By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
Strike that. Back it up. Let’s try this thing again.
After a season-opening loss to UC Irvine earlier in the week,
the UCLA baseball team will try once again to begin the season on
the right foot with a three-game series against Gonzaga at Jackie
Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (0-1) were victims of quirky bounces and bobbled
balls in the loss, leaving them clamoring for another chance at a
first impression.
“We weren’t far away from winning the ball game, we
just kind of killed ourselves,” freshman Kevin Conlin
said.
Conlin’s suicidal analysis likely refers to the pair of
errors committed by the UCLA defense, along with some early season
defensive miscommunication. But equally self-destructive were their
paltry four hits, which were easily offset by 13 strikeouts.
But it’s early yet. The Bruins know that without a bevy of
first-round talent to ring up the scoreboard, they’ll have to
play virtually mistake-free to win games.
According to pitching coach Gary Adcock, they’ll also need
their starters to take them into the sixth or seventh inning, which
may be wishful thinking at this stage of the season.
Mike Kunes, Mike Davern and Casey Janssen ““ UCLA’s
Friday, Saturday and Sunday starters this weekend ““ have just
13 career starts. But they were all part of a surprising Bruin
bullpen last season that often had to bail out early exits by
starters.
They’ll face a Gonzaga squad playing its first games of
the year but returning its entire infield.
“They have seven players returning from last year’s
starting nine, and that’s very important when you play them
at the beginning of the season,” UCLA head coach Gary Adams
said. “They don’t need any time to gel as a team, so
they come into the season ready to go.”
The Zags lost three all-conference pitchers, though, so both
UCLA’s three and Gonzaga’s three will begin the season
learning on the job.