COLLEGE BASEBALL : Smith Comes Out of the Woodwork as a Slugger for the Trojans

The choice was easy for Mark Smith.

When USC joined the Dodgers for their annual public workout at Dodger Stadium last month, Smith was one of several Trojans selected to participate in a home-run-hitting contest with Dodger minor leaguers.

Smith, a junior outfielder from Arcadia, did not hesitate when offered the option of using an aluminum or wood bat. He reached for wood and, before the crowd of 10,000, sent two pitches into the left-field seats and another over the wall in center.

Smith’s comfort with wood came as little surprise.

Last summer, he was selected most valuable player of the Cape Cod League after batting .408. It was the first time since the league switched back to wood bats in 1985 that any player eclipsed .400.

“The wood bat just feels better in your hands,” Smith said. “Aluminum bats are hollow and you can’t feel the sweet spot. With wood, you can feel the barrel. You really learn to hit with wood.”

This season, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Smith also has learned to hit with power, a dimension that has turned a prospect into a potential No. 1 draft pick.

Smith hit one home run as a freshman and 11 in 1990. Through 25 games this season, he is hitting .407 with 11 home runs and 42 runs batted in for the No. 6 Trojans, who are 17-7-1 overall, 5-1 in Pacific 10 Southern Division and play host to top-ranked Stanford (17-3, 4-0) this weekend.

In last weekend’s sweep of California, Smith hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give USC a 6-5 victory in the series opener. The next day, he hit a three-run home run in the first inning. In Monday’s finale, he hit two home runs and a triple.

Smith’s performance against Cal came one week after he hit three home runs in one game against Arizona.

“I always felt I could be a good hitter with power, but I knew it was going to take time to happen,” Smith said. “I just had to get my swing together.

“Last year, I showed flashes of doing it, but I wasn’t consistent. I needed to make more changes.”

Smith refines his swing by videotaping himself in his back yard batting cage. He also watches tapes of major league hitters and reads as many books as he can about hitting and mental toughness.

“I could see my swing coming together on film, and that gave me more confidence,” Smith said. “But I still think I have a ways to go.”

Trivia time: Which school has the most former players on major league spring training rosters?

What’s in a name: Last season, Jeff Hammonds batted .355, compiled a 37-game hitting streak and became the first Stanford freshman to earn first-team All-American honors.

And since his name is sure to appear throughout the Stanford record book by the time his career is complete, Hammonds decided to set the record straight--his name is Jeffrey.

“Last year they had me listed as Jeff Hammonds from Plainfield, N.J., when I’m actually from Scotch Plains, N.J.,” Hammonds said. “I caught a little heat for that at home, so when I corrected the hometown I decided to do the same with my real given name.”

By any name, Hammonds is having another great season.

Coach Mark Marquess moved him from leadoff to the No. 4 spot in the batting order, and Hammonds, who hit seven home runs last season, has responded with a .364 average and nine homers.

Steve Solomon, a junior outfielder who played at Crossroads High, has replaced Hammonds at the top of the Cardinal lineup and is batting .300 with four home runs and seven doubles.

“I miss batting leadoff because I like having the opportunity to set the tempo of the game and ignite the team right off the bat,” said Hammonds, who stole 48 bases in 1990. “But I’m helping the team more in the fourth spot. And I have to admit, hitting home runs is pretty fun.”

Seeing is believing: After a frustrating freshman season during which he batted .189 and had a nation-leading 80 strikeouts in 63 games, Todd Steverson is once again keeping his eye on the ball.

Actually, Steverson is keeping both his eyes on the ball after overcoming an optical problem that prevented him from seeing pitches clearly as they approached home plate.

“I could see the ball fine when it came out of the pitcher’s hand,” said Steverson, a former standout at Culver City High who turned down a reported $300,000 from the St. Louis Cardinals to attend Arizona State, “but when the ball came in, my left eye would dart off and go play games by itself.”

Steverson’s problem was discovered at the end of last season after glasses and contact lenses failed to help.

During the summer, he did optical exercises for 45 minutes a day for eight weeks, then batted .400 during summer league play. In the fall, he batted .469.

This season, Steverson is batting .292 with five homers and a team-high 26 RBIs in 24 games for the No. 9 Sun Devils. Recently, he was moved from third base to the outfield, where Steverson and scouts say his future lies professionally. “I was humbled all of last season,” Steverson said, “Now, I’m feeling good again, and I think I can take my game to an even higher level.”

Trivia answer: UCLA.

According to Allan Simpson, editor of Baseball America magazine, there are 16 former Bruins on spring training rosters.

Texas is second with 14 players followed by Arizona State (12), Arizona (11), Cal State Fullerton (10), San Diego State (10), Oklahoma State (9), California (9), Florida (8) and Stanford (8).

College Baseball Notes

Right-hander Steve Montgomery is 3-0 with a save and a 1.23 earned-run average for No. 13 Pepperdine, which plays host to Nevada this weekend in a West Coast Conference series. . . . UC Santa Barbara right-hander Scott Longaker (4-1) shut out Cal State Northridge last week, the first shutout by a Gaucho against a Division I team since 1985. . . . Steve Whitaker (3-1) has a 1.93 ERA for No. 22 Cal State Long Beach, which has won seven consecutive games. . . .First baseman Scott Sharts is batting .345 with 14 home runs and 34 RBIs for No. 24 Cal State Northridge, which plays in the Fresno State tournament this weekend. . . . Joe Ciccarella of Loyola Marymount, batting .420, had a school-record four doubles in a game against USF last week. . . . UCLA outfielder David Tokheim is batting .390 and has an 18-game hitting streak.