Bruins, Cardinal go neck-and-neck for Six-Pac

Monday, 5/5/97 Bruins, Cardinal go neck-and-neck for Six-Pac
UCLA’s loss to Bears lets Stanford tie for title, lead series
race

By Sierra Roberts Daily Bruin Contributor In a close three
games, the UCLA baseball team picked up two more wins on their way
toward a Six-Pac title this weekend in Berkeley, while Stanford
clinched a tie for the Pac-10 Southern Division Title by beating
Arizona on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins (38-15-1, 17-10) were able
to keep California’s (18-37, 2-26) eight-game losing streak going
for the first two games of the series. However, Cal came back on
Sunday to prevent a sweep with a 9-8 victory. The weekend consisted
of three close games. On Friday, the score was tied at five in the
seventh inning until senior left fielder Jon Heinrichs hit his 21st
home run of the season to clinch the first win of the series, 6-5.
During his 5 1/3 innings on the mound, Bruin starting pitcher Tom
Jacquez allowed eight hits and four runs (one earned) and struck
out three, but earned a no-decision. He was replaced by John
Phillips, who took the win with two solid innings of relief
pitching. Saturday the Bruins pulled off another close win with a
final score of 7-6, after a see-saw battle. Despite Cal holding a
two-run lead going into the third inning, the Bruins scored four
runs in the third to take the lead. Cal came back to do the same
with four runs scored in the sixth. However, the game was won in
the seventh when the final Bruin run was scored. Saturday was also
the day of home runs. Junior shortstop Troy Glaus hit his 28th home
run on the season, while Heinrichs smashed his 22nd, and sophomore
centerfielder Eric Valent hit number 19. Three Golden Bears also
hit home runs to make the game offensively active on both sides of
the field. Pitcher Peter Zamora started on the mound. He remained
there for six innings, in which time he allowed nine hits and six
earned runs. He struck out four. Sunday the Bears took the lead
early with five runs scored in the third inning. The Bruins took
the lead in the seventh with two runs, but the Bears crossed the
plate two more times in the eighth to take the win. Freshman
right-hander Gabe Crecion started for the Bruins on the mound. He
was hit hard in only two innings, allowing six hits and five earned
runs. He was relieved by left-handed senior Nick St. George, who in
four innings allowed four hits and two earned runs. Freshman
southpaw Rob Henkel was saddled with the loss after allowing two
hits and two earned runs in two innings of relief. By the end of
the weekend, Heinrichs had extended his hitting streak to 15 and
had added two home runs to his season record of 20. Meanwhile, over
in Stanford, the Cardinal (37-13, 20-7) clinched at least a tie for
the Six-Pac title with the Bruins by beating the visiting Arizona
Wildcats (32-26, 13-17) 12-1 at Sunken Diamond. With Cal’s win over
UCLA on Sunday, the Cardinal, which is on an eight-game winning
streak, have a three-game lead over the Bruins in the title race
with only three league games to go. Those three games will take
place between the Bruins and Stanford next weekend at Jackie
Robinson Stadium. If Stanford wins one of those three games, it
will win the title outright and host the Pac-10 North-South
Championship Series on May 17-19. But before the two league rivals
meet in that huge series, UCLA will travel to Long Beach State to
battle the 49ers. Stanford will also be playing a non-conference
game on Tuesday when they visit San Jose State. UCLA 6-5, 7-6
California 9-8 Previous Daily Bruin stories: Bruins must sweep
Bears to vie for conference title, May 2, 1997