Baseball wins season-opening series
Bruins say ‘aloha’ to U. of Hawaii, win two of three
By Ruben Gutierrez
The UCLA baseball team returned from their season-opening
three-game series at the University of Hawaii with two victories
and one loss. In winning two games, the Bruins erased memories of
last season, when they dropped all three games in the series.
In the first contest on Friday, UCLA outscored Hawaii 5-1.
Hawaii opened the scoring in the first inning on a sacrifice fly.
The score remained 1-0 for the next four innings until a pivotal
sixth inning. Freshman third baseman Troy Glaus, one of the most
coveted recruits in the nation last year, proved his worth with a
grand slam in the top of the sixth. Junior outfielder Brett Schafer
was three for four at the plate for the Bruins, while senior
shortstop Gar Vallone went two for four.
The winning pitcher for the Bruins was junior Rick Heineman, who
gave up four hits in four innings. Jim Parque, also a member of
UCLA’s highly touted freshman class, started the game and pitched
three innings for the Bruins, giving up two hits and one run in the
process.
* * *
Saturday’s second game saw the two squads embroiled in an
intense extra-innings struggle from which Hawaii emerged victorious
9-8.
The game was tied 4-4 after the first six innings of play before
both teams exploded offensively in the final three innings. Hawaii
went on to score in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the
game 5-4. UCLA answered with a three-run rally in the eighth inning
to take the lead 7-5. Hawaii responded to the Bruin eruption with
single runs in the eighth and the ninth innings, leaving the game
tied 7-7 after regulation. The Bruins opened the extra-innings
scoring with a run in the tenth inning to take their final lead
8-7.
Hawaii also scored, forcing the game to proceed to the eleventh
inning, which was scoreless, and the two teams began the twelfth
and final inning tied 8-8. After a scoreless top half of the inning
for UCLA, Hawaii loaded the bases and scored with one out to win
9-8.
The victory was a milestone for Rainbow coach Les Murakami, who
posted his 900th win in a 25-year career.
Freshman Peter Zamora, also the starting first baseman for the
Bruins, was the losing pitcher after after being knocked out in the
second inning. UCLA utilized four pitchers throughout the game,
with sophomore starter Ryan Lynch giving up four hits and two runs
in four innings of play. More notably, however, Lynch struck out
five Hawaii batters to lead all Bruin pitchers.
Senior transfer Mike Seal was four for six at the plate while
Zamora went three for five. Catcher Tim DeCinces hit two doubles
for UCLA.
* * *
In Sunday’s finale UCLA pummeled the Rainbows 9-2, with six
different Bruins driving in runs. The winning pitcher for UCLA was
senior Mike Caravelli, who gave up five hits and no runs in over
four innings. Vallone was a perfect three for three at the plate
and scored twice, while four other Bruins had two hits.
The game was tied 3-3 after the third inning and remained tied
until UCLA plated seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings.