Bruin baseball drops series at Arizona State
By Ruben Gutierrez
As the cliché goes, all good things must come to an
end.
Pitcher John Phillips (4-1) suffered his first collegiate defeat
as the UCLA baseball team (17-15 overall, 6-9 in Six-Pac) dropped a
10-6 decision to Arizona State yesterday in Tempe. The loss was the
second of the three-game series for the Bruins.
A bright spot in UCLA’s jaunt to Tempe, however, was a 13-2
thrashing of the Sun Devils Saturday at Packard Stadium. Catcher
Tim DeCinces batted four for five and second baseman Chad Matoian
added three more hits in five plate appearances. The Bruin
onslaught tallied 18 hits, to just six for the Sun Devils.
Pitcher Rick Heineman allowed only three hits in seven innings
and picked up the win to run his record to 5-3 on the season.
The Bruins dropped an 8-6 decision to ASU on Friday. A four-run
sixth inning by the Sun Devils was the difference in that contest
as freshman Jim Parque continued to struggle on the mound, picking
up his fifth loss.
* * *
Prior to the weekend series with the Sun Devils, UCLA dropped a
series to first-place Cal, two games to one. After Cal humiliated
the Bruins 16-3 in the second game of the series, UCLA returned the
favor, handing the Golden Bears a decisive 10-3 loss in the final
game last Monday.
The contest was a game of firsts for the Bruins, as starter Ryan
Lynch pitched six strong innings to earn his first collegiate
victory. Lynch currently holds the lowest earned run average on the
club. In the seventh inning, Lynch gave way to reliever Ryan
O’Toole. O’Toole allowed only one run on one hit to pick up his
first NCAA save. Freshman first baseman Pete Zamora, a steady
performer for the Bruins offensively and defensively, hit his first
career homer.