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Senior pitcher Bryan Beck and the UCLA baseball team will look to pick up their first win in six
Baseball: Losing team turns to LMU
The UCLA baseball team will travel down the freeway in an attempt to break its 17-game losing streak today against Loyola Marymount. The Lions are 13-18, but have been playing well recently, upsetting then-No. 1 Cal State Fullerton last Tuesday and winning two out of three games against West Coast Conference foe Portland this past weekend. LMU has a potent offense that is scoring nearly six runs a game, which is a concern for UCLA coach John Savage. “They have a tough middle of the lineup with (Joe) Frazee and (Jon) Oller, and they always have a lot of offense at home,” Savage said. But the Lions’ pitching staff is allowing almost seven runs a game, which could give a ripe opportunity to reawaken a UCLA offense that scored just one run in three games against crosstown rival USC over the weekend. This is the first meeting of the year between the two clubs with a second match-up slated at Jackie Robinson Stadium on May 17.
SMITH INJURED: Junior Sean Smith is not expected to return to UCLA’s lineup for another two weeks. The second baseman, who sprained his shoulder on a check swing in a recent game against Arizona, took an MRI that did not show a need for surgery. “We were afraid it might be a tear of the labrum, which would have put him out the rest of the season, but there is no tear and (it is just) a sprain,” Savage said. Savage noted that Smith could return earlier, but he did not want to risk further injury to the player and will likely hold Smith out until the Bruins meet the Sun Devils on April 22-24. Prior to his injury, Smith was second on the team in doubles and fourth on the team in batting with a .301 average. “We can’t rush him back. He is too valuable for us with the bat to push him back too soon and then risk losing him for longer,” Savage said. Junior utility player Sean Carpenter has been filling in for Smith at second base since the injury.
SHARP STARTS: Senior catcher Matt Sharp started twice over the weekend against USC in place of struggling starter Chris Denove. Sharp had not started a game since 2003, and had only three starts in his UCLA career before the past weekend. Savage was looking to shake things up in a lineup that has only scored 47 runs during the 17-game losing streak, and only eight runs in the last seven games. “We’re trying to do everything we can to get out of this (losing) streak,” Savage said. “Chris has been struggling and we thought Sharp would be a good match-up against (Ian) Kennedy and (Zack) Kalter (the Trojan starters on Saturday and Sunday).” Sharp went 1-for-7 in his two starts, but played solid defense behind the plate.
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