University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Bradley
Bruins Fan 20, Hit Seven Homers En Route To 14-4 Victory
March 10, 2000 | Baseball
March 10, 2000
WESTWOOD, Calif. -- The UCLA Bruins used a dominating performance by junior LHP Rob Henkel and a virtual home run barrage to notch a 14-4 victory over the visiting Bradley Braves (3-3, 0-0) in the first of a three-game weekend set Friday evening at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The win snaps UCLA's (8-10, 0-0) five-game losing streak dating back to a 10-7 setback at USC on February 25.
In a mere six innings of work, Henkel struck out 16 Braves, while walking just two, and fell just one shy of tying the school record set by teammate junior RHP Jon Brandt on February 12, 1999 vs. McNeese State.
Junior RHP Paul Diaz finished off Bradley, striking out four Braves to give UCLA a total of 20 K's on the evening. Diaz got credit for his first save of the season by pitching a shutout for the last three frames.
Henkel got the win, improving to 2-1 on the season while Bradley starter David Hoffman fell to 0-2 after three innings on the hill.
Offensively, the Bruins regained their powerful stroke, as they tied a record set earlier this season vs. North Carolina (2/18/00) by blasting seven homers beyond the confines of Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins had at least one roundtripper in each of the first five innings, including two in the fourth. Junior C Forrest Johnson capped off the first multi-homer game of his collegiate career with a two-run shot in the fifth to go along with his solo homer in the fourth. Junior 2B Chase Utley, meanwhile, recorded his seventh multi-homer game of his career, and second of the young season, by going solo in the fourth and seventh innings. In all, ten home runs were hit Friday night.
Rob Henkel welcomed the Braves to Westwood by striking out the side in the first and second innings. The junior from La Mesa, CA actually struck out the side four times and recorded the first seven Bradley outs via strikeout.
At one point the southpaw sent five consecutive Braves down on strikes. Henkel didn't use his defense much, as only two outs were recorded in the field during his six frames on the hill. Finally, Henkel managed to get eight of nine Bradley starters to whiff on his 94mph fastball, with the lone escapee being cleanup hitter Corey Jager.
Bradley did manage to grab a short-lived tie with UCLA after two-and-a-half before the Bruins reeled off four runs in both the third and fourth innings.
Junior DH Ryan Hamill sparked the onslaught with a three-run shot that gave UCLA the lead for good at 5-2 in the third. It was Hamill's first home run as a Bruin, as the junior transfer spent the first two years of college in a UNLV uniform. Freshman SS Warren Trott would cap off the four-run third with a RBI double.
Rounding out the UCLA home run derby were junior 3B Garrett Atkins, who hit a solo shot in the first and sophomore 1B Adam Berry, who went solo in the second. UCLA had six starters with at least two hits and three with at least three hits. Utley continued his torrid hitting by going 3-5 with two home runs, giving him a team-high nine on the season. In addition Atkins and Johnson were both 3-5, with Johnson leading the way with a career-high tying four RBI.
The series continues tomorrow at Jackie Robinson Stadium at 1pm. UCLA is expected to throw sophomore RHP Josh Karp (2-1, 5.06), while Bradley will counter with junior RHP Steve Ellis (0-0, 0.00).
