Thursday, February 12, 1998
Baseball Notebook
Latest rankings
In the latest Baseball America Poll the Bruins are ranked 16th
in the nation. Top-ranked Stanford, No. 5 USC, No. 6 Arizona State
and No. 10 Arizona are the other Six-Pac teams in the top 25. Miami
(2), LSU (3), Rice (4), Florida (7), Alabama (8) and Texas Tech (9)
round out the top 10.
Season thus far
The UCLA baseball team has played a total of eight games this
season, and only two of them have been at home.
The No. 16 Bruins beat Cal State Dominguez 6-5 in the home and
season opener before going on the road for six games. At Hawaii,
the Rainbows swept the Bruins by a combined score of 29-15, and a
season low came with a 16-7 loss in the opener of a three-game
series at Georgia Tech.
But the Bruins bounced back strongly from their four-game losing
streak with two close victories (10-9 and 13-11). Tuesday’s 7-1
victory at home against the University of San Diego put the Bruins
record at 4-4 and back at .500 for the first time since Jan.
29.
League opener comes early
On Friday the 13th, the Bruins will travel to Berkeley and begin
Six-Pac play at California. If you ask UCLA head coach Gary Adams,
he will admit to being insecure about such an early start date for
league play.
"I said that to the umpire and to the other coaches," Adams
said. "We start league already and they couldn’t believe it because
they don’t start for three more weeks. I said I wish I had that
luxury."
With five out of the six teams making the top 25 (including
top-ranked Stanford) in the latest Baseball America poll, many
close games should be expected in league play.
The Golden Bears – the only unranked Six-Pac team – are expected
to place low in the Six-Pac, but the Bruins may get caught looking
past this league foe to next weekend’s home showdown against the
Cardinal – or maybe not.
"Everyone from top to bottom (in our league) is going to be
tough, so we’re going to have to play good every day," junior
outfielder Eric Valent said. "No slouching on pitching or defense
and we’re going to need timely hitting."
Breakthrough hit rids slump
With one swing of the bat Valent may have erased memories of his
offensive performance in his first seven games of the season. After
27 homers his sophomore season, a monstrous home run over the right
field wall gave Valent his first one of the 1998 season.
"I kind of hit it pretty good," Valent said.
That is kind of an understatement as even Adams admits that
Valent’s powerful home run was of titanic proportions. Adams also
admits that Valent’s breakthrough hit could be the beginning of
something big for the preseason All-America.
"Somebody said what he needs to get out of his slump was just a
little jam, lucky, cyanide base-hit," Adams said. "And I said ‘No,
what he needs to do is hit the ball out of this ballpark. That
would help his confidence more than anything else.’ And I think
that his next at-bat he did it. That’s the way I like to see a guy
come out of a slump."
Arizona players honored
Arizona swept the Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for the
first time since March 30, 1992, thanks to performances by senior
outfielder Jason Hendricks and junior pitcher Rob Shabansky.
Hendricks, who also won the award the week before, batted .636
(7-for-11) with two home runs and six RBI and had his six-game home
run streak in the last game of a three-game sweep of No. 13
Baylor.
Shabansky improved to 4-0 with a seven-inning performance
against Baylor in which he struck out 11 players and walked only
one batter.
Notes compiled by Vytas Mazeika, Daily Bruin Staff.