Monday, April 1, 1996

By Yoni Tamler

Daily Bruin Staff

Six baseball games, including an interstate road trip and a trifecta of transcity meetings with the nation's second-best ball club ­ not what you'd call the ideal spring break. For the UCLA baseball team, however, it was some picnic.

In a week that was far more taxing than relaxing, the Bruins managed to take two out of three against two of the Six-Pac's most perilous teams, No. 14 Arizona State and second-ranked Southern California.

This weekend, the Bruins completed the first leg of an eight-game road schedule, defeating ASU twice in front of what UCLA head coach Gary Adams called "the toughest crowd we'll see all season" at Packard Stadium in Tempe.

After taking the first two games of the desert rendezvous and leading 7-2 in the sixth, the Bruins were seemingly headed for a sweep on Sunday. But ASU battled back and dramatically seized the last game on Dan McKinley's ninth-inning, three-run blast off Kevin Sheredy.

On Saturday night, ASU's frustration spilled over in the ninth inning when Sun Devil Ryan Bradley, Friday's losing pitcher, beaned Troy Glaus square in the head. Following a frightening 10-minute delay where he laid motionless, Glaus was rushed to a hospital where a CAT scan revealed no serious damage.

The incident, which elicited a four-game suspension for Bradley, coincided with freshman Dan Keller's best outing ­ five innings of shutout ball for in the 9-7 victory.

But as sweet as was UCLA's success on the road, the Bruins (19-11, 10-5 Six-Pac) were far more impressive one week ago, taking two of three from league-leading USC.

Following a two-game split, the series finale showcased a Sons-of-Troy sorely in need of some improved glovework. USC recorded 10 errors to abet the game's final outcome, a 10-5 UCLA victory.

"I've never seen a team make 10 errors in a game before," Adams said, "but they say that good teams capitalize on errors with timely hitting, and that's what we did."

USC sophomore right-hander Seth Etherton caught UCLA batters on an off day in the second game of the series at Dedeaux Field. The Bruins were all but helpless against Etherton in a 13-3 decision.

"We were the better team in the first game, and they were the better team in the second game, thanks mainly to Etherton," Adams said.

In that first game, the two teams traded blows throughout most of the day until the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, one man on and the game tied at seven, UCLA sent junior Benny Craig to the plate to pinch hit for designated hitter Cass Olson. Craig, on cue, banged a curve ball from Justin Parle into the horizon over right field, sending the Bruins on their way to a 12-7 victory.Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu