Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

4-16-89 . . . Unbelievable! The Texas A & M Aggies swept a doubleheader from the hated Texas Longhorns this afternoon, and the way they did it defies imagination. In the first game, part of which I watched on television and part of which I heard on the radio as I rode my bike, the Aggies entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing the Longhorns, 14-9. It looked hopeless. But they scrapped for several runs to tie it; then John Byington stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Texas brought in its star pitcher, Kirk Dressendorfer, who shut the powerful Aggie offense down yesterday. The tension mounted. A walk or wild pitch would end it. But no! Byington drove Dressendorfer’s first pitch over the fence for a grand-slam home run, giving the Aggies a miraculous 18-14 victory. I screamed and raised my arm in salute, which must have made pas­sing motorists wonder what was going on. As if this weren’t enough, the Aggies entered the bottom of the ninth of the second game (which I watched) tied with the Longhorns, 5-5. Again John Byington came to the plate, and again—!!!—he hit the first pitch over the fence for a home run, this time with two runners on base. The Aggies won, 8-5. So, after losing yesterday, Texas A & M swept a doubleheader from its archrival to the west, winning both games in their last at bat and improving their season record to 42-2. That pretty much eliminates Texas from the Southwest Conference race, for one of the few times in conference history. I’m still shaking my head about today’s games. Absolute­ly amazing. [One of Byington’s teammates was Chuck Knoblauch, who went on to have a successful Major League career. Byington played seven seasons in the minor leagues but never made it to the majors.]