Monday, April 22, 1996
By Brian Purcell
Daily Bruin Contributor
Sunday’s 16-9 UCLA victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils
served as a fitting end to an ugly season series.
It was the rubber match of a series played this weekend at
Jackie Robinson Stadium, and as has become the norm between these
teams, bad blood boiled over early and often.
UCLA starting pitcher Pete Zamora retaliated against previous
ASU beanballs by hitting Sun Devil leadoff batter Mikel Moreno with
the second pitch of the game. This resulted in the immediate
ejection of Zamora, and when UCLA head coach Gary Adams argued the
umpire’s quick thumb, he was run from the game as well..
The sour relationship between the teams goes back to their March
29-31 series in Tempe, when UCLA third baseman Troy Glaus was hit
in the head by a Ryan Bradley pitch, and subsequently missed three
games with a concussion.
Bradley was suspended for four games for that incident, but he
was back at it again this weekend, hitting Glaus with a pitch in
the ninth inning of Saturday’s 8-4 Arizona State victory. It was
the second time that Glaus had been hit in the game, and although
Bradley was not thrown out of the game, he was suspended by the
league for Sunday’s game, and watched the UCLA shellacking from the
stands under the protection of ASU media staff. Bradley has now
been suspended for eight of ASU’s 24 Six-Pac games.
"It’s really just part of the game," Bradley claimed. "I don’t
know if there’s a lot of bad blood between our two teams, but
things like this just keep happening."
Adams had difficulty accepting Bradley’s feigned innocence, and
understandably so. One incident could perhaps be construed as a
mistake. Bradley, however, has been in the middle of controversy
almost continuously all season.
"If he’s just trying to throw inside, then he needs to learn
better control," Adams said. "The fact is, he’s putting our players
in danger with the way that he’s pitching. Last time, he hit Troy
in the head, and here he is hitting him again. There is clearly
intent on his part."
Bradley entered Friday night’s game against UCLA (25-17 overall,
16-8 Six-Pac) in the eighth inning to a chorus of boos from the
crowd, and into a tough game situation, with Arizona State holding
a precarious 9-8 lead that had once been 9-1. The Bruins had the
bases loaded with none out when Bradley came in, but he appeared to
be getting out of the jam when he got the first batter to hit into
a force out at home, and then worked the next batter, Jon
Heinrichs, into a 1-2 count with two fastballs on the outside
corner.
Bradley then tried to come in with an inside fastball, but
Heinrichs would have none of it, hitting the ball high over the
wall in straightaway leftfield for his first career grand slam,
giving the Bruins a dramatic 12-9 comeback victory.
"He had gone away with the first two pitches, so I knew he would
probably be coming in with the next one," Heinrichs said after the
game. "I was just trying to make contact to tie the game up, but he
gave me a good pitch to hit."
The Sun Devils (29-18, 10-14) had scored nine runs in the third
inning to take their huge early lead, but the Bruins pecked away,
thanks in part to home runs by Tim DeCinces and Troy Glaus. Glaus
went four-for five, hitting line drives all over the field when he
wasn’t being targeted by Sun Devil pitchers.
Just as important as UCLA’s hitting display in this game was the
pitching performance of freshman Dan Keller. Keller threw five and
one-third innings of scoreless relief for the Bruins to notch his
fifth victory of the season against just two losses.
By winning this series, No. 13 UCLA has almost assured
themselves of a spot in the NCAA regionals, but will have to play
the next four games without Zamora, who was suspended by the NCAA
for his plunking of Moreno.
"It’s very unfortunate for our team that Pete is suspended,"
Adams said. "But I’m happy with the way we handled things."
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Jon Heinrichs bombed his first career grand slam in the eighth
inning to win Friday’s game.