Baseball bitten by Lions in 8-3 loss
By Ruben Gutierrez
One full, quick swing of the bat and there goes the
afternoon.
After a game which crawled along inauspiciously, with Loyola
Marymount building a 4-1 lead on single runs, a three-run blast in
the sixth inning by Lion centerfielder Mark Peters effectively
sealed the fate of the UCLA baseball team yesterday, putting LMU up
7-1.
The Bruins rallied late, adding two more runs, but the Lions
added one of their own to prevail 8-3.
Loyola started off early with pitcher Andy Collett dominating
the game. Collett, returning to action after rehabilitating an
injury, allowed only two singles before being pulled after five
innings. Conversely, the Loyola offense racked up eight hits and
took advantage of walks and other opportune scoring chances to
slowly build a 3-1 lead off of UCLA starter Jeff Howatt.
"We got a couple of guys on there, but we never got a hit in the
clutch," UCLA head coach Gary Adams said. "It seems like every time
they’d get a guy in scoring position, they’d get a ground ball
base-hit through. That was what accounted for the first three
runs."
Pitcher John Phillips was inserted for Howatt in the sixth
inning. Phillips began the inning by walking the first batter and
allowed one run to score. Then, with two outs and two men on base,
Peters hit the Bruins with a solar-plexus blow. Phillips was pulled
after hitting the next Lion batter with a pitch.
"Right now John is struggling and he knows it," Adams said. "I
know he’s frustrated right now.
"He’s just got to keep working and get back in the groove where
we know he can pitch. It’s a shame because he is so much better
than that."
Offensively for UCLA, catcher Tim DeCinces raised his average by
going two-for-four with a double and a single. UCLA nearly got back
into the game in the seventh and eighth innings with timely hits by
pinch hitters Travis Boyd, Nick Theodorou and Brett Nista. It was
too little, too late for UCLA, though, as LMU closer Jeff Cecchin
picked up the save by retiring the Bruin batters in order in the
ninth inning.