Wednesday, January 22, 1997
BASEBALL:
No. 2 UCLA has the talent to go to the College World SeriesBy
Kristina Wilcox
Daily Bruin Contributor
Led by experience and a well-rounded lineup, the UCLA baseball
team heads into the season ranked second nationally by Collegiate
Baseball.
"One of our strengths is experience," Coach Gary Adams said.
Adams is starting his 23rd season as the Bruin head coach, with
a 727-590-6 record. He is just 21 wins shy of becoming the
winningest coach in school history (the title currently held by Art
Reichle, who coached the team for 30 seasons).
"A lot of the guys have been around the block," Adams said.
"They know what the competition is like. We have a balanced team
with a good complement of pitching and hitting. We just need to get
better on defense."
Offense: The Bruins feature eight returning starters. Catcher
Tim DeCinces was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles last June,
accounting for the only vacancy left after last season.
Three of the eight returning players have earned All-Pac-10
first-team honors in the course of their UCLA careers.
Those three are juniors Eric Byrnes, Troy Glaus and Peter
Zamora. Combined with sophomore Eric Valent, the fearsome foursome
hit 42 home runs and drove in 191 runs last season. Redshirt junior
Nick Theodorou led the club last season with a .475 on-base
percentage, while senior Jon Heinrichs stole a team-high 21
bases.
Defense: The team is trying to improve on their sub-par
defensive performance last season, which accounted for an average
of 1.78 unearned runs per game. With the tremendously stiff
competition this season in the Pac-10, those two runs could make a
huge difference in the outcome of a game.
But things bode well for UCLA this time around. The entire
outfield of Heinrichs (left field), Valent (center field) and
Byrnes (right field) has returned for the 1997 campaign. Three
veterans will anchor the infield  Glaus (third base and
shortstop), Zamora (first base) and Chad Matoian (second base).
Pitching: In the words of Olympian Glaus, "pitching will dictate
the season." Luckily, the Bruins have tremendous depth in their
rotation and in the bullpen. There are 11 college-experienced
pitchers on the staff, eight of whom are UCLA veterans.
The top three win leaders from last season  juniors Jim
Parque and Zamora and sophomore Dan Keller  bring their 22-7
record from a year ago to the starting rotation. Redshirt sophomore
Tom Jacquez will finish out the rotation.
Closing the games will be the responsibility of redshirt junior
Jake Meyer.
"(I have) noticed a difference in aggressiveness, confidence and
enjoyment of pressure situations," Meyer said of having to adjust
from his middle relieving duties of a year ago.
The middle relief corps will be lead by the versatile senior
Nick St. George. He began last season in the bullpen but ended up
being the No. 2 starting pitcher at the end of the season. Joining
him in the bullpen are redshirt juniors Matt Klein, Ryan O’Toole,
John Phillips, junior Tony Righetti and true-freshman Al
Thielemann, to name a few.
Weaknesses: The infield holds the major questions in regards to
this team.
The departure of DeCinces to the Orioles left a void behind the
plate. Coach Adams started redshirt sophomore Jason Green at the
position for the alumni game, since he was the backup catcher last
season. The competition for the starting job includes senior Royce
Valent, redshirt juniors Casey Cloud and Mike Jaramillo, and true
freshman Brandon Rogers.
Along with catching, the left side of the infield is a big
question mark. There are five players competing for either third
base or shortstop.
Glaus, who played third base for the Olympic team, seems to be
best suited for that position on the UCLA squad because of his
imposing 6-foot-5-inch frame, a la San Diego Padre Ken Caminiti.
But he is talented enough to play either that or shortstop, and has
expressed indifference as to where Adams places him.
Junior Brett Nista, redshirt sophomores Jack Santora and Rob
Schult, and freshman Aldo Pinto are the other players in the
dogfight over the two positions.
Overall: With the logjam of talent at every position on the
field and a strong coaching staff consisting of Adams, hitting
coach Vince Beringhele and pitching guru Tim Leary (a former major
leaguer with the Los Angeles Dodgers), UCLA has tremendous
potential to reach the College World Series in June. A berth could
avenge their elimination by Miami last season, when they were only
one win away from earning a trip to Omaha.
The usual worries about injuries, the flu bug and cold streaks
are the only things that stand in their way.
"We will be very formidable this year," Meyer says. "The goal of
winning the national championship is on everyone’s mind."
AARON TOUT
Junior third baseman/shortstop Troy Glaus (l.) and junior
pitcher Jim Parque bring talent to the Bruins.