UA baseball team worn out after busy break, illness

Brian D. Rothschild Arizona Daily Wildcat UA infielder Kenny Corley (33) slides into first for a base hit during last Saturday's game against UCLA. The Wildcats were swept by Southern Cal in three games over the weekend.

Eight games in 10 days were the order of the week, including two big home series against UCLA and Southern Cal.

But a sudden surge in injuries and the circulation of a nasty illness among the team helped send Arizona six defeats in the eight games, including yesterday's 10-6 loss to the Trojans.

The fifth-ranked Wildcats (25-10 overall, 7-8 in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division) were swept at home by third-ranked Southern Cal (23-5, 10-2 Six-Pac), giving the Trojans 16 straight wins at Frank Sancet Field.

"They were better than us," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said. "Can you name a way in which we were better than them?"

The Wildcats lost despite the efforts of junior third baseman Omar Moraga, who was 4 for 5 with a solo home run, two doubles and three RBI.

"It's not about I in this game," Moraga said. "It helped, sure, but it wasn't good enough for us to win."

Many of the Wildcats' starters sat out the game, either due to various injuries or to the flu bug that Stitt said the team picked up during a two-game series against UNLV Tuesday and Wednesday.

That list included left fielder Jason Hendricks, the team co-leader with 11 home runs, center fielder Rafell Jones, who was injured during spring football practice and may be out for the season, second baseman Erik Mattern and pitcher Rob Shabansky, who is also out for the foreseeable future.

Things didn't get much better yesterday as right-handed starter Darrell Hussman took a line drive off his ankle. The injury is described as a deep bruise. While nothing is broken, Stitt said the early word is that Hussman will not make the trip to Oregon State this weekend.

Stitt, though, said the injuries and illnesses were not what cost Arizona the most against Southern Cal.

"It's not what beat us," Stitt said. "On Friday (Trojan pitcher Seth) Etherton pitched a great game. (Colin) Porter's two two-run homers were the only offense we had. Saturday we had them right where we wanted them and we couldn't finish.

"Today we had so many mental mistakes by guys who play every day, not by the reserves. Baseball is the only game I know of that requires total concentration on every pitch."

Moraga said that, if anything, the injuries and illnesses were just "bad timing.

"(We've got) just a couple guys banged up. We need some rest, both mentally and physically," he said.

The Trojans won Friday's contest by the score of 6-4, and then came from behind to beat the Wildcats 7-6 Saturday.

Porter, a senior right fielder, was the offensive star of the two games, hitting two home runs in each game.

He is the first Wildcat to ever hit four home runs in a Six-Pac series.

"I was just seeing it (the ball) well," Porter said. "It just got hanging up there and I hit it."

The sweep at the hands of Southern Cal followed a sweep by the Running Rebels in Las Vegas. UNLV won 6-3 and 8-6 in the two non-conference games.

Arizona was able to take two of three from UCLA over the break, bouncing back from a tough 16-14 loss in the first game to crush the Bruins 18-7 and then win a squeaker, 12-10.