Monday, April 27, 1998
Bruins bear bittersweet weekend against Trojans
BASEBALL: Inconsistent pitching spoils UCLA’s hope of winning
series
By Kristina Wilcox
Daily Bruin Staff
The intense rivalry between the UCLA and USC baseball teams came
to a close for the season, with the No. 5 Trojans (35-15, 19-8 in
Six-Pac) winning the series finale on Sunday afternoon, 17-12.
The Bruins (19-30, 11-9) blew a 12-8 lead in the top of the
seventh inning, with USC scoring nine runs in the next three
innings.
"The ninth inning was huge for us," USC head coach Mike
Gillespie said.
"Scoring the four runs gave us a comfortable lead."
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the tension was evident when
USC closer Jack Krawczyk (2-1) faced UCLA’s Eric Valent. With an
0-1 count, Krawczyk’s pitch swept very close to Valent’s body, and
home-plate umpire Dick Flaherty gave the "hit by pitch" signal.
Valent jogged down to first base while the head coaches came out to
discuss the play with Flaherty.
The coaches gave two different accounts of the play.
"I don’t think it hit him," Gillespie said. "If it hit him, then
I’m wrong."
"Oh, it definitely hit him," UCLA head coach Gary Adams said.
"We were discussing the call because we wondered if it was on
purpose. But I don’t think Krawczyk did it on purpose. He’s not
afraid to go after the hitters."
Nonetheless, Flaherty stood his ground, Krawczyk stayed on the
mound, Valent stayed at first and the Bruins squandered a potential
rally.
Saturday’s contest at Dedeaux Field was all about powerful
offense and bad pitching.
"That game on Saturday set baseball back 100 years," Gillespie
said. "It was simply awful. There were so many walks,
hit-by-pitches and horrendous outfield play. It was a long, long
day."
It was especially long for the Trojans, since they lost to the
Bruins by an 18-17 score.
UCLA took an early 7-0 lead, but USC chipped away at the
difference to make it a close game. The Trojans scored four times
in the bottom of the ninth before a pinch hitter grounded out with
the bases loaded.
The teams combined to walk 19 batters. The Bruin pitchers hit
four batters. The squads got 34 hits and scored 35 runs.
Surprisingly, there were only three errors.
On Friday night, at Jackie Robinson Stadium, USC won the series
opener, 14-6. Valent connected for his 25th home run of the season
in the eighth inning. He also hit one in the Saturday game.
As in the other two games, UCLA’s pitching made Friday’s opener
very interesting.
"Pitching is the name of the game," Adams said. "We got it
occasionally this weekend, but not consistently. Our bats kept us
in the games."
USC won the season series, 4-2, by taking two of three this
weekend. That did not leave Gillespie feeling optimistic about the
postseason.
"It’s always a good weekend when you win two of three,"
Gillespie said.
"When you win the last one, you leave feeling pretty good. But
in our situation, we had to win all three games."
AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin
UCLA pitcher Ryan Carter faced the Trojans Saturday at Dedeaux
Field.