‘Mr. Versatility’ Proves He Can Hit, Field, Pitch and Commute : College baseball: Ryan Karp is willing to drive 45 minutes each day from his parents’ Beverly Hills home to play baseball for Harbor College.

Just call Ryan Karp Mr. Versatility. In two seasons on Harbor College’s powerful baseball team, he has been successful on the mound, at the plate, in the outfield and the infield.

Karp has also made a big geographical adjustment, going from a high school in affluent Beverly Hills to a community college in Wilmington.

“They used to tease me a lot about it,” Karp said. “The Beverly Hills boy in Harbor. It really used to bother me, but not anymore. I just want to play college baseball and get an education.”

Karp drives 45 minutes daily from his parents’ Beverly Hills home to be part of Harbor’s successful baseball program. It has proven to be a worthwhile effort for the 20-year-old, who has earned the praise of Seahawk Coach Jim O’Brien.

“If we make it all the way to the state finals,” O’Brien said, “he can play first base in one game, center field in the next game, and he can pitch in the last game. He can play all three with no problem.”

Last season Karp was an All-American center fielder and a .377 hitter on a Harbor team that went 33-17 and placed third at the state tournament in Sacramento.

This year, starting at first base, he’s still a top hitter (.345) on an even stronger Seahawk club that clinched its fifth consecutive conference title. Karp and freshman Erik Russell are tied for second on the team in home runs with five each.

As a pitcher, Karp, a left-hander, is 3-0 this season.

“He throws hard,” O’Brien said. “He’s got a good moving fastball and a pretty good curve ball. He’s also got a great change-up.”

Hitting, however, seems to be his forte. Karp ripped a couple of home runs over the right-field fence in Harbor’s 10-2 win over Mission on April 19. The victory gave the Seahawks their 11th conference title since 1976.

The first homer, in the bottom of the fourth inning, gave the top-ranked Seahawks a 3-0 lead, and the second gave them a 6-0 edge in the bottom of the sixth.

Karp followed his back-to-back homers with an RBI double to deep left in the bottom of the seventh. A professional baseball scout, who doesn’t want to be identified because Karp is under control by the Houston Astros, said he’s impressed by the young athlete’s ability.

“I saw him pitch in the winter,” the scout said as he watched Karp take the field, “and I thought he had a great chance as a pitcher. He can also swing the bat real well. He has a real good body, and the more he develops, the better he’ll get.”

At 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, Karp has impressed many with his powerful hitting and pitching. After last season he was drafted by the Astros, who own his rights until June.

But unless he gets an extraordinary pro offer, Karp wants to play college ball and get a degree in accounting.

Earlier this month he signed a letter of intent with the University of Miami, a powerhouse Division I program.

Miami has plans for Karp as a hitter and pitcher, though Turtle Thomas, the Hurricanes’ baseball recruiting coordinator, said Monday that he wouldn’t comment on individual recruits until the entire recruiting class signs.

“The information on all our recruits will be released in an article in the Miami Herald in a couple of weeks,” Thomas said. “I wish I could tell you a lot of good things about him, but I can’t at this moment.”

Karp picked Miami because he likes hot, humid weather and he has relatives there. The sophomore was also recruited by major programs such as Texas A & M and Pepperdine.

Being pursued by big schools was a change for Karp, who had few options a couple of years ago. He had virtually nowhere to go after graduating from Beverly Hills High, where he played baseball, basketball and football.

“I didn’t get lots of attention in high school,” Karp said. “Beverly Hills is not known for its athletes or good athletics. They think the kids from Beverly Hills don’t want it as bad. Well . . . I want it just as bad.”

After high school, Karp went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in hopes of earning a starting spot on the baseball team. He left after one quarter because his chances of making the cut looked grim. He transferred to Harbor in the spring of 1989.

“I wasn’t even going to play (at San Luis Obispo),” Karp said. “I wasn’t going to make varsity.”

The bench was an unfamiliar position for the three-sport letterman from Beverly Hills. As a high school senior, he had led the Normans to the semifinals of the CIF 5-A baseball playoffs with powerful hitting and consistent pitching.

Karp still holds school records for most home runs (nine) and RBIs (49) in a year.

Despite Karp’s success, however, Beverly Hills Coach Bill Erickson said there are several reasons why he wasn’t highly recruited.

“He had just started growing physically,” Erickson said. “He was a skinny, awkward kid who hadn’t matured into his body until the end of his senior year. Another shortcoming is that he wasn’t as competitive as we felt he should be. He was not as confident in himself.

“Now I see a totally different person. He’s much more confident. He’s a hell of a lot stronger, and he’s much more determined. He also plays a lot harder. Going to Harbor is the best thing that could have happened to him.”

It’s also one of the best things that could have happened to the playoff-bound Seahawks, who wrapped up their regular season with an impressive 41-5 record (19-0 in the Southern California Athletic Conference).

Despite having a deep and talented pitching staff, O’Brien said Karp has a good chance of pitching in the playoffs, which begin Saturday.

Karp likes the idea. “I’d really love to,” he said, smiling. “I like pitching because I have control of the game. I’d have to say pitching is my favorite.”

But it really doesn’t matter where he plays, as long as he contributes to the Seahawks’ quest to capture a third state title in O’Brien’s 15 years at Harbor.

“I really like doing it all,” Karp said. “I just love playing baseball.”