MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior Paul
Diaz pitches during a game against Pepperdine earlier this
month.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
Dedeaux Field is not the best place to break a losing streak.
The No. 6 USC baseball team is 14-5 on their home turf, and
starting today, will face an unranked and banged up UCLA squad in a
three-game conference series that will surely shake up the Pac-10
standings.
UCLA (25-17, 6-6 Pac-10) was swept last week by Kansas State, a
sub-500 team, and dropped a midweek game to Long Beach State that
featured seven Bruin errors. The Bruins are currently on a
five-game losing streak.
To put it lightly, UCLA is not playing the same style of
baseball that contributed to an eight-game winning streak earlier
this year.
“I’m hoping (playing ‘SC) can be a good
thing,” said senior centerfielder Matt Pearl. “The
rivalry will make the adrenaline flow, and we play better when we
play better teams.”
Before their recent slump, the Bruins were surprising a lot of
teams with their scrappy play and will to win. A respectable record
of 25-12 after a conference series against Washington 12 days ago
led many to believe that this year’s team would do fine
without the big bats lost in last years’ draft.
Unfortunately, things have been slippery for the Bruins of late,
especially in the field. Ten errors in three games against Kansas
State and the seven against Long Beach are examples of the Bruin
slide, something the team hopes to rectify against the Trojans
(29-16, 10-5 Pac-10).
“Beating USC is a quick way to get better,” Head
Coach Gary Adams said. “I’m glad we’re playing
them.”
Adams may be glad, but the Bruin hitters might have different
ideas.
The Trojans feature one of the most dynamic pitching staffs in
college baseball.
Today’s starter, Mark Prior, has an 11-1 record with a
1.20 ERA and is the early favorite to win national player of the
year honors. Rik Currier, the 2000 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, will
throw in game two. Sunday’s starter, sophomore Anthony Reyes,
is a top pitching prospect for the 2002 draft.
Bruin pitchers, on the contrary, have had problems of late.
“We haven’t been throwing strikes,” Pitching
Coach Gary Adcock said. “And when we do throw strikes we are
not throwing them in the right spots.”
The news gets worse for Bruin fans. Preseason All-American Josh
Karp, the team’s regular Friday starter, pulled his groin
last weekend at Kansas State while stretching the day after his
start and will not throw today. Replacing him in the Friday slot
will be senior Paul Diaz.
“We’ve been getting calls from scouts all
day,” Adams said. “They think we’re up to some
kind of trick, and that we don’t want Karp throwing against
Prior.”
Senior Jon Brandt is still out with a bad back, and the team is
unsure of who they will throw on Saturday and Sunday.
Adams said Karp was scheduled for a bullpen session on Thursday
in hopes to get him ready for Sunday.
Without Karp, the Bruins could be in for a long weekend.