The aftermath of defeat

Thursday, 6/5/97 The aftermath of defeat BASEBALL: UCLA team
makes it to Omaha, but fails to prove itself there

By Kristina Wilcox Daily Bruin Senior Staff A season that
started with hopeful promise ended in bitter disappointment Monday
when the UCLA baseball team defeated itself in its loss to
Mississippi State, 7-5, in the College World Series. With two 1996
Olympians returning to a squad that lost only one starter from last
year’s team, many people around the Bruin camp anticipated that
this would finally be the year when UCLA would once again be
represented in Omaha, Neb., after 28 years of not making the "Elite
Eight" competition. They did make the trip, but once there fell
miserably short of expectations: Many, including the ballplayers,
were shooting for nothing less than the national championship. "It
was obviously great to be here," shortstop Troy Glaus said. "But
our goal was to win the national championship." Right fielder Eric
Byrnes, arguably the most emotional player on the team, described
the feelings of the squad playing its way into Omaha and then
playing its way out of the city. "This is probably the highest high
in college baseball to play in the College World Series," Byrnes
said. "We’ve gone from the highest high to the lowest low."
Fourth-seeded UCLA (45-21-1) dropped to that low during the Bulldog
half of the seventh inning. Three, four and seven proved to be
unlucky numbers for UCLA in Omaha. The Bruins held a 4-3 lead over
eighth-seeded Mississippi State (47-21) going into the bottom of
the seventh, but that advantage slowly disappeared in a fog of
chaotic mental and physical errors (three official errors in the
game) on that otherwise clear, warm and calm evening. "I can’t
think of anything that went right in that inning," head coach Gary
Adams said. The Bulldogs scored four times without hitting a ball
out of the infield, taking the lead for good and giving Hank Thoms
(3-3) the win in relief of starter Chris Reinike. Both pitchers,
like Miami’s J.D. Arteaga and Robbie Morrison before them, were
able to shut down the potent Bruin offense. UCLA was scoring over
nine runs a game going into the Series, but scored only three times
in Saturday’s game and lost the game after the Hurricanes pushed
four runs across on four walks in the 12th inning to win the game,
7-3. The Bruins allowed four runs in one inning again in the
Mississippi State game, and the way they did it was not pretty. To
start the seventh inning, UCLA reliever Matt Klein (13.50
earned-run average after Monday) walked third baseman Adam Piatt on
five pitches. After catcher Barry Patton was announced, pitching
coach Tim Leary made the call for ace set-up man Rob Henkel (3-3,
0.00 ERA), who was greeted promptly by a misplayed sacrifice bunt.
First baseman Brett Nista fielded the ball, but second baseman Nick
Theodorou was late in covering the first-base bag, so Nista had to
wait for him to reach the base before he double-pumped his throw
for a costly error. Piatt reached third on the play. Designated
hitter Brian Weise hit an 0-2 pitch for an infield hit and RBI,
tying the game at four. Center fielder Damian Scioneaux made the
first out of the inning when he sacrificed the two runners over a
base. Henkel then intentionally walked second baseman Travis
Chapman to face ninth-place hitter Brooks Bryan. Bryan lined the
first pitch up the middle, ricocheting off Henkel for a single and
RBI. The Bruins were then unable to get a double play on shortstop
Brad Freeman’s grounder as Theodorou’s throw pulled Nista off first
base. Patton scored on the fielder’s choice. Left fielder Rusty
Thoms (brother of the Bulldog pitcher Hank) hit what should have
been an inning-ending grounder to Glaus behind second base who
fielded the ball cleanly, but stumbled when coming up to throw the
ball. The play was scored a hit and RBI, and the torturous inning
seemed like it would never end. But the ninth hitter of the inning,
first baseman Richard Lee, flew out to Byrnes in right field. Even
that play gave Bruin faithful a scare because center fielder Eric
Valent ran in for the ball as well and came close to colliding with
Byrnes when they both reached for the ball. But the seventh inning
was mercifully over. Glaus sparked the Bruin offense in the ninth
by hitting his second home run of the series in his last at-bat in
a UCLA uniform. The solo homer to left was also the second for the
team as a whole during the CWS, to go along with Glaus’ game-tying,
ninth-inning shot against Miami. Reliever Thoms was rather
speechless about the hit. "There’s not much to say except it went a
long ways," Thoms said. "It was the longest ball I’ve ever given
up." "At the time, I just wanted to get a rally going," Glaus said.
"My first hit at UCLA was a homer, and now this. I don’t think it
could go any better." One thing that the team wishes went better
was its overall appearance in the College World Series. "We didn’t
show up in Omaha," leadoff hitter/left fielder Jon Heinrichs said
after hitting .111 in the CWS. "We didn’t do anything good. We
didn’t show what got us there. We were horrible." "We didn’t fire
on all cylinders," Theodorou said. "Everything went wrong. But I
still think we are better than some of the teams that are still
there. Unfortunately, we didn’t show that." Right fielder Eric
Byrnes kneels dejectedly at the dugout after the Bruins are
eliminated from the College World Series on Monday.