UCLA will officially celebrate the Gary Adams farewell tour
Sunday in pregame ceremonies starting at 11:40 a.m. Along with the
Bruins’ baseball coach of 30 years, UCLA will honor the
careers of five departing seniors ““Â third
baseman/outfielder Brandon Averill, outfielder Chad Concolino,
third baseman Preston Griffin, second baseman Mike Svetlic and
starting pitcher Casey Janssen. UCLA’s last home game this
season is on Tuesday against UC Irvine, but Associate Athletic
Director Ken Weiner said that the Athletic Department wanted to do
the Adams tribute on the day of his last home league game. Besides
the festivities, the Bruins (27-23, 8-7 Pac-10) are focusing on an
important series against Washington State (25-20, 5-10). While the
Cougars’ playoffs hopes are practically done, they still
bring a strong lineup of seven regulars hitting over .300 to
Westwood. Their pitching staff, on the other hand, is suspect with
a 5.63 team ERA. The Bruins have nine league games left, and these
three against the last-place Cougars will be by far the easiest.
The remaining series will be much tougher as they head on the road
against teams battling for the playoffs ““ second-place
Washington (12-6 Pac-10) and Oregon State (7-8), which is one of
four teams tied for fourth. After no Pac-10 league games last
weekend, the third-place Bruins are in the same precarious position
as after the USC series win two weeks ago ““ one game above
the four teams wedged in fourth. In most years, the top four teams
in the Pac-10 make the playoffs. Thus, UCLA is looking to give
itself some breathing room in the standings this weekend as it
sprints toward the finish line and closes in on a victory lap for
Adams.
SHORT HOPS: The Bruins will start Janssen (8-3)
on Friday, David Johnson (1-2) on Saturday, and Wes Whisler (1-4)
on Sunday … Griffin extended his hitting streak to 12 games after
a fifth-inning single against Cal State Fullerton Tuesday …
designated hitter Brett McMillan’s nine-sacrifice fly leads
the Pac-10 and is a new school record … Averill and catcher Chris
Denove’s home runs Tuesday tied them for second on the team
with six, behind shortstop Ryan McCarthy’s nine …
Janssen’s eighth win on Friday was the most a UCLA pitcher
has had since Josh Karp’s 10 in 2000.