Friday, 5/30/97 Hurricane warning BASEBALL: UCLA opens the
College World Series vs. the Miami team that spoiled last year’s
postseason
By Sierra Roberts Daily Bruin Contributor On Wednesday, head
baseball coach Gary Adams lead his Bruins to a place they’d never
been – Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series. Fourth-seeded
UCLA will have its first match-up on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against
the fifth-seeded University of Miami (49-16) at Rosenblatt Stadium.
The battle will be fierce for the fourth-ranked Bruins (45-19-1) as
they embark on their first journey to the World Series in 28 years
. The nationally third-ranked Hurricanes have a very different
recent history from UCLA. They have appeared in the last four World
Series and have participated in the last 24 Regional playoffs.
However, the last time a national title went home with the
Hurricanes was in 1985. Meanwhile, the Bruins have some history
going for them – the history of their Midwest Regional last
weekend. They won the regional title by winning five straight games
after a surprising loss to Harvard in the opening day of play. In
two games with the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the regional’s final
day, the Bruins tallied 36 runs and 51 hits, while allowing just
four runs to Oklahoma State. If the Bruins continue to blow their
opponents away with sheer offense, they will be hard to beat no
matter how much experience the opposition has. Besides the bit of
recent history on their side, the Bruins are seeking redemption for
the 1996 postseason, when they placed second in the Central I
Regional behind Miami. After battling for 10 innings with Southwest
Missouri State the day before, the fourth-seeded UCLA looked to
upset the Hurricanes in the championship game. But that would not
be so, as Miami beat the Bruins 8-4 to advance to Omaha, where the
team was the national runners-up to Louisiana State University.
Starting on the mound for the Bruins on Saturday will be former
Olympian left-hander Jim Parque (13-2). He enters the series with
an ERA of 2.97. In regional play, Parque went eight innings against
Oklahoma State in Sunday morning’s 14-2 victory. He allowed only
four hits and struck out nine. He also pitched for three innings in
the 15-1 blowout of Ohio on Friday before Adams pulled Parque to
save him for a possible championship day appearance. Senior
left-hander J.D. Artega is the probable starter for the Hurricanes.
Artega is Miami’s all-time winningest pitcher after compiling a
11-4 record this year. He has a career total of 369 strikeouts.
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