Monday, 4/14/97
Wildcats battered into ground in three-game sweep
Strong hitting, pitching allowed UCLA to revenge prior
losses
By Sierra Roberts and Kristina Wilcox
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Bruins’ offense exploded with a 13-3 win to wrap up a
three-game series sweep over the University of Arizona in front of
1,233 fans at Jackie Robinson Stadium Sunday.
UCLA (32-10-1, 12-6) managed to maintain a big lead over the
Wildcats (29-19, 11-10) in the teams’ second confrontation of the
season. In March, Arizona took two of the three games.
But, this time UCLA dominated the series, with an 11-3 win on
Friday and a 13-6 victory Saturday, in addition to Sunday’s win in
the finale.
"We swung the bats very well this weekend, the guys were really
focused," Bruin hitting coach Vince Beringhele said. "We played
poorly against this club in Tuscon, and we knew we wanted to get
back in the race for the title. And in order to do that, we knew we
had to play well this weekend, and that’s what we did."
The UCLA bats were extremely consistent on Sunday, as they
scored at least one run in every inning but the fifth.
Leading the Bruin offense was rightfielder and co-MVP of the
game, Eric Byrnes, who went 4-for-6, scoring two runs and 2
RBIs.
In addition, Troy Glaus hit his 21st home run of the season,
while Jon Heinrichs hit is 19th.
"We stressed positive attitudes this whole week, no negative
thoughts were allowed to enter the mind," UCLA head coach Gary
Adams said. "We took Arizona more seriously this time."
Starting pitcher Peter Zamora was able to continue the
weekend-long trend of strong pitching for the Bruins. He stayed on
the mound for 8 2/3 innings, scattering nine hits and three
runs.
"I got ahead of them," Zamora said. "I didn’t care how big they
were or what kind of numbers they had. I just threw strikes, and
they had trouble hitting them."
Zamora was also able to extend his hitting streak to 17 games,
as he went 2-for-4, scored one run and had two RBIs.
He got a little extra motivation from a newspaper article that
appeared in (an Arizona) paper following a sub-par performance in
the teams’ earlier meeting in Tucson. There were some deriding
quotes from the Wildcat players, prompting Zamora to display the
article in his room as an extra incentive.
"There was no way I was going to let them talk like that and let
them get away with it," Zamora said. "So it was a motivating factor
and it really helped me in the game."
While Jim Parque didn’t have any special motivation, he was just
as effective on Friday.
Parque (2.54 ERA) became the first pitcher in the country to
reach 11 wins this season in the Bruins’ 11-3 victory. Throwing his
second complete game of the season, he struck out nine and allowed
only three runs on four hits.
Offensively, Byrnes went 3-for-3 and scored two runs. Nick
Theodorou added a 4-for-5 performance with two RBIs and one run
scored.
Saturday, the Bruins hit four home runs en route to their 13-6
win.
Earning the win, Tom Jacquez worked eight innings on the mound
for UCLA. He struck out eight, while allowing six runs and six
hits.
* * *
The Jackie Robinson Day festivities were held before Sunday’s
game to commemorate the50th anniversary of Robinson’s debut with
the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
There were two speakers who participated in the special
ceremony. Hoyt Pardee, the former UCLA classmate of Robinson whose
donation made the building of the Jackie Robinson Memorial Stadium
possible, spoke briefly about the specialness of the day.
"It is fitting that we honor Jackie Robinson today on the UCLA
campus where he started his career to become the greatest athlete
in UCLA history and our only four-sport letterman," Pardee
said.
The other speaker was Sammie Haynes, who was Robinson’s roommate
while the two played with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro
Leagues. More recently he founded the International Society of
Athletes, which is an organization that assists impoverished
ex-athletes. He was also a special guest of President Bill Clinton
at the White House.
"It was such a pleasure to play, room and be with a man of the
caliber of Jackie Robinson," Haynes said. "Not only was Jackie
Robinson one of the greatest all-around athletes of all time, but
he was a great gentleman, a great man. He turned out to be a great
husband and a great father, but the main thing about Jackie
Robinson is that he played with his heart."
Both men later threw out ceremonial first pitches.
Positive Steps, a dance group composed of African-American
women, performed a number that had a boxing theme, complete with
boxing gloves and trunks.
After the dancing, African-American inner-city children from the
Harvard Park Recreation Center took the field with the UCLA
baseball players and stood with them during the playing of the
national anthem.
* * *
Nick Theodorou was cleared to play this weekend after seeing the
doctor about the circulation problem in his left index finger. He
went 6-for-14 in the series with three RBIs.
While the Bruins were busy sweeping Arizona this weekend,
first-place Stanford got swept by Arizona State. As a result, the
Bruins are only one game behind the Cardinal (13-5 in league play)
in the Six-Pac standings.
UCLA and Stanford will hook up for a three-game series in Palo
Alto this weekend, and will conclude the conference season with a
three-game set at Jackie Robinson Stadium May 9-11.UCLA 13,
Arizona 3
PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin
Jim Parque became the first pitcher to win 11 games this
season.