The UCLA crew teams may have found a new place to practice, as
long as the wet weather continues.
Jackie Robinson Stadium certainly isn’t fit for baseball,
and the Bruins’ weekend series against Pacific consequently
ended in a rain-shortened split.
UCLA won 6-1 Friday, lost 7-0 Saturday and simply wasn’t
able to play any more because of the rain.
“The field was like a swamp,” coach Gary Adams said.
“If we had played, it wouldn’t have been baseball, it
would have been crew.”
Though the three-game series was scheduled to be played Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, a gloomy forecast forced Sunday’s game
to be played as the second half of a double-header on Saturday.
The weather did not cooperate with the schedule, and though most
of Saturday’s first game was played in a drizzle, the sky
completely opened up during the fifth inning of the third game of
the series. The game was scheduled to be made up Sunday, but the
field was too soggy to play.
In the series opener Friday, senior hurler Casey Jansen struck
out a season-high 10 in eight innings of work. Jansen pitched a
beauty of a game, making only one mistake, which resulted in a
Pacific home run in the top of the seventh.
“Casey really pitched a great game,” Adams said.
“He was spotting his pitches well. He had a great assortment
of pitches.”
The lone Pacific (5-3) run was not much of a threat to the
Bruins (4-3), who on the strength of a two-double day from leadoff
man Chad Concolino scored six runs to give Jansen ample run
support. The 6-1 win was Jansen’s second of the season.
Just as UCLA’s pitching was pivotal in the first game of
the series, the Tigers’ pitching won game two.
Pacific ace Alex Graham threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout
Saturday afternoon.
Graham, who struck out seven in his winning effort, took a
perfect game into the seventh inning. Billy Susdorf and Wes Whisler
each singled in the bottom half of the seventh to represent the
only form of UCLA offense in the game.
“What Casey did to Pacific on Friday night, Graham did to
us on Saturday afternoon,” Adams said.
Pacific’s offense was not nearly as stagnant as
UCLA’s. The Tigers recorded 11 hits and seven runs in the
victory.
The second half of the double dip made it to the fifth inning
when the weather intervened. UCLA was down 2-0 due to a two-run
bomb in the top of the third by Pacific third baseman Jesse
Kovacs.
The Bruins were threatening in the fifth just before the game
was delayed. Mike Svetic and Sean Carpenter each singled to lead
off the inning and then both advanced into scoring position on a
passed ball. Then, during a Pacific pitching change, rain delayed
and eventually cancelled the game.
According to NCAA rules, the home team must bat five times in
order for the game to be official. The Bruins were in the middle of
their fifth at bat when the game was called.
The final game of the Pacific series has not yet been
rescheduled.
Weather permitting, UCLA will face Pepperdine on Tuesday at
Jackie Robinson Stadium.