By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA baseball team will travel south to Louisiana this
weekend for the NCAA Super Regional, after sweeping three games in
last weekend’s Oklahoma regional.
The Bruins will face off against second-seeded Louisiana State
University, with the three-game series beginning Friday night. The
winner will move on to the College World Series.
In the Tigers, the Bruins will be facing a team that scored 40
runs in its first two regional games. But UCLA is well
equipped to meet the challenge.
The Bruins are led by second baseman Chase Utley, who was named
the regional MVP last weekend, going 7 for 15 with an
inside-the-park home run. Utley’s supporting cast came
through as well as the Bruins scored in double figures in each
game.
The biggest surprise for the Bruins last weekend was the
outstanding production from the bottom of their order. Third
baseman Randall Shelley and centerfielder Charles Merricks were
both named to the all-regional team after increasing their
offensive production.
“It’s important that the bottom of the lineup was
hitting,” Utley said. “The top of the lineup
can’t always score.”
“The bottom of the lineup came up big for us,”
leftfielder Bill Scott added. “When the bottom of the lineup
is hitting, the pitchers can’t pitch around the
top.”
Scott, also named to the all-regional team, collected four hits
in the final game. He was the only Bruin named to the
All-America first team this year, hitting well over .400 for the
season.
“This is the kind of stuff we look forward to,”
Scott said about playing in Baton Rouge’s Alex Box Stadium,
which is famous for having some of the largest and rowdiest fans in
the country. “We just like having a lot of people there,
whether they’re with us or against us.”
The Bruins are no strangers to stifling crowds. The
attendance should be even bigger than the record-breaking 4,080
UCLA saw in its final Pac-10 series against Stanford at Palo
Alto’s Sunken Diamond. The Bruins were able to overcome
that crowd and steal the first game behind solid relief
pitching.
UCLA has gotten outstanding performances in recent games from
its pitchers. Ryan Carter was the biggest factor in Oklahoma,
pitching eight innings in the final game for the victory. That was
Carter’s longest outing of the year, and his first start
since the season opener. Normally confined to the bullpen, the
lefty gave the Bruins a solid performance, allowing just four hits
in the regional-clinching game.
That type of performance was missing in last year’s
postseason tournament, when the Bruins lost to Wichita and Oklahoma
State, getting knocked out of contention before the Super
Regionals.Â
But this is a different UCLA team ““ one that led the
Pac-10 in home runs and was called “a college team with
professional hitters” by Loyola Marymount head coach Frank
Cruz.
UCLA is hoping to continue that offensive prowess against LSU in
what should be hot, muggy conditions.
“There’s going to be 8,000 screaming fans,”
UCLA head coach Gary Adams said. “Nothing compares to playing
at LSU.”
Should the Bruins beat the Tigers, they will make their second
College World Series appearance in four years, the last coming in
1997.
“This is what we all play for,” said pitcher Rob
Henkel, who played in the “˜97 Series and will start tonight
for the Bruins. “I want to get back into it. Once
you’ve had it, you want it again.”
The Bruins may want it, but getting there won’t be easy.
LSU is ranked fourth in the nation and reached the Super Regionals
by sweeping its own regional tournament. It will be hosting a
second straight series in front of its home crowd.
But the Bruins are looking forward to the challenge.
“Our confidence is really high,” Utley said.
“But we can’t make stupid mistakes against
LSU.”