Second try proves successful with strong win over Tar Heels
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 5, 2001 9:00 p.m.
Baseball UCLA vs. Loyola Marymount Today 2 p.m.
Los Angeles, CA
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter
After a heartbreaking one-run loss at North Carolina last
Friday, later that evening the No. 23 UCLA baseball team did
something only two other non-conference teams have been able to do
in the last three years: they beat the Tar Heels at Boshamer
Stadium.
Russ Adams homered in the bottom of the eleventh inning to give
North Carolina (11-3) an 8-7 win in the first game of a
doubleheader, but the Bruins (11-5) answered back in the nightcap
with a 12-2 drubbing that combined stellar pitching with offensive
firepower and defensive stability.
“North Carolina, we thought, wasn’t that good of a
team,” shortstop Josh Canales said. “We basically gave
the first game away. We played pretty bad defensively and we
didn’t give Josh (Karp) any help. We shot ourselves in the
foot on the basepaths.”
Game one starting pitcher Josh Karp went five innings, allowing
six runs (four earned) off eight hits while striking out nine.
The Bruin bats once again came out in full force as first
baseman Eric Reece went 3 for 6 with a two-run homer and Brian
Baron went 3 for 6 with a run, but miscues on the basepaths hurt
them down the stretch. Matt Pearl was thrown out at third in the
top of the tenth inning after trying to extend a double and Baron
was tagged out at home with two outs in the eleventh. Both outs
came when the meat of the UCLA lineup would have had a chance to
drive in a runner in scoring position.
UCLA head coach Gary Adams had some choice words for the Bruins
before the second game of the twin-bill.
“He scolded us pretty bad,” Canales said.
Adams emphasized the basics he thought his more experienced
players should display.
“I told them we had to play better fundamental
baseball,” he said. “We just need to play good solid
baseball all the time. It had been a week since we had been on the
baseball field. It’s a reason (for the mistakes) but
it’s not an excuse.”
One Bruin who didn’t hear Adams chastise the team because
he was warming up was game two starting pitcher Jon Brandt. The
senior came out with a fire, though, pitching a tactically
beautiful game over eight innings and surrendering only two runs on
four hits.
“I got ahead with my fastball,” Brandt said.
“Against USC (in a 6-0 loss), I was working behind all the
time, worrying about offspeed stuff. The first three innings I
didn’t throw anything except fastballs. Then I broke out the
curve, which they hadn’t seen yet, and it was
effective.”
Brandt got more than ample run support as the Bruins scored ten
runs in the first four stanzas and belted 15 hits in the game.
Baron continued his tear, hitting 4 for 5 and extending his hitting
streak to 15 games. Third baseman Randall Shelley went 3 for 3 and
scored three runs and Pearl and Preston Griffin added three runs
apiece.
Four Bruin regulars are batting above .300 and Baron is hitting
a blistering .532, all for a team whose offensive prowess was
called into doubt when most of its offensive weapons left after
last season for the Major League Baseball Draft. They already have
wins against No. 4 USC, No. 11 Pepperdine, and No. 16 Tulane, but
Brandt feels the true tests are yet to come.
“We have knocked off a lot of quality teams but we
haven’t knocked off a lot of great teams,” he said.
“Until we face some solid Pac-10 competition we won’t
really know where we stack up.”
“¢bull;Â “¢bull;Â “¢bull;
Barring what appears to be imminent rain, the Bruins travel
across town today to take on Loyola Marymount in a rematch of a
game the Bruins won 10-6 at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Feb. 6. The
Lions carry an 11-8 record into the contest and feature junior
third baseman Tommy Perez, who is hitting .400.
