Sunday’s game was undoubtedly one of the greatest
victories in the history of the UCLA baseball program. Not only did
the miraculous six-run ninth inning and the opponent it came
against make it so, but the 13-12 comeback victory over USC was
also important in the context of the season. After taking two of
three over the weekend from USC ““ the first time UCLA had won
a Pac-10 series over its rivals since 2000 ““ the Bruins
separated themselves from the pack and secured sole possession of
third place in the Pac-10. “We could be in last place, 0-15,
or in first place, 15-0, and beating ‘SC in a game like this
would be almost as thrilling,” coach Gary Adams said after
Sunday’s win. “But adding to the fact that this put us
over them and alone in third place by ourselves makes it twice as
good.” Heading into Friday, UCLA, USC and Oregon State were
all bottle-necked in third place with a 6-6 conference record.
However, at 8-7 (25-19 overall), the Bruins are now a full game in
front of a log jam in fourth place, as USC, OSU, Arizona and
Arizona State are all at 7-8. Thus, the Bruins can be both
overjoyed that they are not squished into the fourth slot, but very
wary that any slip-up will probably be punished with at least one
team leapfrogging them. Historically, the Pac-10 sends four teams
to the NCAA Regionals. So with nine league games to play, the
Bruins will be in a different situation than that of the previous
four seasons when they missed the playoffs, dealing from a position
of power instead of looking up from below. UCLA will travel to No.
10 Wichita State (30-9) for a rare two-game midweek series today
and Wednesday. The Bruins then return for a non-league series with
Arizona next weekend before their last home series against
last-place Washington State (23-19, 5-10). UCLA finishes Pac-10
play with three games at surprising second-place Washington (10-5,
26-14-1) and the last series of the year on Memorial Day weekend at
OSU (27-14, 7-8).
SUSDORF RETURNS: Regular starting right fielder
Billy Susdorf saw his first action since the Bruins’ last
series against USC back in late March when he broke his kneecap.
The junior pinch hit and singled to right field during UCLA’s
three-run mini-rally in the eighth. Josh Roenicke immediately pinch
ran for him and later scored. Susdorf was leading the team in
hitting at .338 when he went down.
SHORT HOPS: Third baseman Preston Griffin and
second baseman Mike Svetlic shared the team lead in hits over the
USC series with seven “¦ Right fielder Matt Thayer’s
home run Saturday was the only one the Bruins had over the three
games, though they still managed to score 28 runs “¦ UCLA used
13 pitchers over the weekend.