Turbulent tournament ends well

Tuesday, February 23, 1999

Turbulent tournament ends well

BASEBALL: Wins against SDSU, LMU ease memory of ugly loss to
powerhouse Texas Tech team

By Rocky Salmon

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

As Sunday night finally came to an end, the UCLA baseball team
(8-10) walked out of San Diego State’s Tony Gwynn Stadium with
weary eyes.

The Bruins had played three games against three formidable foes,
and came out winning two out of three.

The real excitement, however, was how each game was different
from the other. One dealt with a comeback, the other with respect
and the last with redemption.

Friday night, UCLA faced Loyola Marymount and pulled off one of
the most miraculous comebacks in school history.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Bruins were down 5-0 and
the Lions’ pitcher, Chris Gray, had stifled the UCLA arsenal. He
allowed no hits over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Fortunately, the baseball gods shone down upon the Bruins, and
hit after hit came rolling through. Tied up at five, Gray left the
game with the bases loaded.

New LMU pitcher Chris Felton walked in the winning run,
completing the six-run comeback.

Next, UCLA would have to battle for respect against top 10
powerhouse Texas Tech on Saturday.

Lefty Ryan Carter would be knocked out of the game early. But
the Bruins never gave up hope of a comeback, pulling within four
runs before a few errors led to Red Raider runs.

The Red Raiders would then lose a bit of respect when former
Bruin Brennon Burns launched a solo shot over the left field wall
against Chad Cislak. Burns would ensue by pounding his chest as he
ran the path and screaming while trotting home.

"I don’t see anything wrong with celebrating after you a hit a
home run, especially if it is a game winner," head coach Gary Adams
said. "But it made the score 12-5, and there was no use for it. If
he hits a game winner then that’s fine, he can even do cartwheels,
but in that situation he was showing up the team."

Two innings later, UCLA would hit Burns in his next at bat.

In the next inning, Chase Utley would launch a triple to the
wall but would have to take out the third baseman, David O’Keefe,
as he stood in the way. O’Keefe hopped up and began jawing at
Utley.

On the ensuing play, O’Keefe bowled over catcher Jason Green at
home plate.

The tension was rising and the Red Raiders kept striking out at
the Bruins.

With the Bruins trailing at 12-5, Forrest Johnson, UCLA’s right
fielder, went up to the plate and was plucked in the back.

"It was ‘bush’ in the first place for them hitting Burnsie after
he hit a home run," Texas Tech All-American pitcher Shane Wright
said, who pitched a complete game and has a 27-3 record on his
career.

"I throw inside a lot and it slipped. I hit the guy but it was
not right for them to hit Burns."

Sunday was redemption day for the Bruins as they would try and
put the 13-5 drubbing by Texas Tech behind them, finishing up the
tournament against host SDSU.

Jon Brandt would take the mound against a potent Aztec offense
and try to let the Bruins leave San Diego on a high note.

Only one run and nine strikeouts later, Brandt would leave in
the seventh inning with UCLA staked to a 6-1 lead, thanks in part
to Utley’s three-run bomb.

Then one of the weirdest innings in recent UCLA baseball history
occurred. Brandt warmed up to start the bottom of the eighth but
before he could throw one pitch Bobby Roe came in to relieve
him.

The Brandt and Roe combination had worked beautifully in a
previous game where Brandt worked a masterpiece against Georgia
Tech.

This time that combination almost was broken.

Roe would face pinch hitter Carlo Cota, who would shoot a ground
ball toward third baseman Aldo Pinto. Pinto would field it and fire
to first , but too low, sending the ball toward the outfield and
letting Cota get to second on the error. After a flyout, the real
fun would begin.

Billy Montgomery would head to the plate and with two strikes
would pretend to get hit as the ball bounced off the plate.

"After the batter acted like he got hit it just threw me off,"
Roe said. "But I knew I had to pull it off because Brandt had
thrown a great game and I couldn’t let him down."

For a while the eighth inning looked like it might be a death
toll for UCLA.

After the batter hit, Roe would walk the next hitter, loading
the bases. Luckily, he would regain his composure for the next
batter and get him swinging. But Roe would not be spared sweat as
he walked yet another batter, letting a run come in and setting the
stage for what appeared to be an inning-ending ground out.

But this was a strange day, like the red sunset which filtered
the air before the game started.

Pinto fielded a ground ball and hummed it over to Garrett
Atkins. This time, Atkins could not handle the throw and made the
error setting the stage for a tense two out rally.

Roe would proceed to alternately walk and hit the next batters,
leaving UCLA with only a 6-5 lead and two outs.

"I knew Roe would get the outs," Adams said. "Brandt walked up
to me in the dugout and asked me on a scale of zero to 10 how much
confidence in Roe did I have that he was going to get that out.
When it was 6-4 I told him that it was a five. When they scored
once more it went up to six, but Roe came through."

With the bases still juiced, Roe would shut the door by getting
Cota to flyout.

UCLA would tack on two more runs in the ninth and never look
back, winning 8-5.

One long weekend and three crazy games. But when UCLA finally
took that last long walk away from Tony Gwynn Stadium, the Bruins
took with them much due respect from the baseball world.

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