Extra finally worth effort in 8-7 win over Aztecs
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 1, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 2, 1996
Balk gives Bruins first win of season past ninth inningBy Yoni
Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
Winning in extra innings: on Wednesday night, the UCLA baseball
team finally grasped the concept.
In their fourth attempt at an extra-inning victory this season,
the No. 20 Bruins overcame a San Diego State team that fought
tooth-and-nail until the very end, falling to UCLA, 8-7.
The Bruins staved off two separate comebacks by the Aztecs while
adding some heroics of their own through 11 innings at Aztec
Stadium.
The win gave the Bruins a two-game sweep of back-to-back road
games in San Diego and put them at 30-20 overall.
UCLA continued to rely on the long ball Wednesday night, this
time by the sophomores-only tripartite of Troy Glaus, Pete Zamora
and Eric Byrnes.
Byrnes hit two round-trippers in the game, the first of which
put the Bruins ahead 1-0 in the third inning. Pitching for the fist
time in almost two weeks, sophomore Pete Zamora helped his own
cause in the top of the fifth inning, clearing the right field wall
with a shot off Mark Harringer for three runs and his fourth homer
of the year.
The Bruins held on to that 4-0 lead for all of an inning, at
which point the Aztecs rallied for five runs to pull ahead. But
homers from Glaus (11) and Byrnes (8) gave UCLA the edge late in
the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, SDSU (31-22-2) tied the game up with
one out and was threatening with the go-ahead runner at third.
Senior Rick Heineman then struck out David Sanchez and got the
following batter to fly out, sending the game into dark territory
for UCLA.
This time, however, overtime paid off for UCLA.
SDSU reliever Gregg Winkelman allowed the Bruins to load the
bases with two outs, and proceeded to commit the most costly error
imaginable, a balk.
Winkelman’s gaffe sent in the winning run for UCLA, and Dan
Keller (6-3) picked up the victory with two shutout innings.
Catcher Tim DeCinces had an excellent game for the Bruins, going
three-for-five with a walk, while on defense, Heineman provided
some sorely-needed middle relief, giving up just one earned run in
four and one-third innings pitched.
Junior Chad Matoian, who raised his average to .300 with 14 hits
in his last 15 at-bats going into Wedneday’s game, cooled off with
one single in five trips to the plate. Matoian also started at
third base as Glaus moved to first in place of Zamora.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Jon Heinrichs and UCLA returned from San Diego with two wins in
two days.
