Bruins swing with all their weight in Hawaii
Baseball puts out offensive strength in win over Rainbows
By Brian Purcell
Daily Bruin Contributor
The University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Stadium has traditionally
been known as a very tough place in which to play, and an
especially tough place in which to hit.
The UCLA baseball team, however, was able to ignore both the
screaming fans and the heavy air to take two out of three from the
Rainbows this weekend. And contrary to most schools that visit
Hawaii, they did it with the bat.
Sunday’s 11-6 win was typical of the offensive muscle shown by
the Bruins all weekend. They scored a total of 32 runs on 39 hits
during the three-game set, and it wasn’t all done by the usual
suspects. New heroes showed up every night.
Sunday night was the bottom of the lineup’s turn to steal the
spotlight. Sophomore first baseman Cass Olson, hitting in the
eighth spot in the order, hammered a two-run home run in the top of
the second inning to give the Bruins an early 4-1 lead.
Then, after Hawaii had recaptured a 5-4 lead in the bottom of
the fifth, Nick Theodorou came up with a three-run, pinch-hit
double in the next frame to put UCLA up, 7-5.
The Bruins’ lead was never really threatened again, as junior
lefthander Nick St. George came on and stymied the Rainbows with
four and one-third innings of one-run ball. The win evened St.
George’s record at 1-1, and lowered his ERA to a sparkling
1.93.
Pete Zamora started on the mound for UCLA, and though he pitched
well enough to strike out five Hawaii batters in his four and
two-thirds innings of work, he was hurt by two UCLA errors, and
came out of the game after allowing six hits and five runs, three
of them earned.
Only a tough 10-inning loss on Friday kept UCLA from gaining a
sweep over the Rainbows. In that game, the Bruins rallied for four
runs in the top of the ninth to take a 9-5 lead, but saw Hawaii
match their four in bottom of the inning, then score one in the
10th to seal the game.
The Bruins didn’t take long to dwell on the loss, as Saturday’s
easy 12-4 win eased the pain of the Friday night nailbiter. Olson
and sophomore shortstop Troy Glaus led Saturday’s onslaught with
three hits apiece, and senior Zak Ammirato continued his torrid
season by going 2-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI. Ammirato
went 5-for-12 over the weekend to raise his average to a
team-leading .469 (15-32).
Saturday also marked a breakout game for freshman pitcher Dan
Keller. He got his first collegiate win by throwing four and
two-thirds innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits.
***
The Hawaii series came on the heels of a two-game sweep by the
Bruins over Hawaii-Hilo, a team that wasn’t supposed to offer
nearly the challenge that the Rainbows would, but actually played
against the Bruins surprisingly well, losing 7-1 on Wednesday and
15-9 on Thursday. Winning pitchers for UCLA were Ryan O’Toole and
Kevin Sheredy, both now 1-0, and the hitting star was sophomore
second baseman Brett Nista, who was 3-for-4 with five RBI in
Thursday’s game.
The Hawaii series came on the heels of a two-game sweep by the
Bruins over Hawaii-Hilo.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Pete Zamora was 3-14 with four RBIs in Hawaii.
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