Thursday, April 4, 1996
By Brian Purcell
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA baseball team travels to Cal this weekend hoping to
repeat its most recent performance against the Golden Bears.
In the last series between the teams over the weekend of March
1, No. 10 UCLA pulled off what has become unexpected in the
Six-Pac: a three-game sweep. To do this again would practically
write the Bruins’ ticket to regionals. However, with his team
sitting comfortably at 10-5 just one game out of first place, Bruin
head coach Gary Adams would settle for less this time around.
"I would be very happy to win two out of three games up there,"
Adams said. "Sweeping a team is a lot to expect in our conference,
and we have always had a lot of trouble playing at Cal."
Cal (6-9, 21-17) was hurt in its first series against UCLA by
the fact that it was the Bears’ first league series of the season,
while it was UCLA’s second. The Bears were also left without the
services of their best hitter, shortstop Dan Cey, who is the son of
former Dodger third baseman Ron Cey.
Cey has since returned to the Golden Bear lineup, bolstering it
significantly by hitting .439 in nine games of Six-Pac play.
UCLA (19-12 overall) will counter a Cal lineup that has hit .302
in league play by starting Jim Parque (4-0 in Six-Pac) on Thursday,
followed by Rick Heinemann (2-1) and Pete Zamora (3-0). Thursday’s
game will be televised nationally at 2:30 p.m. on the Prime Sports
Network, giving Parque the chance to play in the national
spotlight, which he has earned with his 6-0 record and 3.34
ERA.
Three teams from the Six-Pac will likely be selected for
regionals, making this a critical series for both teams. Cal
currently resides in fourth place with its 6-9 record, and is two
games behind third-place Stanford. UCLA is in a strong position
since it sits four games ahead of Cal, but that standing could
change quickly with a poor performance against the Golden
Bears.
Shortstop/first baseman Troy Glaus has not played for the Bruins
since being beaned in last Saturday’s Arizona State game, but he
will likely play this weekend. In 10 games of league play, Glaus
has hit .390 with two home runs and 10 RBIs, but has been hampered
by a back injury as well as the concussion suffered from Saturday’s
incident. Six-Pac officials are investigating Glaus’s beaning, and
will take action against the players involved.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Eric Valent and the Bruins hope wins will lead team to
regionals.