Trojans take three from Bruins

Trojans take three from Bruins

By Ross Bersot

If this weekend’s three-game series between UCLA and USC was the
Six-Pac’s version of the Freeway Series, then the Bruins (23-20
overall, 10-14 Six-Pac) were run off of the road.

Capitalizing on each and every Bruin mistake, the Trojans
(34-15, 16-8) swept the home-and-away series to extend their
winning streak to 13 games and surpass California for the
conference lead.

"I’ve got to tip my hat to ‘SC," UCLA head coach Gary Adams
said. "They hit the ball. Every time our pitchers made a mistake,
they made our pitchers pay for it."

Wasting no time in Friday’s opener, the Trojan offensive machine
took a 2-0 run in the top of the first inning and never looked
back.

After leadoff-man Walter Dawkins flew out to right field,
designated hitter Paul Cruz grounded a single through the gap into
left field. Gabe Alvarez then lined a long double to left, just a
few feet inside the foul line, opening the door for Geoff Jenkins,
who walked on through.

After Jenkins’ base-on-balls, UCLA starter Jim Parque (3-6, 3.95
ERA) earned his first run of the evening to Jacque Jones on a
single to center which scored Cruz. Trojan catcher Chad Moeller
went down swinging on three pitches, but Greg Walbridge drove in
the second run of the inning on a shot to shortstop that Troy Glaus
couldn’t handle.

In the same sequence Jones made a baserunning error to end USC’s
threat.

Bruin bats did generate 13 hits, 11 off of Trojan ace Randy
Flores (9-2, 2.72 ERA), but UCLA stranded 12 baserunners and
managed only three runs.

Closer Jason Garner finished the Bruins in the bottom of the
ninth to earn his 11th save and end the game 7-3.

Although the Trojans enjoyed home-field advantage for Saturday’s
second game, they began the game flatter than day-old beer. UCLA
took advantage of this, racing out to a 6-0 lead.

With two outs in the top of the fourth, Tim DeCinces came to the
plate after the Bruins had already scored two runs. A Ben Tucker
pitch enticed just enough to start his swing, but at the last
moment he checked it, seemingly too late. The home-plate umpire
called it a ball and, on appeal, so did the umpire at second. This
prompted a five-minute tirade by USC skipper Mike Gillespie, who
was eventually ejected from the game.

Gillespie’s ejection proved to be a wake-up call for the
Trojans, and after two more UCLA runs, the Trojans mounted a
comeback.

Seven USC runs in the bottom of the sixth doomed the Bruins to
another conference series loss. Jenkins set the tone with a
towering blast over the left-center wall to lead off the inning and
the rest of the team followed.

UCLA managed just two more runs in the rest of the game, while
USC solidified their lead with four, highlighted by back-to-back
dingers by Alvarez and Jenkins in the bottom of the eighth. The
home squad didn’t need the bottom of the ninth, triumphing
13-8.

Nick St. George (3-1, 5.71) picked up the loss in relief for the
visitors, while Jack Krawczyk moved to 3-0 with the win.

"It certainly wasn’t an ulterior motive of mine when I went out
there," Gillespie said of his protest of the call. "I realized when
I went out there that I was risking getting tossed. It was a
situation where we were digging ourselves a deeper and deeper hole
and I was unhappy with it and I had to express myself."

Moving back to Westwood for the rubber match, both teams used
four pitchers in another offensive-oriented affair. In front of a
record crowd of 2,695 at Jackie Robinson Stadium, the Bruins were
in the game until the final out but could not put the game away
with the tying run in scoring position.

With Heinrichs on second and two down, Cass Olson came to the
plate representing the go-ahead run for the home team. His grounder
to second was played easily by Wes Rachels, who made the throw to
first and ended the game, completing the Trojan sweep.

Javier Mejia (5-2) pitched just under six innings to pick up the
win in relief and Ryan Lynch fell to 2-2 after pitching the first
five and one-third innings of the game for the Bruins.