Victory Is No Walk in Parque

After years of yearning to be noticed, Jim Parque is finding the limelight a bit startling.

As a 5-foot-3 Crescenta Valley High pitcher, he was in everybody’s shadow. But as he has grown into a 5-10 UCLA junior with a 90-mph fastball, Parque’s stature has increased proportionately.

He made the U.S. Olympic team last summer and is rated the 17th-best professional prospect among college players by Baseball America.

No wonder the stands at Jackie Robinson Stadium were filled with scouts Tuesday as Parque went to work against Pepperdine in the Bruins’ 6-5 nonconference victory.

“I’ve never seen that many scouts at a game,” UCLA Coach Gary Adams said.

Admittedly nervous and fighting flu, Parque walked five, committed an error, threw three wild pitches and needed 110 pitches to get through five innings before exiting with the score tied, 5-5.

UCLA won by scoring a run in the eighth, but the buzz among scouts was that Parque (2-0) is throwing too much too early in the season. He made 110 pitches in a 5 1/3-inning outing in a victory over Nevada Las Vegas on Friday, and in three starts has walked 16 in 16 1/3 innings.

He gets plenty of strikeouts as well--17 this season, including seven against Pepperdine--but that only drives up his pitch count.

“I’m sick, it’s early and I’m getting the kinks out, but that’s not an excuse,” he said. “Three days’ rest doesn’t bother me. I want to do so well that I’m putting too much pressure on myself.”

Parque exudes confidence on the mound, but he works methodically, seemingly taking as much time between pitches as a chess master does between moves.

“I want to be perfect every time,” he said. “I need to go out and have fun rather than thinking so much.”

The Bruins (7-0 and ranked No. 2) are enjoying their start as much as the Waves (0-4) are frustrated with theirs. First-year Pepperdine Coach Frank Sanchez is still looking for a victory.

Pepperdine had a chance in the ninth, but with runners on first and third designated hitter Randy Wolf struck out to end the game after fouling off several pitches from right-hander Jake Meyer.

John Workman (0-1) allowed only one run in five innings of relief, but the Waves could not generate any offense after Parque exited. Pepperdine, which was swept at home last weekend for the first time since 1973 by Nevada, is batting only .224.

A home run in the third by shortstop David Matranga was the Waves’ only extra-base hit. Otherwise, their rallies were fueled by Parque’s walks and misplays.

Pepperdine took a 3-0 lead, but UCLA came back with five runs in the second on only two hits against right-hander A.J. Samadani and left-hander James Melcher. Three walks, a hit batter and an error on a popup by Bruin All-American Troy Glaus kept the inning going.

The Waves scored single runs in the fourth and fifth, but were stymied by relievers Matt Klein, Sam Madrid and Meyer.