Let’s play three:
Stanford on deck
Baseball travels north for three-game set with powerhouse
Stanford
By Ross Bersot
With a chance to avenge a conference-opening series loss at
home, UCLA baseball will venture to Palo Alto to face Baseball
America’s No. 18 Stanford in a three-game series at Sunken
Diamond.
Stanford endured a 9-4 loss to San Jose State on Tuesday and
will probably welcome the return to Six-Pac play as it has compiled
a 10-4 record in conference but is only an even .500 (9-9) versus
outside competition. With arch-rival California (9-4 Six-Pac)
nipping at its heals, the Cardinal needs a successful outing
against the Bruins to strengthen its hold on first place.
Although Stanford is in the conference basement in batting with
a .281 team average, pitching and fielding carry them to the top of
league-standings.
Second only to USC in the Six-Pac, the Cardinal boast a team ERA
of 4.00. Freshman standout Kyle Peterson (6-1, 3.06 ERA) has
already been named Six-Pac Pitcher of the Week twice en route to
compiling the conference’s best record.
Hurling against the Bruins on Friday will be lefty Dan Reed
(3-3, 4.14 ERA) whose 51 strikeouts put him fourth in the league.
Mike Robbins (2-0, 2.63 ERA), another southpaw gets Saturday’s
start, while Peterson, who pitched a shutout in his first effort
against UCLA, gets the nod on Sunday.
Coming off a nonconference victory at Pepperdine, UCLA (18-15,
6-9) hopes to continue its success on the road (10-5 on the season)
and could take its second conference-series of the season by
winning at least two on the Farm.
In sharp contrast to Stanford, Bruin bats have been on fire of
late, as they have scored 40 runs in the last five games. During
this span catcher Tim DeCinces earned Six-Pac Player of the Week
honors, going 9-13 at the plate with seven RBI and seven walks.
DeCinces leads the Bruins with a .347 batting average, seven home
runs and 30 RBI.
UCLA will start Jim Parque (1-5, 4.58 ERA) on the mound Friday
and Rick Heineman (5-3, 3.48 ERA) Saturday. Bruin ace John Phillips
(5-1, 3.06 ERA), who will pitch Sunday, was handed his first loss
last Sunday by Arizona State.