With six games remaining in the season, the UCLA baseball team
has a goal of winning at least five and qualifying for the
playoffs.
Ignoring the fact that even with five wins a playoff berth is a
long shot, the Bruins still face steep odds as they must head to
Sunken Diamond in Palo Alto this weekend for three games against
No. 7 Stanford.
“We have only six games left, so it’s time to pull
out all the stops,” head coach Gary Adams said.
“Stanford has tons of talent and always plays especially well
in their yard, but we’re going to go up there with the
attitude that we’re going to win just like we have many times
this year against other top teams.”
Indeed, the Bruins have thus far toppled three top-10
teams this year: No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Arizona State and No. 9
North Carolina State.
Lately, UCLA has played some of its best ball of the season,
winning six of its last nine. Most impressively, the last five
of those wins have been by one run including Tuesday’s
come-from-behind upset of Pepperdine 4-3.
Still, it will take a Herculian effort to pull out even two of
three against the Cardinal (36-14, 16-5 first in Pac-10), something
UCLA (25-28, 8-10) has not done at Stanford since 1993.
“Normally Stanford’s pitching is more than simply
solid, it’s exceptional,” Adams said. “Their
pitching is doing well this year, but not like most years. However
hitting-wise, they are a notch above everyone else and have
tremendous speed.”
Outfielder Carlos Quentin leads the Cardinal with a .401
average. Catcher Ryan Garko is not far behind at .387 and leads the
team with 14 home runs and 72 RBI.
The Bruins will attempt to sink the Cardinal behind Pac-10
pitcher of the week Casey Janssen on Friday, Wes Whisler Saturday,
and a pitcher to be named on Sunday.