Team heads to San Diego in quest for consistency

Friday, February 19, 1999

Team heads to San Diego in quest for consistency

BASEBALL: UCLA drops out of top 25 but regroups for meetings
with Loyola Marymount, Texas Tech, SDSU

By Dylan Hernandez

Daily Bruin Contributor

The Bruins will be playing in the San Diego State College
Baseball Classic this weekend, trying to smooth out the bumps in
what so far has been an up-and-down season.

Coach Gary Adams’ team was beaten twice by UC Santa Barbara
earlier in the week, following a 1-2 performance at the Big Ball
Sports Tournament in Texas. Although the Bruins were able to defeat
fourth-ranked Rice, they lost to relatively obscure McNeese State
and Northwestern State, dropping them out of the top 25.

UCLA (6-7) is scheduled to open play today in San Diego against
Loyola Marymount (4-5), which posted an impressive win over No. 17
Texas Tech on Monday.

LMU’s top performer at the plate has been sophomore catcher
Scott Walter (.382, 3 home runs), who leads a group of five players
hitting over .300, including two-time All-West Coast Conference
selection Matt Riordan.

Expected to face the Lions is sophomore Ryan Carter (0-2, 5.40),
who has struck out 33 batters in 23.1 innings this year.

On Saturday, sophomore Jon Brandt (2-1, 2.79) will take over as
UCLA’s starter. Brandt’s last outing, a seven-inning gem in which
he recorded a school record 17 strikeouts, earned him Louisville
Slugger’s National Player of the Week honors.

Opposing Brandt will be defending Big-12 champions Texas Tech
(6-4), which, despite leading by six runs at one point, lost its
first game in the Classic to the University of San Diego.

The Red Raider lineup, which was hitting a collective .373 prior
to the San Diego game, features All-American catcher Josh Bard.
Bard spent last summer with Team USA and is now rated among the 20
best pro prospects at the collegiate level by Baseball America.

Flanking Bard in the batting lineup are .400 hitters outfielder
Jon Weber and shortstop Allen Marshall, who have four home runs
apiece.

The Bruins will face host San Diego State (6-4) on Sunday in
their final contest of the festival. Throwing for Aztecs will be
David Caron (1-0, 3.55), who tossed a complete game and gave up
only two runs in his only start of the season.

SDSU’s pitching has been the team’s strength, holding foes to a
.255 batting average. In half of their games, the Aztecs have
allowed five runs or less.

Toiling in the SDSU outfield is preseason all-conference pick
Paul Lockhart (.385, 2 HR). Lockhart is in the midst of a 17-game
hitting streak which started last season.

The Aztecs will likely see freshman Josh Karp (1-1, 5.68) on the
hill for UCLA.

After a rough, control-riddled debut, Karp settled down in his
second start to beat then-No.7 Georgia Tech.

All three of the Bruins’ games will be held at SDSU’s Tony Gwynn
Stadium. Their first two contests will begin at 10 a.m., while the
finale is set for 4 p.m.BAHMAN FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin

Freshman third baseman Randall Shelley swings in a game against
Georgia Tech.

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