Squad to kick off regular season against Wildcats

By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff

Last year the Bruins shared the Pac-10 baseball title with
Stanford. This year they are set to win it outright.

UCLA is looking to get off to a great start this weekend against
Arizona, when the baseball regular season begins at Jackie Robinson
Stadium.

The Bruins have surprised everyone but themselves this year,
taking a No. 20 ranking into the first week of conference play.

“We hope to play like we have been, but raise it up
another notch,” Head Coach Gary Adams said. “We still
have to step it up and play better defense.”

The team has won four of its last five games, with its latest
victory, an 8-4 trouncing of Loyola Marymount.

“We’ve been playing pretty good baseball,”
senior infielder Josh Canales said. “We just have to keep
that up.”

The Bruins have dominated most aspects of the game this year,
batting .300 as a team while holding opponents to a .243 average.
Senior Brian Baron leads the team with a .537 average, having
struck out just five times all year.

“It’s going to be a big series,” Baron said.
“Arizona’s a good team. If we keep the defensive
mishaps to a minimum and keep the offense up we’ll be
OK.”

Defensive mishaps have been a problem for UCLA. The Bruins
committed four errors in their last two wins and will have to stay
solid if they hope to beat the Wildcats.

Senior Ernie Durazo, who might be the only Pac-10 hitter hotter
than Baron, leads Arizona. Durazo has hit safely in all 24 games
this season, good for 38 hits and a .380 average. In addition to
hits and average, he currently leads Arizona in RBIs (30), on base
percentage (.470), doubles (9) and triples (2).

Durazo hits in the No. 3 spot ahead of slugger junior Shelley
Duncan, who leads the nation in home runs with 10. Duncan is
slugging .604 on the year.

The Bruins will start junior Josh Karp on Friday, senior Jon
Brandt on Saturday, and senior Bobby Roe on Sunday. The trio is 7-1
on the season and has consistently provided the team with quality
starts.

UCLA’s bullpen has been a major difference between this
year’s team and the 2000 team that surrendered nearly nine
earned runs per game. The UCLA hurlers this year hold a 3.45 ERA
but will be challenged by powerful Wildcat batters who are slugging
.442 as a team.

Last year the Bruins swept the Wildcats. They are looking to
repeat the feat this year.

“It would be nice to win it (the series), but we’re
in it to sweep,” Baron said of UCLA’s goals.

Adams says the weekend is more important than the three-game
non-conference series earlier this year against rival USC.

“(It’s) probably our biggest weekend yet, because it
counts in the conference race,” Adams said. “Our goal
is to win the Pac-10 and we want to get off to a good
start.”

There could not be a better way to start the Pac-10 season than
with a trio of wins against the Wildcats.