Tuesday, May 21, 1996
Baseball gives up 22 runs in exhibitionBy Yoni Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
It didn’t mean anything, neither for records nor for statistics,
but a UCLA baseball game was in fact played Monday at Jackie
Robinson Stadium against the Korean National team, with the Koreans
prevailing, 22-1.
The score might have been even more one-sided had the game not
been called after the seventh inning.
"That’s a pretty damn good team," UCLA batting coach Vince
Beringhele said of the visitors. "That’s an Olympic team, and those
guys have been playing for a while. But this was really a work day
for us, it wasn’t a game of competition."
The contest served as the final home practice for the Bruins,
who depart today at noon for the Central I Regional Playoffs in
Austin, Tx. USC coaching legend Rod Dedeaux arranged the game as
part of a Southern California tour for the Asian visitors, who also
whacked Dedeaux’s Trojans in a 13-2 rout on Sunday.
The two teams swapped gifts in a pre-game diplomatic exchange,
but after the first pitch was thrown the Korea began to overextend
its welcome.
UCLA sent one pitcher after another to the mound, only to get
shelled back to the dugout. Korea greeted six UCLA pitchers with a
total of 22 hits, shutting the opposing team out in just two
frames.
The Koreans, making a clear distinction between the college
level and the Olympic level, were equally overwhelming on defense.
The Bruins struck out 10 times and managed but a pair of hits
against the Olympics-bound squad, one of them coming on Zak
Ammirato’s solo home run in the first inning.
"We wanted our guys to get their cuts in," said Beringhele of
his free-swinging lineup. "We saw some good pitchers and that will
get us tuned up. It’s good to see that type of pitching. They swung
the bat very well, they play defense, and they have good, live arms
on the mound."
Although the final result was anything but encouraging heading
into the NCAA Regionals, according to Beringhele, it was not UCLA’s
intention to treat the game like any other. Everyone on the team
got considerable playing time, and the coaches got to look at
pitching one last time before the playoffs begin.
"We had this game scheduled and we couldn’t have a practice,"
Beringhele said, "so we wanted to get a good work out in, and we
got one."