Bruin bats send Pepperdine Waves a crashing defeat



February 20, 1996

Bruin bats send Pepperdine Waves a crashing defeat

By Brian Purcell

Daily Bruin Contributor

As the Pepperdine baseball team staggered away from Jackie
Robinson Stadium Sunday afternoon, they had to feel like they had
been collectively sucker-punched.

They are a good team. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

The Waves (4-8) went into this weekend’s three-game series
against UCLA (9-4) with a No. 11 ranking, and the momentum of their
previous weekend’s two out of three game handling of powerhouse
Texas.

Instead, it was the Bruins who put together a package of clutch
hitting, adequate defense and outstanding pitching to record the
sweep this weekend. They outscored Pepperdine 26-11 over the three
games, capped by a 10-6 victory on Sunday.

"I told the guys that going into the series, one magazine had us
ranked ahead of Pepperdine, and another magazine had them ranked
ahead of us," UCLA head coach Gary Adams said. "We wanted to leave
no doubt in the minds of the voters."

Sunday’s outcome was held in doubt longer than the previous two
games in the series, as the Waves used early UCLA fielding mistakes
to build a 4-0 lead by the fourth inning. The lead wouldn’t last
long, as the Bruins erased the deficit with four runs in the
fourth, mainly on the strength of a three-run opposite field home
run by shortstop Troy Glaus.

The teams went back and forth over the next two innings, and the
score was knotted at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jon
Heinrichs came to the plate with runners on second and third base
and one out. He promptly lined a single to left-center field,
scoring Brett Nista and Eric Valent, to put the Bruins up for
good.

Left-handed reliever Tom Jacquez took it from there, not
allowing another Wave to cross the plate. Jacquez evened his record
at 1-1 with his three and two-thirds innings of shutout ball,
during which he allowed just two hits, while striking out four.

Starting pitchers Dan Keller and Jim Parque both moved to 2-0 on
the season against the Waves. Keller, a freshman, made his first
UCLA start on Saturday at Pepperdine, and proved himself worthy by
allowing just two hits and one run over seven innings in a 7-1
victory.

The marquee matchup of the series came the night before when
Parque faced Pepperdine’s Randy Wolf, a preseason All-American and
Olympic team hopeful.

Wolf cruised into the fifth with a no-hitter and a 3-1 lead, but
his gem was abruptly tarnished with back-to-back home runs by Glaus
and designated hitter Cass Olson to lead off the inning. The Bruins
couldn’t get enough of Wolf after that, railing him for seven runs
and eight hits in his six and two-thirds innings of work.

The 9-4 win represented the fourth consecutive quality outing
for Parque. He allowed four runs and seven hits in eight innings,
while striking out six.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1996 ASUCLA Communications Board

[Back] [Home]