Head tilted back, arms crossed, gazing up at the wall, Justin Saco encouraged Marco Zepeda, 13, to keep climbing. Nervous of the height and unsure of what to do next, Marco asked to come down, but Saco wasn’t ready to let him give up.

Feared. Humble. Reliable. Contagious confidence. The best player in the country. These are just a handful of words used to describe UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame inductee and former softball powerhouse third baseman Janice Parks.

When Christian Leandro found his passion for sports medicine, it occurred on the opposite side of the tape. During his second year, Leandro was playing soccer on the Intramural Field when he tore his left ACL for the second time.

Before the Bruins’ record-setting game on Friday night, senior closer David Berg met up with junior pitcher James Kaprielian, who was preparing for his start against Arizona.

With no outs and the bases loaded in the fifth inning, David Berg took the mound. Equipped with a newly developed sidearm delivery, the junior pitcher at Bishop Amat High School toed the rubber to preserve his team’s three-run lead in the 2010 National Classic, a high-profile high school tournament.

Rest is at a minimum for the UCLA baseball team after a wild weekend on the road.
However, the Bruins will have momentum from the weekend to balance the fatigue of travel and extra innings as it heads to Cal State Fullerton Tuesday night.

This week, Aubrey and Matthew discuss the 2015 NFL draft, which saw three former Bruins – inside linebacker Eric Kendricks, defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa and quarterback Brett Hundley – get drafted.

While games against the West Coast Conference carry less weight on paper than Pac-12 games, matchups against its teams have proven to be important challenges as UCLA baseball gears up for its late-season push.