Blue streak
The UCLA baseball team has been a streaky squad all year. It had
a four-game winning streak in early April, a five-game streak to
open the schedule and a season-high eight straight wins during the
second half of March.
Unfortunately, streaks can go both ways. The Bruins are no
strangers to the other kind, having twice strung together four
losses in a row ““ the last during a span of six days in
mid-April.
Their season high for consecutive defeats this season currently
stands at six straight, which included a non-conference sweep by
USC in late February.
Chasing the record books
UCLA second baseman Chase Utley currently ranks second on the
team and fourth in the Pac-10 in home runs with 17. His pace has
the junior rapidly climbing both the UCLA and Pac-10 all-time
lists.
Utley’s 48 career home runs are good for fifth in the UCLA
record books and eleventh all-time in conference history. Utley
sits at tenth in the nation with an average of 0.37 homers per ball
game.
Great Scott
One of the men ahead of Utley on the all-time record lists is
Bill Scott. The junior left fielder leads the team with 18
round-trippers this year. His 50 career home runs place him at No.
4 in the UCLA record books and tenth in the Pac-10.
Scott’s .383 career batting average is the best in school
history, and his .416 average this year is second-best in the
Pac-10 this year.
Scott was recently named Pac-10 Player of the Week for his 8 for
14 performance last week in which he hit three doubles, a triple,
two homers and drove in twelve runs in a three-game sweep of
Washington State in Pullman.
Jerkins refreshing to bullpen
Redshirt freshman Kevin Jerkins has been a stable force this
year out of the bullpen. The newcomer is third on the team with 16
appearances, and his 4.26 ERA is second best out of the Bruin
bullpen.
Jerkins has a 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio and has allowed
just five extra base hits to 105 total batters faced this year.
Power surge
If you like the long ball, then you probably have liked Bruin
ball in the new millennium. UCLA ranks first in the Pac-10 in home
runs (86), first in doubles (113) and second in total bases
(968).
The Bruins have three of the top ten conference home-run leaders
in Scott (18), Utley (17) and junior catcher Forrest Johnson (15).
In addition, the Bruins have yet to be shut out this year.
Sweeping out the trash
The Bruin’s season has been associated with brooms all
year, as UCLA leads the Pac-10 in series sweeps with five. The team
took all three from Hawaii, Harvard, Bradley, Oregon State and
Washington State.
UCLA will be looking for another sweep this weekend when it
takes on the California Golden Bears in the final weekend
home-stand of the regular season.
Compiled by Adam Karon, Daily Bruin Contributor.