Tuesday, March 2, 1999
Bruins bask in three game sweep of Cal
BASEBALL: Strong performance by Bears’ Nady can’t overcome
consistency of UCLA lineup
By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Contributor
With his team trailing UCLA, 11-10, in the ninth inning of
Sunday’s game, All-American Xavier Nady stepped to the plate with
two outs and the tying run at first with the chance to end Cal’s
losing streak.
Two days before, the 1998 National Freshman of the Year had seen
his career-best three home runs go to waste, as the Bruins (11-11)
outslugged the Golden Bears, 11-6.
In the second contest, Cal (6-12) was down, 8-7, when Nady was
blown away in his last at-bat by UCLA’s Ryan Carter, sealing a
Bruin baseball victory.
An on this day, Nady had hit two more home runs, including a
six-inning blast that ricocheted off of the screen over Jackie
Robinson Stadium’s center field wall.
Yet once again Nady would not be able to lift his team to
victory. His final swing shot the ball straight at UCLA shortstop
Jack Santora, who tossed it to Chase Utley for the force out at
second.
"It’s definitely frustrating," Nady said. "Going home 0-3 makes
you wonder what we’re doing wrong."
He added, "I hit that last ball well. Just hit it right at a
guy."
UCLA head coach Gary Adams was ecstatic during the postgame
interviews, even though the series would not count in the
conference standings.
"We played good ball," he said. "That’s what I’m most proud of.
We played good baseball. Because we did, we won."
The Bruins’ three game sweep over Cal moved the team back up to
the .500 mark.
"Before, two guys were hitting and seven guys weren’t. Now, two
guys might not be hitting but seven guys are. That’s what we’ve
been looking for – consistency in the lineup – and that’s what
we’ve been getting."
The pitching staff operated in the same manner. Although Carter
and Chad Cislak were bombed in the second and third games,
respectively, the rest of the hurlers managed to contain the
Bears.
UCLA opened on Friday with an easy 11-6 win behind a season-high
16 hits. Santora and Garrett Atkins each belted their first home
runs of the season, and ace Jon Brandt fanned eight hitters in six
innings to earn the win.
Sophomore Bobby Roe came in for the last third of the contest to
snag his third save of the year.
Game two appeared to be headed in the same direction as the
first with freshman starter Josh Karp pitching a masterful six
innings to help the Bruins open up a 8-2 lead.
Carter came in to relieve in the seventh, and an inning later,
he was tagged by Cal catcher Mike Tonis for a homer.
In the ninth, Berkeley centerfielder Juan Hernandez launched a
ball that cleared the fence with the bases full and cut the margin
to one.
Carter, however, remained poised and struck out the last two
batters to end the contest.
On Sunday, the sound of aluminum rang through the stadium, as
the two teams exchanged the lead numerous times in an ERA-inflating
contest.
Cislak, though regularly clocking pitches in the ’90s, had a
hideous line for the box scores, giving up seven runs on eight hits
in 4.1 innings.
Adams called on Paul Diaz to take over for Cislak and was
rewarded with three solid innings. After Diaz surrendered a home
run to Nady and walked Tonis in the eighth, the skipper handed the
ball to southpaw Kurt Birkins, who allowed Tonis to score on a
Hernandez single, putting the Bears in front, 10-9.
With runners on the corners, Tyler Dersom was brought in to stop
the Cal rally. Dersom was effective, retiring the next two
hitters.
The Bruins responded in the second half of the eighth, scoring
two more runs of their own to give themselves a one-run
advantage.
That was all Dersom would need, although he would not close the
game without a scare. He downed the first two batters but walked
shortstop Jason Williams, bringing Nady to the batter’s box. Nady,
though, would ground out, dashing Cal’s hopes for a comeback
win.
Berkeley assistant coach David Lawn, filling in as the head of
his team for Bob Milano, who underwent triple-bypass heart surgery,
was impressed with Adams’ squad. "UCLA’s a real good team, that’s
for sure," Lawn said. "They’re swinging the bat very well, and
their pitching is good. I thought their three starters did a good
job."
Nady, meanwhile, had revenge on his mind. Looking ahead to the
Pac-10-sanctioned series between UCLA and Cal, he said, "We get
them at our place, and hopefully things get better from here on
out."BEN SCHWARTZ
Chad Cislak packs a punch in his pitching for the Bruins. UCLA
swept Cal over the weekend, 3-0, at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
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