Today’s starting pitcher remains puzzle for UCLA

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
[email protected]

Gary Adams and his staff haven’t announced the starting
pitcher for this afternoon’s game at UC Santa Barbara.

It’s probably not your typical psychological masterstroke
of strategy, though. They just haven’t made up their
minds.

Adams and the rest of the UCLA brass aren’t indecisive.
The reality is that they’ve tried just about everything in
these often experimental Tuesday games with varying degrees of
success.

Last Tuesday, the Bruins (19-26) put fireballer Mike Davern on
the hill in a 9-7 loss to Cal State Fullerton, only to see the
sophomore struggle early and give way to Doug Silva, who pitched
3.1 innings of scoreless ball.

The week before, seven different UCLA pitchers contributed to a
4-2 Bruin win, but even the committee system hasn’t been
failproof. A host of Bruin pitchers held Long Beach State to four
runs a month ago, but the UCLA offense mustered only three.

So it appears as though Adams and pitching coach Gary Adcock can
do no definitive right or wrong in choosing the guy who takes the
hill at 2 p.m.

Still, they may want to give Silva more than just a passing
glance. The junior from Danville has started just one game this
season but has the second-best ERA on the team, largely because of
his consistent pitching in multiple-inning performances out of the
bullpen.

The Gauchos (17-25) are also keeping quiet on the question of
starting pitching. Still no word on whether UCSB’s silence
comes from a source unenvious as that of UCLA.