Fate works against baseball team in series vs. Huskies
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 5, 2002 9:00 p.m.
By Scott Bair
DAILY BRUIN STAFF
The UCLA baseball team’s three-game conference series
against the Washington Huskies, (22-20-1, 10-5 Pac-10) was a
microcosm of the entire season. An upset victory. A one-run loss. A
tough loss after a close defeat. Those have been the three main
ingredients of a pattern that has been constant throughout the
tumultuous Bruin season.
The odd thing is that the same results occur no matter how the
Bruins play. This weekend, the Bruins played well enough to win
every game, but only came home with one victory.
In the game they did win, a must-win 8-1 victory on Friday
night, junior Mike Kunes made sure that the Bruins (21-28, 6-9)
would come out on top. Kunes was matched up against Pac-10 Pitcher
of the Week Shawn Kohn, who had allowed one run in his last two
outings, both of which were complete-game victories.
Kunes pitched beyond expectations in the most high-profile game
of his career, allowing only three hits while striking out seven in
the first complete game of his career. Instead of being nervous in
such an important game, Kunes was more focused than he had ever
been.
“While I was warming up, I felt like I was locked
in,” Kunes said. “I made some adjustments during the
week and they were working. Then we scored in the first, so that
made it easier on me. It’s a lot easier to pitch with the
lead.”
Kunes liked the idea of staying ahead, throwing first-pitch
strikes to two-thirds of the batters he faced. He also used his
head to create advantages in his pitching strategy.
“The wind was blowing out to left, and there were only two
left handers in their lineup, so I concentrated on locating my
fastball down and away in the zone.”
Kunes’ strategy worked in stifling one of the best
offenses in the Pac-10, and Wes Whisler tried to continue the trend
in his start on Saturday.
Whisler pitched well, allowing four runs in seven innings of
work while trying to win the series for UCLA. Unfortunately for
Whisler and the Bruins, the three-part formula that is the destiny
of the UCLA season took over since the Bruins had pulled out an
upset victory over Kohn the night before. The Bruin formula
predicted that Saturday’s game would be a one-run loss. It
was, despite all of the Bruins’ efforts to change their
fate.
The Bruins were down by one run, 4-3, in the top of the ninth
inning. Adam Berry hit a pinch-hit home run to tie the game,
testing the formula to its limits.
UCLA was on the comeback trail, but the Bruin destiny would not
be denied. With the infield playing in, Washington hitter Mike
Wagner dropped a one-out bloop single inches from the foul line
that fell just past the outstretched glove of UCLA outfielder Matt
Thayer. The hit scored the fifth and deciding run, solidifying the
12th one-run loss of the 2002 season.
“(Wagner) couldn’t have thrown the ball in a better
location,” UCLA head coach Gary Adams said. “Another
two feet to the right and that’s a foul ball. But those
instances are things that we can’t control. We have to keep
focus on getting better at the things we can control and not worry
about things that we can’t.”
As predicted after a one-run loss, the Bruins lost 9-5 after a
seven-run Husky fifth, putting the weekend series into the proper
formula.
“We played one bad inning all weekend,” Adams
said
For the seemingly cursed Bruin squad, that was all it took to
lose another series despite playing well enough to win.
“It’s tough not winning these games,” Whisler
said. “We played better baseball than they did, and to not
come out of those games with a victory is frustrating.”
The Bruins did play better baseball than the Huskies this
weekend, but they weren’t battling Washington. At times, they
were battling fate.
