With three nationally acclaimed programs in the same tournament,
the Kia Baseball Bash was supposed to leave UCLA baseball in
shambles. Instead, it was the Bruins doing most of the damage.
In one of the most pleasant surprises of the season, the UCLA
baseball team dismantled national champion No. 6 Texas 13-2.
Surprise then gave way to shock, as the Bruins again clobbered a
ranked opponent by defeating No. 21 Tulane 12-2. Although UCLA
dropped the championship game to No. 2 Cal State Fullerton 7-1, the
success of the team was nothing short of outstanding.
In their last 11 road games, the Bruins had failed to score more
than five runs in a game. The offense, however, exploded against
both Texas and Tulane, scoring a combined 25 runs.
“We wanted to keep the ball out of the air,” UCLA
hitting coach Vince Beringhele said. “(Last weekend) we had a
lot of easy fly-outs, so we focused on shortening our swings and
hitting line drives. Even against Fullerton we forced them to earn
most of their 27 outs.”
Sophomore All-American candidate Wes Whisler finally displayed
the power everyone expected from him, hitting his first two home
runs and driving in four runs against Texas and Tulane. For his
performance, Whisler was named to the All-Tournament team. Another
offensive star was redshirt freshman catcher Chris Denove, who had
five RBIs over the weekend.
As good as the offense was, the pitching may have been superior.
Against Texas, senior Mike Kunes shut down the powerful Longhorn
offense. In seven innings, the lefthander gave up six hits, two
runs, and struck out five.
The Bruins threw their top starter against the Longhorns, but
the same might not have been said for their opponent. Justin
Simmons, the pitcher for Texas, is the Longhorn’s fourth
starter, with an ERA over 6. He lasted only 3.2 innings, giving up
8 hits and 6 runs to a suddenly revitalized Bruin offense.
It didn’t appear that the tournament could get any sweeter
for UCLA after thoroughly beating the champs, but it did. The
excellent pitching continued for the Bruins, as junior Casey
Janssen threw six innings against Tulane, giving up only two runs.
Sophomore reliever Brian Beck then entered the game and completely
dominated the Green Wave, giving up one hit in the final three
innings.
In the championship game against Cal State Fullerton, however,
both the starting pitching and the offense suffered a lull. Wes
Whisler couldn’t manage to get out of the second inning,
giving up seven runs. Senior Doug Silva was brilliant in relief,
but the Bruin offense was unable to muster more than one run and
six hits.
“We’ve put our money into our pitching, and
we’ll go as far as the pitching will carry us,” Silva
said.