Tuesday, 5/27/97 Bruins plow through competition to reach World
Series SPORTS: Baseball successful in bid for championship,
softball team takes runner-up in series
By Kristina Wilcox Daily Bruin Senior Staff STILLWATER, Okla. —
Two UCLA sports teams played in Oklahoma this weekend, but only one
will return as a champion. The baseball and softball teams played
in Stillwater and Oklahoma City, respectively, in two postseason
tournaments, with the baseball team returning to Westwood as the
Midwest Regional champion and the softball squad as the runner-up
in the College World Series. Baseball head coach Gary Adams will be
taking the Bruins to only their second College World Series in
school history – the first time came way back in 1969. Top-seeded
UCLA (45-19-1) reached the elite competition in Omaha, Nebraska by
winning five games in a row, after being upset by No. 6 Harvard
(34-16) on Thursday. They plowed right through Ohio and Tennessee
on Friday and Saturday to force a rematch with Harvard. The Bruins
got their revenge by winning 14-9 in the Saturday night game, with
home runs by third baseman Troy Glaus, first baseman Peter Zamora,
and third baseman Jack Santora. With that win, UCLA advanced to
regional championship day Sunday to face No. 3 Oklahoma State
(46-19). Since the Bruins had lost one game, and the Cowboys had a
perfect record, UCLA needed to win two games on Sunday to win the
Midwest Regional, while OSU needed only one win to take the crown
in the double-elimination competition. Adams’ squad came up with
those two big winby outscoring the Cowboys 36-4 in front of over
three thousand raucous "Orange Power" fans. In the first game of
the day, the Bruins were led by the pitching of left-hander Jim
Parque and the bat of second baseman Nick Theodorou, who went
9-for-10 on the day. OSU head coach Tom Holliday called Parque
"quite possibly the best pitcher I have ever seen" after Parque
held the Cowboys to four hits in eight innings. In the nightcap,
the Bruins showed no fatigue at the plate, as they put across 22
runs on 31 hits in a 22-2 demolishing of the Cowboys. "They hit us
hard, they hit us relentlessly," Holliday said of the Bruin
offense. The UCLA softball team was as embarrassed as the Oklahoma
St. baseball team was, as the Bruins lost to Pac-10 rival Arizona,
10-2. The mercy rule was enforced, ending the game in five innings
to prevent further drubbing. However, it was a bad end to a bright
weekend for the softball team. Seeded fifth in the tournament, the
Bruins fought their way out of the loser’s bracket into the
championship game. They beat Michigan Friday night 7-3, and they
won two straight games over Washington Saturday to eliminate the
Huskies in the semifinals. CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin Eric Byrnes
slides home past OSU and into the College World Series.