Tuesday, 4/22/97 Toreros hope to take advantage of weaknesses in
Bruins’ season UCLA’s first-place tie in Six-Pac offset by string
of losses in non-conference play
By Sierra Roberts Daily Bruin Contributor When the UCLA baseball
team takes the field tonight against the University of San Diego,
the Bruins will be looking to continue a roll that started two
weekends ago. UCLA is coming off an important weekend, where they
took two-out-of-three games in Palo Alto, and in the process tied
Stanford for first place in the Six-Pac. The week before, the
Bruins scored 37 runs in a three-game sweep of Arizona. But that
was all in conference play. In non-conference action the Bruins
have struggled. UCLA (34-11-1) has lost two in a row to
non-conference foes – including a 14-3 loss to Long Beach State
April 8 – and have lost three of their last four Tuesday night
games. The Toreros (21-17-2) are hoping that trend will continue
for at least one more week. It will be the second meeting between
these two teams this season. UCLA emerged with a 7-1 victory in the
first game, Feb. 11 in San Diego. Starting pitcher for the Bruins
will be freshman Gabe Crecion (0-1). Crecion comes to the game with
an 3.68 ERA. Many Bruins will be looking to add to their current
stats. Troy Glaus, who tied the UCLA career home run mark with his
51st on Saturday, has 23 longballs this season alone – only six
behind the school title held by Jim Auten (1979) and Paul Ellis
(1990). Leadoff hitter Jon Heinrichs will be looking to improve
upon his 20 home runs this season. He also brings to the plate a
.365 batting average and 54 RBIs. Rightfielder Eric Byrnes leads
the Bruins in stolen bases with 14 so far this season. Leading
hitters for the Toreros are Brian Mazone, who has a season .368
batting average, and Tony Betancourt (.272). Each have hit four
home runs and have 26 RBIs so far this season. CHARLES KUO/Daily
Bruin Left fielder Jon Heinrichs and the Bruins host the Toreros
tonight at 6 p.m. Rightfielder Eric Byrnes leads the Bruins in
stolen bases with 14 so far this season.