Bruins find themselves on the road again

Friday, February 13, 1998

Bruins find themselves on the road again

BASEBALL Changing field positions biggest problem for more
improved team

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

Whether or not the No. 16 UCLA baseball team likes to travel,
they certainly have done a lot of it the past three weeks.

Two weeks ago they were in Hawaii. Last weekend they were at
Georgia Tech. And this weekend the Bruins are in Berkeley.

During its first two trips, UCLA was swept at Hawaii and bounced
back to win two out of three at Georgia Tech. But since this
weekend’s game against Cal will be their Six-Pac league-opener, the
Bruins hope that their early season games and current three-game
winning streak can spark them to a good start in conference
play.

"Our hitting has improved a lot, defense is playing better and
making the plays, and pitching is throwing more strikes and putting
up less walks per game," freshman pitcher Ryan Carter, who won
Tuesday’s game against the University of San Diego, said. "Overall,
that’s a combination for winning."

Decisions still have to be made in terms of where to put people
on the field. With Nick Theodorou’s fully recovered knee, a
hot-hitting Jack Santora has been moved to third-base and a
decision has to be made about freshman Garrett Atkins and
fifth-year senior Cassidy Olson.

One move could be to put either Atkins or Olson at DH, and that
could be why regular DH Brett Nista started in left field on
Tuesday.

Nista is currently on a nine-game hitting streak and the Bruins
cannot afford to sit his bat. Therefore left field, a position
where freshmen Michael Hymes and Matt Pearl have struggled
offensively, might be the answer for the player shuffle.

Another concern for UCLA head coach Gary Adams is his pitching.
The team’s ERA dropped more than a point to 6.88 thanks to the zero
earned runs allowed in Tuesday’s 7-1 win, but starters sophomore
Rob Henkel (9.00 ERA), freshman Chad Cislak (5.84) and sophomore
Ryan Reightley (8.38) have struggled, to say the least. Adams,
though, is confident they can turn their bad luck around.

"I do feel they are coming around – that’s an affirmative,"
Adams said. "Nothing is bothering those guys that can’t be
corrected and they even know what they need to do to improve. It’s
a matter of going out there and doing it consistently and in
pressure situations."

Pitching for California this weekend will be sophomore Jon
Shirley (0-1, 2.45) on Friday, junior Ryan Dreese (0-1, 7.94) on
Saturday and freshman Jason Dennis (0-0, 4.35) in Sunday’s series
finale.