COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: BRUINS FEEL RIGHT AT HOME IN OKLAHOMA.Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer As fortunate as UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX teams have been in Oklahoma recently, the Bruins baseball team can't think of a better place to be playing today as it makes its first postseason appearance since 2000. UCLA and Pepperdine are the two local representatives in the 64-team NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
The Bruins, one of four teams in the three-day, double-elimination regional in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm , open against second-seeded Oklahoma (37-22). Third-seeded UCLA (33-27) would love to extend the school's trend of success in the state, a run that includes the women's softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' team clinching a second consecutive national championship Monday, and the men's tennis team recently ending Illinois' NCAA-record winning streak Noun 1. winning streak - a streak of wins streak, run - an unbroken series of events; "had a streak of bad luck"; "Nicklaus had a run of birdies" at 64 matches with an upset in the national semifinals in Tulsa. ``We'd have been happy to go anywhere,'' UCLA coach Gary Adams said. ``But it's a good place to be going.'' The baseball team's last taste of postseason success was at the same site. The Bruins defeated the Sooners twice in 2000 en route to advancing to the Super Regional at LSU LSU Louisiana State University LSU Large Subunit LSU La Salle University (Philadelphia, PA) LSU La Sierra University LSU Link State Update (OSPF) LSU Learning Support Unit , where UCLA was eliminated. ``We've had good luck there before,'' said Adams, who has reached the College World Series only once in his 30-year career. ``Maybe that's a good sign.'' But the Bruins know they will need more than luck. They demonstrated they have plenty more than that by finishing third in the Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership Full members after being the preseason pick to finish seventh. Adams was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year, and players such as all-conference junior shortstop Ryan McCarthy, senior ace Casey Janssen Robert Casey Janssen (born September 17 1981 in Orange, California) is a right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was selected by the Blue Jays out of UCLA in the fourth round of the 2004 draft. and junior All-American first baseman/pitcher Wes Whisler are capable of providing Adams with additional highlights before he steps down at the end of the season. UCLA finished the season winning two of three against both Washington and Oregon State the past two weekends. Pepperdine (28-30) also enters the postseason with momentum on its side. The fourth-seeded Waves, who open against top-seeded Arizona State (40-16) at the Cal State Fullerton regional, have won a season-high four in a row, including a two-game sweep of last weekend's West Coast Conference championship series against a Loyola Marymount team that won the regular-season series against Pepperdine. Heather Gripp, (818)713-3607 heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: CAPSULES |
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