Bruins look to brake four-game skid

Published: Friday, February 27, 1998

Friday, February 27, 1998

BASEBALL: Victory over powerful No. 2 Trojans could turn season around

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA baseball team has been here before. In fact, they were here two weeks ago.

The Bruins (7-8 overall, 2-3 in the Six-Pac) are in their second four-game losing streak of the season.

This time, though, UCLA has the daunting task of facing off against No. 2 USC (11-3, 2-1) in a three-game series.

But Bruin head coach Gary Adams noticed a positive change from the team in Wednesday's 11-8 home loss to Cal State Fullerton.

"When you lose four games in a row, you naturally are down," Adams said.

"You can't be up. But I saw signs yesterday, in our game, of us doing some things correctly, which gives me some hope that we can turn this thing around and become a better team."

After a horrendous series against Stanford, Adams called a practice on Monday.

Even though there was pouring rain, Adams believed that the team could work on some fundamentals without the ball.

"I told the guys that were there that the practice wasn't a punishment practice," Adams said.

All of the right choices that the Bruin players made in the Fullerton game must be repeated against the Trojans.

USC has been winning games thanks to their pitching.

Their starters for this weekend are senior Seth Etherton (4-0 record, 1.20 ERA), junior Mike Penney (3-1, 1.52) and junior Jason Sacnz (1-1, 2.70).

In contrast, the Bruin starters will be senior John Phillips (0-0, 11.05), freshman Chad Cislak (2-2, 7.13) and a third starter to be named later.

On top of being worried about the pitching, Adams is well aware that USC is great every year.

During Adams' tenure, the Bruins are 55-83 against the Trojans and overall USC holds a 216-94 advantage over UCLA.

"They've got a well-balanced team," Adams explained. "I don't think there is any one thing.

"That's the reason why they're doing so well. They've been playing good defense, they've been hitting well, and they're pitching has been pretty phenomenal so far."

Last year, the Bruins split the six games with the Trojans - winning two at home and one on the road.

On Friday and Sunday. the Bruins will travel to USC's Dedeaux Field. On Saturday, the Trojans will visit UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium for a 1 p.m. game.