Highlanders use late rally to beat UCLA
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 28, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Jon Brandt
pitches during UCLA’s loss to UC Riverside on Saturday. The Bruins
next face Hawaii-Manoa for a three-game series. UC
Riverside 10 UCLA 6
By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
RIVERSIDE, Calif. “”mdash; UCLA first baseman Eric Reese sat
quietly in the dugout, taking off his cleats.
As shortstop Josh Canales walked over to grab his bag, he
stopped in front of Reese and told him, “It’s just one
game. Keep your head up.”
“Yeah, I know,” Reese responded.
He looked straight ahead at the field, where the UCLA baseball
team had just been upset by UC Riverside in both squads’
season openers. It was UCR’s first game as a Division I
team.
Playing in front of 1,775 at the Riverside Sports Complex
Saturday, the Bruins (0-1) allowed the Highlanders (1-0) to rally
late and snag a 10-6 win.
Although the Bruins expressed some disappointment, most of them
didn’t take the loss too badly.
“I think offensively it was very, very encouraging,”
Canales said. “I’m very happy with the way we are
executing. Obviously, we have our work cut out for us but
it’s nothing we can’t improve on.”
“You win some, you lose some,” added junior third
baseman Randall Shelley, who went 3 for 4 with a run scored.
“Today, we came up a little short.”
The game started out fine for the Bruins, who had preseason
All-American Josh Karp starting on the mound for them. The junior
pitcher worked quickly and efficiently during his two innings,
striking out three and allowing no runs. His motion seemed
effortless, his curveball was sharp and his fastball was regularly
clocked between 91 and 95 miles per hour by the group of scouts who
had stationed themselves behind home plate.
“I don’t think I’d want to see him for nine
innings,” UCR head coach Jack Smitheran said of Karp, who was
on a strict pitch count of 25 for the day.
The Bruins, however, couldn’t take advantage, stranding
three runners during the first two innings.
UCLA, which left Shelley on third base in the following frame,
finally scored in the top of the fourth when Canales doubled in two
runs.
Yet the Highlanders quickly retaliated, tagging Bruin pitcher
Jon Brandt for three runs in the second half of the inning. UCR
scored another run off him before he left at the end of the
sixth.
The game broke open in the seventh. With the teams tied at four,
senior centerfielder Matt Pearl and junior leftfielder Adam Berry
hit RBI singles to put UCLA up by two.
But once more, UCR was quick to respond. Bruin relievers Kevin
Jerkens and Bobby Roe combined to give up four runs that inning,
allowing the Highlanders to pull ahead 8-6.
Members of UCR’s Kappa Alpha chapter, who had been
taunting the Bruins all game from the stands, intensified their
heckling once the Highlanders took the lead.
“You’re losing to Riverside!” yelled one of
the fraternity brothers.
“Quit while you’re ahead!” shouted another.
“Wait, you can’t!”
UCR tagged Roe for two more in the eighth to increase its lead
to four and the Bruins couldn’t catch up.
Jerkens took the loss while UCR’s Chris Smith was credited
with the win. Rightfielder Adam Seuss and first baseman Brandon
Smith had three hits apiece for the Highlanders. Shortstop Rich
Hofman, who was at UCLA last year, added two hits and two RBIs.
“We did a lot of good things and a lot of bad
things,” UCLA head coach Gary Adams said. “The bad
really did it to us. What we did bad cost us a run every
time.”
“They’ll be fine,” Smitheran said of the
Bruins. “That’s a very good baseball team. You
don’t use one game as an indicator of things to come. If I
were in their shoes, I’d feel pretty good about my
ballclub.”
