Bruins open season in game against UCI

 

By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Reporter

The 2002 UCLA baseball season is a blank canvas.

Artist and UCLA head coach Gary Adams will apply the first of 61
brushstrokes that will compose a likeness of the Bruin season today
at UC Irvine’s Anteater Field. And with a team void of star
power, Adams will have to draw upon his own experience to paint a
successful season.

Adams has chosen to start the 2002 season. Today’s 7 p.m.
contest will be a homecoming of sorts for Adams, who coached the
Anteaters to two NCAA Division II National Championships in his
five-year tenure with the university.

The Bruins will open the season with No. 1 starter Chris
Cordeiro on the hill for the Bruins in the first start of his
collegiate career.

“I have tried not to think about it,” Cordeiro said.
“There will always be butterflies, but I think we’re
ready as a team. We’re solid up the middle, which is
important. My goal is to get ground balls to them for easy outs.
Strikeouts are good on paper, but my only job is to record
outs.”

Recording outs should be easier this year with a defense that
should improve upon last year’s mark of 1.5 errors per
game.

The mystery that still befuddles coaches is where the steady
source of offense will come from. Returning starters Ben Francisco
and Josh Arhart are the lone steady sources of offense. The
uncharted potential for UCLA lies in the bat of freshman Wes
Whisler, whose 6-foot-5, 227 pound frame can carry the offense on
his back if he can live up to his potential.

“I can’t wait to start playing,” Whisler said.
“Playing on Saturday (against the alumni) gave me baseball
fever. It’s great to get the blood pumping and the emotions
going that you can only get from playing a game.”

UCLA will be looking to rebuke off-the-field criticism with
on-the-field play against UC Irvine, a team that will be playing
its first baseball season since 1992. Irvine has already played
three games, but is still looking for its first win after being
swept by the University of San Diego last weekend.

Tuesday will be a series of firsts ““ UC Irvine’s
first season, Cordeiro’s first start, Whisler’s first
game ““ but on Tuesday, only one team will walk away with
their first win.