Tuesday, January 28, 1997
Five Bruins among top pro prospects
In this week’s issue of Baseball America, UCLA baseball players
and recruits are rated quite highly.
In the list of colleges’ top 100 pro prospects, four current
players are listed. Olympian third baseman/shortstop Troy Glaus is
the fourth-highest professional prospect, starting pitcher and
fellow Olympian Jim Parque is 17th, right fielder Eric Byrnes is
29th, and first baseman/pitcher Peter Zamora is 66th. However,
Zamora is out with a pulled muscle suffered during batting practice
prior to the Alumni Game.
In Baseball America’s list of 1998 pro prospects, the seventh
spot goes to sophomore centerfielder Eric Valent.
Top pitcher to join Bruins next year
The Bruins have received a letter of intent from Chris Cislak.
The high school student from Arizona is regarded as one of the top
prep pitchers in the nation. If he doesn’t sign professionally and
does attend UCLA, he will be the first out-of-state scholarship
player in head coach Gary Adams’ 22 -year tenure in Westwood.
Cislak is a hard-throwing right-hander at Sabino High School in
Tucson. He is expected to have an immediate impact on the pitching
staff upon his arrival next season.
Trojans picked to win division
Ho-hum. That cross-town team must be pretty good, since for the
third time in the last four seasons, conference coaches chose USC
as the preseason favorite to win the Pacific 10 Southern Division
baseball crown. UCLA and Stanford tied for second place, even
though the Bruins earned the most first-place votes.
Record-setting day in Honolulu
The Bruins’ 23-11 victory over the Hawaii Rainbows Thursday tied
the record for most runs scored off UH pitchers. In March of 1975,
Oklahoma beat Hawaii, 23-6.
UCLA hits lucky sevens in Hawaii
Seven was a truly lucky number this weekend. Glaus hit .583 in
the three games against Hawaii, going 7-for-12 at the plate and
garnering a 1.333 slugging percentage. Valent also got 7 hits, in
12 at-bats, while Byrnes was 7-for-15.
Baseball notes compiled by Kristina Wilcox, Daily Bruin
Contributor.