Baseball : Major Colleges Storm the Picketts Line

And the crowd is going absolutely crazy . . . We’ve got Picketts up to the plate right now . . . It’s a full count in the bottom of the ninth inning . . . the delivery, the pitch . . . Picketts gets all of that one . . . That’s way back. Back, back, back, back . . . Gone! . . . and so am I, so if you leave your name and number I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Billy Picketts’ telephone answering machine has been fielding quite a few calls lately, most of which are coming from Division I baseball coaches.

Picketts, meanwhile, has been busy dialing 8--as in long distance--for the Chicago White Sox Rookies summer-league team.

Picketts played left field for College of the Canyons last season, batting .390 with 4 home runs, 24 runs batted in and 23 stolen bases. He also walked 36 times as the leadoff man for the Cougars. Creditable statistics to be sure, but Division II and III schools were the only ones that came calling with scholarship offers.

On June 7th, however, that all changed when Picketts blasted three solo home runs in a game against the San Fernando Valley Dodgers.

Pepperdine and UCLA are now among the schools wooing Picketts, who has delayed accepting an invitation to join the Madison (Wis.) A’s for the rest of their National Baseball Congress schedule until he secures a four-year scholarship for next season.

“I stayed here because I want to clear everything up,” Picketts said. “I just thought I wouldn’t be able to get anything done if I had left for Wisconsin.”

Picketts has been playing second base recently, which makes him even more attractive to coaches looking for players who can fill two roles while using just one scholarship.

“We’re talking to Billy Picketts and we’re hoping to put something together,” Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez said. “I heard UCLA was talking to him, too. The way he has been playing, it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone was talking to him.”

Second base shuffle: Former Valley College outfielder Sean Thompson is another player making the switch to second base as he begins his professional career in the San Francisco Giants’ organization.

“Second base is where I think his future is,” Giants scout George Genovese said. “I worked him out there and he shows excellent aptitude. He’s a great hustler and his talent and attitude will take him a long way.”

Thompson, who batted .315 with 2 home runs, 30 RBIs and 15 stolen bases last season at Valley, has been assigned to Pocatella, Ida., the Giant’s Rookie League affiliate in the Pioneer League.

Second base shuffle Part II: UCLA outfielder Charlie Fiacco is yet another player who will attempt to make the transition from the outfield to second base--but Fiacco will do it during his senior season.

Fiacco turned down a package of cash, college tuition and incentives worth a reported $35,000 that was offered by the Milwaukee Brewers, who selected Fiacco in the 10th round of the draft.

Fiacco, who played at Camarillo High, batted .293 with 15 home runs, 44 RBIs and 20 stolen bases during the past season for the Bruins.

UCLA Coach Gary Adams is planning to have Fiacco work out at second base next fall to help fill a hole in the Bruin infield.

“Charlie is very favorable toward trying it,” Adams said. “He’s got the quickness, the speed and good enough hands. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.

“We’re going to give him an honest-to-goodness chance to work at it and we’ll evaluate him at the end of the fall.”

Three former Bruin second baseman are playing professionally, including: Mike Gallego, who is in the major leagues with the Oakland Athletics; Rich Amaral, who is in the Chicago Cubs organization; and Torey Lovullo, the former Montclair Prep High standout who is in the Detroit Tigers system.

Offer declined: UCLA third baseman Scott Cline, who played on the same team with Fiacco at Camarillo High, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 26th round but will return to Westwood for his senior year.

“About 12 teams called me before the draft and I told them, ‘If you draft me three through nine, I’ll go,’ ” said Cline, who played in just 41 games because of knee problems but still batted .308 with 9 home runs and 44 RBIs. “I gave the Mariners a figure I wanted and we were about half off. I’m looking forward to next year.”

Back to the bushes: Matt Franco and Scott Radinsky are in familiar territory this summer, having been reassigned to the Rookie League teams for which they played last season.

Franco, the Chicago Cubs seventh-round draft choice out of Westlake High last year, is in Wytheville, Va., in the Appalachian League, and Radinsky, who was drafted in the third round by the White Sox out of Simi Valley High in 1986, is in Sarasota, Fla., in the Gulf Coast League.

Franco, 19, played in 62 games and batted .248 with a home run and 21 RBIs last season.

“He’s definitely still a prospect,” said Scott Nelson, the Cubs’ assistant director of scouting. “He’s a big kid who can hit the ball and we’re going to play him at first and third base this summer.”

Radinsky, 20, split the season between Peninsula in the Class-A Carolina League, where he was 1-7 with a 5.77 earned-run average, and Sarasota in the Gulf Coast Rookie League, where he was 3-3 with a 2.31 ERA. He underwent shoulder surgery at the end of last season and arrived in Florida last week.

“It’s just been a long, slow recovery thing for him,” said Steve Noworyta, the White Sox assistant director of player development. “I’m not sure when he’ll be able to throw competitively. We’re looking at the end of July or August, but it seems like everything is going well.”

Thumbs down: Frank Halcovich’s professional career got off to a rocky start last week when he suffered a broken thumb after he was hit by a pitch in one of his first games with the Kansas City Royals’ Midwest League affiliate in Appleton, Wis.

Halcovich, who played at Granada Hills High, College of the Canyons and Arizona, was drafted in the 22nd round by the Royals. He will be on the disabled list for two to three weeks.

Calling all prospects: The Cincinnati Reds will hold a tryout camp for players between the ages of 16-22 at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Thousand Oaks High.

The camp will be run by Dave Calaway, the Reds’ West Coast Scouting Supervisor, and is open to players who are not on an active minor league draft list. American Legion players must have a note of permission from their coaches.

“We’re looking for guys we can follow the next year or two,” Calaway said. “We’re looking at kids who might be prospects in future drafts. This kind of tryout gives us an idea and is just a good start for next year.”

Transferring Trojan: Jim Henderson, a former Westlake High catcher who was a freshman at USC last season, has received permission from Coach Mike Gillespie to transfer to another school.

“I have no hard feelings against the coaches, I just wanted the opportunity to play and wasn’t sure I was going to get it at USC,” said Henderson, who played for the Trojans’ JV team last season.

Henderson underwent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder a few months ago and will join the San Fernando Valley Dodgers when his rehabilitation is complete.

Henderson said he has talked to Arizona State, which already has lost a couple of catchers. Tim Spehr signed with the Royals and Tim Laker, the former Simi Valley High and Oxnard College catcher who had signed a letter of intent with the Sun Devils, opted to sign with the Montreal Expos.

Onward and upward: John Glantz, a first baseman-designated hitter who batted .333 with 5 home runs and 22 RBIs last season for College of the Canyons, said he will walk on at UCLA next season.

Canyons pitcher Kevin Miner, who was 6-2 with 5 saves and a 3.27 ERA, will attend Azusa Pacific.

New addition: Steve Hosey, an outfielder who helped lead Fresno State to the College World Series, has joined the San Fernando Valley Dodgers.

The Dodgers play host to the La Jolla Waves today in a “Father’s Day Freebie” doubleheader at noon at Cal State Northridge.

Hosey, 6-3, 218, batted .366 for Fresno State and was fourth in the nation with 108 hits. He also had 13 home runs, 74 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.