Peaks, Valleys Mark Zamora’s Career

Nine days ago, UCLA pitcher Peter Zamora sat slumped on the side of his bed in a Palo Alto motel room at 2:30 in the morning. In a few hours, he was scheduled to pitch for the Bruins in the deciding game of an important three-game series against Pacific 10 Conference-rival Stanford. But at that hour, the hotel room was spinning as much as his stomach was.

His father, Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora, who was visiting during the series, drove around town searching for an all-night market that might sell a remedy his ailing son could keep down.

The elder Zamora never found one, and a day later Peter lay flat on his back in a Westwood hospital, an IV in his right arm and his fourth victory of the season secure.

Just how the younger Zamora fended off a case of salmonella to pitch eight strong innings in a 5-3 victory over Stanford April 20 is a story that Bob, known to spin a yarn or two, will probably tell his grandchildren someday.

But for junior Peter Zamora, who is expected to start at first base when the Bruins play at Cal State Fullerton at 7 tonight, it was just another case of overcoming adversity.

“I wasn’t feeling very good before the game with Stanford,” he said. “But I guess once I got going the adrenaline took over from there.”

Zamora has had his adrenaline flowing all season, helping second-ranked UCLA bring a 36-13-1 record into tonight’s game. Zamora is batting .401 with 14 home runs and 57 runs batted in. On the mound he’s 5-2, including Sunday’s eight-strikeout, complete-game 14-4 victory over USC.

Zamora’s baseball career hasn’t always gone smoothly. In his senior season at Capistrano Valley in 1994, he had 15 victories, a 1.30 earned-run average with 161 strikeouts and drove in 42 runs. He was a first-team Times All-Orange County selection but missed the Southern Section playoffs because of tendinitis in his triceps and a hematoma in his calf, the result of being struck by a line drive during batting practice. The Cougars lost in the first round.

He bounced back that year in the state Area Code Games, striking out seven of the nine batters he faced. That impressed the Pittsburgh Pirates, who selected him in the 25th round of the amateur draft that June.

Zamora decided to go to college, selecting UCLA over Pepperdine, USC and Fresno State. He started every game his freshman year--including two on the mound--becoming one of only three freshmen named to the All-Pac 10 team. Collegiate Baseball named him an All-American honorable mention.

Last season, however, he missed 15 games because of back problems and never felt quite right. “I was expected to do a lot, but I tried to play with a bad back,” he said. “I just woke up one day with back spasms. It would tighten up on me and I just wouldn’t be able to play.”

Still, he had record of 6-0 heading into the Central Regional of the NCAA tournament, but gave up six runs in 1 1/3 innings in a 13-2 loss to Southwest Missouri State in the second round. UCLA battled back into the regional final, where it was eliminated by Miami, 8-4.

Zamora gained notoriety last season for hitting an Arizona State batter with a pitch on orders from UCLA Coach Gary Adams. Adams, who said he was trying to make a point with the NCAA about a lack of parity between the rules for suspending players as opposed to coaches, got a one-game suspension after admitting he told Zamora to throw at the first batter he faced.

So far this season, Zamora appears to have put the disappointment of his sophomore year--and the beaning controversy--behind him.

“This has been one of the funnest years I have had. It has been just awesome,” he said. “We play one game at a time, we never look for the game ahead.”

Seems the biggest problem Adams and Zamora have had this season--perhaps in his career--has been figuring out whether he is a first baseman or pitcher. He’s expected to be a mid- to high-round draft pick this spring. Some teams are looking at him as a pitcher, others as a first baseman.

Adams ticks off the names of half a dozen former players who had similar dilemmas.

“It’s like a tradition,” he said. “Seems like we have at least one guy every year who pitches and plays in the field. It’s most common for a guy to pitch and be a designated hitter. To be a position player and a pitcher, that is rare.”

Surprisingly, Cal State Fullerton never pursued Zamora, according to Titan assistant coach Randy Vanderhook, who couldn’t say exactly why his former boss, Augie Garrido (now at Texas) never showed any interest.

Zamora now is concentrating on the big picture.

“Right now we are looking at getting a No. 1 seed in the [NCAA] regionals,” Zamora said. The Bruins (15-9 in conference) trail Stanford (17-7) by two games in the Southern Division. The Cardinal plays at UCLA May 9-11.

“We plan to win the rest of our games,” Zamora said, “and be in a position to make it into the [College] World Series.”