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Baseball Notes

By Daily Bruin Staff

April 8, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 9, 1996

UCLA steps up to plate against Long Beach

By Yoni Tamler

Daily Bruin Staff

The No. 11 UCLA baseball team has shown itself to be a darn good
ball club ­ and no one’s going to debate that. One glance at
the Bruins’ record (22-12 overall, 13-5 Six-Pac) and their
convincing three-game hold on second place in the Six-Pac, and it’s
clear these guys come to play.

But were you to look for a weakness on this Bruin team, simple
arithmetic yields a telling statistic: the Bruins are 9-7 against
non-league opponents.

Less comforting is the team’s record in games in the middle of
the week, on the road and at home; in five chances, the Bruins have
zero wins.

So when the Bruins run onto Blair field tonight at 7 p.m. to
play host Long Beach State (22-15), nobody will be looking ahead to
the upcoming series against Six-Pac counterpart Arizona.

"(Long Beach) is a good team," UCLA head coach Gary Adams said
in typical concession. "They have outstanding pitching. Defense and
pitching are their strengths."

The 49ers’ pitching rotation, however good, was yet to be
determined at press time. As for UCLA, Adams said that right-handed
freshman Dan Keller (4-2, 4.30 ERA) and southpaws Ryan Lynch (0-1,
5.93) and Nick St. George (1-2, 5.40) would likely be among the
pitchers receiving innings in tonight’s game.

With Zak Ammirato out for the fourth straight game, the Bruins
will stay with the lineup they used to sweep California last
weekend ­ Troy Glaus at third base and Pete Zamora back at
first.

Adams said that while he felt the Cal series was "in general one
of our better series," the Bears gave UCLA some chances with their
shabby play, which eclipsed some of the Bruins’ own defensive
lapses.

"For example, the game-ending double play," cited Adams,
explaining how the Bruins came away with an 8-5 victory on
Saturday, "it should have been a game-ending double play for them
and we went on to score the tying run, winning run, and two other
runs. We also missed Zak, but we’re going to have to carry on."

* * *

Two players with hot bats over the past few games are Eric
Valent and Nick Theodorou. The talented center-fielder Valent is
making a bid for freshman All-American honors with a 10-game
hitting streak that has raised his average from .231 to .274. He
has also scored in 12 of UCLA’s last 13 games.

Theodorou, a sophomore, remains steady as the designated hitter,
batting .308 against Fullerton and Cal with two doubles and two
RBIs.

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