Monday, 6/2/97 ‘Canes walk away with victory COMMENTARY: Bruins
give away 16 free passes to winners’ bracket to Miami
If there is one thing that everyone at UCLA is good at, it’s
walking. Let’s face it, walking, in all its manifestations is a
daily part of our lives. We race-walk to class in the morning,
straggle home after working out and stumble back from the bars. We
live in a city where people jump in a car and drive to a video
store three blocks away, but we, the students, walk. Now, the
entire nation is well versed in our affinity for podiatry, and we
have the UCLA baseball team to thank for it. They took their love
so seriously that they sacrificed their first College World Series
(CWS) game since 1969 to pay homage to the great god of the free
pass. Sixteen times the Bruins knelt at the altar, offering up
baserunner after baserunner so that the world may know that not
only does UCLA enjoy walking, but they want to share their love
with others. But this was no friendly deity, and UCLA’s dedication
to foot-powered transportation proved to be their undoing, as the
winning run was walked in in the top of the 12th inning. It took
the Bruins four hours and 18 minutes, but they finally made their
passion known. After the Miami Hurricanes had posted only three
runs, going 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position, including a
pair of bases-loaded situations in the 10th and 11th innings, UCLA
gave the Hurricanes the run they needed, walking four straight
hitters in the 12th and allowing the go-ahead run to score. Sure,
they had avoided some dangerous innings before, but it’s pretty
hard to keep dodging bullets when you’re the one firing the gun.
Since their offerings went unheeded by one baseball god, you can
bet the team spent yesterday praying to that other deity of our
national pastime, the god of the second chance. We know this god
well, and the team is hoping for more favors. The Bruins used the
second chance to get into the CWS after losing their first game at
regionals and going through the losers’ bracket to the
championship. Troy Glaus used what looked like his last chance to
hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth. Now, the
Bruins have one more opening, one more crack in the door in this
double-elimination tournament. Heck, as long as they win one CWS
game, the first in UCLA history, that should be enough for us.
Let’s just hope that today against Mississippi State, the Bruins
show the country that we like runs more than walks. Shapiro is a
Daily Bruin sports columnist. He can be reached via e-mail at
mshapiro@media.ucla.edu. Mark Shapiro