Thursday, May 23, 1996
Conference honors fielders DeCinces, Glaus, hurler ParqueBy Yoni
Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
Last week the Pacific 10 Conference selected it’s all-conference
baseball team, and it came as no surprise that several UCLA players
ended up on it.
Junior Tim DeCinces joined Stanford’s A.J. Hinch as the two
catchers for the second year in a row. DeCinces finished the
regular season as Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Week
after going 10-for-16 with two doubles, four homers and eight RBIs
against USC and Nevada.
The junior ended up leading the Six-Pac in home runs with 16,
one ahead of teammate Troy Glaus. He was also among the league’s
top ten in four other offensive categories, most notably RBIs
(fourth place with 58) and walks (second, 41). DeCinces, who batted
.340 this year, has shown steady improvement in each of his three
years at UCLA, which should bode well for him in the upcoming
professional draft.
The other two Bruins to make the All Pac-10 team were third
baseman Glaus and pitcher Jim Parque. Despite leading the club in
batting average with his .355 clip, Glaus did not crack the
league’s top ten in hitting. He did, however, rank among the league
leaders in five different categories, including fourth best in
slugging percentage at .660.
Glaus runs exceptionally well for his size, showing that by
swiping 11 bags in 13 attempts this year.
Left-handed Parque, a sophomore, earned his first all league
selection after a conference honorable mention last season. Parque
led all pitchers in the Six-Pac in strikeouts (102) and innings
pitched (113.1). His four complete games trailed the conference
pitcher of the year, USC’s Seth Etherton, by one, and his eight
wins tied him for third in the Pac.
Two other Bruins who had career seasons were left off the team
because of limited spaces. Senior Zak Ammirato batted .354 with a
personal best 38 RBIs despite missing 20 games with a blood clot in
his left index finger. Ammirato did not miss a beat when he
returned from his injury hiatus, raising his average nine points
with two homers in UCLA’s stretch run to make the regionals.
Sophomore left fielder Eric Byrnes also hit a sizzling .354 on
the year, added to his 13 stolen bases, 56 RBIs and 21 doubles (one
off the league lead). Byrnes earned all Pac-10 honors last year as
a true freshman while being named to Collegiate Baseball’s and
Baseball America’s Freshman All-American first team.
SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
Catcher Tim DeCinces watched 16 dingers, a Pac-10-best, clear
the wall this season, and was named to the all-conference team.