worth more to us than anything." Home field advantage took on added meaning for Permian in the bottom of the first. Panther batters took target practice on the left side of the Abilene infield, and Please see PERMIAN21) By Sean McAfee The American The slump has been dumped. Permian's baseball team atoned for a pair of close losses and climbed back into the District 4-5A playoff picture by pounding Abilene, 13-6, Saturday afternoon at McCanlies Field. The Panthers, who had dropped an extra-inning game to San Angclo Central last Saturday, and then were upset by Odessa High on Tuesday, pounded out 15 hits and played solid defense in support of starter Craig Popejoy, who went 5Vi innings in his first district start to record the win. Center fielder Mack Cohlmia led the offensive charge for Permian (8-10 overall, 4-4 in 4-5A), going 4 for 5 at the plate, scoring three runs and driving in three more.

"This didn't look like the same team," said Panthers' coach Bob Highlcy, who saw his team more than- double its hit total from Tuesday's Odessa game. "They came in looking to do what (hey had to do there was no let down. The Odessa American: John Faught Permian second baseman Boel Cadena gets the lowdown on Abilene's Ronald Haynes, tagging him out on a steal attempt Saturday..