Rain break nurses baseball back to health
Bruins to face USC, Arizona at height of Six-Pac season
battle
By Brian Purcell
Daily Bruin Contributor
The rain that descended on Southern California this week has
made the UCLA baseball team’s break longer than expected, giving
them a two-week lull and providing needed rest for an ailing
lineup.
Games with Gonzaga and Cal State Fullerton were both cancelled
this week due to the weather, and because of finals, UCLA will not
play again until the weekend of March 23-25 against No. 3 USC.
Apparently, this break could not have come at a better time for
UCLA.
"We’re not a healthy team right now," said UCLA head coach Gary
Adams. "We don’t have a lot of major injuries, but we have a lot of
guys with small, nagging things that are bothering them. It’s good
that we’ve got some time to rest."
Pitcher-first baseman Pete Zamora, right fielder Eric Byrnes,
and center fielder Eric Valent are plagued by leg injuries keeping
them at less than full speed. In addition, left-handed starter Ryan
Lynch is not fully recovered from an arm injury that has had him
out for almost a month.
The No. 10 Bruins (6-3 in Six-Pac, 15-9 overall) will need to
have all of these players healthy as they enter a crucial stretch
of the Six-Pac season. After the USC series, UCLA will travel to
Arizona State the following weekend to take on the No. 8 Sun Devils
(3-3, 16-7). USC, UCLA and Arizona State appear to be the cream of
the conference, so these games will be a good indicator of which
team will rise to the top.
"This could be a turning point in our season," Adams said. "It’s
time for us to prove whether we are for real, and for them to prove
whether they are for real. They look like the two teams to beat for
us."
Saturday’s and Monday’s games against USC will be played at
Jackie Robinson Stadium, while USC’s Dedeaux Field will host the
series on Sunday.
Game time is at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday with Monday’s
game starting at 7:00 p.m.
If UCLA is to handle USC, they will have to do something that no
other team has done: Shut down the Trojan offense.
USC (5-1, 16-4) has routinely pounded teams into submission this
year with a high-octane offense that has produced a .360 batting
average and an average of 10.5 runs per game.
Jim Parque (4-0), Pete Zamora (4-0) and Dan Keller (2-1) will be
the starting pitchers expected to cool down Trojan bats, though the
actual rotation has yet to be determined.
USC and Arizona State will play each other this weekend in a
three-game set at USC, giving the UCLA coaching staff an
opportunity to scout the teams.
"I expect to make it to a couple of games this weekend," Adams
said. "Maybe watching them play will give us a chance to spot some
weaknesses. I don’t know. These are two great teams."
One thing that the Bruins know they will have to do better is
hit the ball. They have lost three of their last four games, mostly
due to their ineptness at the plate. Adams sees no better time for
some of his big hitters to break out.
"We haven’t been hitting like we can hit," Adams said.
"Hopefully we can use our time off to remedy our physical ailments
as well as some of the ills in our bats. When something needs
repair, you repair it. We need to get our bats going by the USC
series."Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu