Teams prepare for recruits, championships

Wednesday, May 13, 1998

Teams prepare for recruits, championships

BASEBALL: Karp to attend UCLA, Cardinal winds up for
regionals

By Kristina Wilcox

Daily Bruin Staff

UCLA baseball fans may have the chance to see another top high
school pitcher don a Bruin uniform.

Hard-throwing righthander Chad Cislak joined the pitching staff
for the 1997 season, and head coach Gary Adams has received a
letter of intent from Josh Karp, a pitcher of Cislak’s mold, for
1998.

Karp is a senior at Bothell High School in Bothell, Wash. This
could be the second year in a row that Adams signs an out-of-state
player on a full scholarship.

Karp’s fastball has been clocked at 93 miles per hour, and he
has a good change-up and curveball.

Besides playing baseball, Karp was on the basketball and golf
teams at Bothell High. He chose not to play basketball this season
so he could concentrate on his pitching.

Karp had primarily been a shortstop.

The only obstacle that looms large is the June amateur draft.
Major-league scouts have flocked to Washington to see him play.

Speaking of the draft, the Stanford team is going to lose a lot
of players to the professional ranks.

But before that happens, they are gunning for a national
championship.

The No. 1 Cardinal clinched its second-consecutive Six-Pac title
with a win over No. 7 USC on Sunday. The title is Stanford’s eighth
in the 20-year history of the conference.

The Cardinal (41-8-1, 22-6 Six-Pac) will have the home-field
advantage in the regionals. The sites were announced on Monday for
the games to be held May 21 to May 24.

Stanford’s Sunken Diamond will be the site of the West Regional
for the third consecutive year.

The other seven sites are Clemson (East Regional), Miami
(Atlantic I), Florida State (Atlantic II), Florida (South I),
Louisiana State (South II), Wichita State (Midwest) and Texas
A&M (Central).

It is the first time ever that the state of Florida will host
three regionals.

The tournament pairings will be televised live on ESPN at noon
PST on May 18.

One team anxiously waiting for the telecast is Oregon State
(35-14-1). OSU swept UCLA in a three-game series to end the regular
season for both squads.

The Beavers returned to the national polls on Monday. They are
25th in the Baseball America breakdown, and No. 30 in Collegiate
Baseball’s poll.

SUSIE MING HWA CHU/Daily Bruin

Freshman Chase Utley stands out this year.