At CS Long Beach, They Swear by Fiery Right-Hander Trachsel : Baseball: Troy High graduate, rated among top 25 professional prospects, has learned to control his pitches but is still trying to keep his temper in check.

In his first game on the mound for the Cal State Long Beach baseball team, Steve Trachsel let fly with more than the usual array of pitches.

Against Arizona State in the 49ers’ first series of this season, Trachsel released a pitch he was immediately dissatisfied with.

The exclamation he bellowed is not printable.

“Every person in the crowd heard it,” Trachsel said. “I’ve done it a couple more times this year.”

But after Trachsel’s shaky start--he lost to Arizona State, 10-3--there were few reasons for cursing.

Trachsel, a 6-foot-3 right-hander who played at Troy High School and Fullerton College, has had a season that probably will earn him a contract to play professional baseball. With a 10-5 record, a 2.51 earned-run average and 124 strikeouts in 132 2/3 innings, Trachsel is among the top 25 professional prospects, according to Baseball America magazine.

With fellow community college transfer Steve Whitaker, Trachsel helped the 49er pitching staff post the lowest ERA (3.58) in the Big West Conference. When matched with an offense that averaged nine runs a game, the strong pitching has led to a No. 8 national ranking and a spot in the NCAA playoffs.

Trachsel might not be pitching when the 49ers (40-19) open the double-elimination Central Regional against Southern Mississippi (41-22) tonight in Austin, Tex., but he’ll likely see action later in the tournament.

Long Beach’s pitchers have been well-supported by their batters this season--sometimes overwhelmingly so. Trachsel had consecutive shutouts against Texas Christian (12-0) and Hartford (18-0). Those games came amid a streak of 10 games during which the 49ers scored at least 10 runs per game; one of those victories was 30-7 over Portland, another NCAA tournament qualifier.

Trachsel wasn’t the beneficiary of that blowout and didn’t always receive such strong offensive support. Three of his five losses were by one run, including a 2-1 loss to Pacific the final weekend of the season. He allowed only six hits in that game.

Catcher Willy Speakman, who played with Trachsel at Fullerton College, said his lack of support became something of a joke between them.

Said Trachsel: “For a while there, it wasn’t just me. I called it our Saturday jinx. I lost two one-run ballgames and then we changed the rotation and (former Servite pitcher Andy) Croghan ended up losing a one-run game.

“Friday we score 15 runs, Saturday we score one, Sunday we score 14 or 15 again. It’s hit just about every one of our starting pitchers.”

In the past, Trachsel might have reacted to the lack of run production with anger. Just as Trachsel is sometimes frustrated by his own mistakes, the imperfections of teammates or umpires have caused him to rage.

When Trachsel was upset, Fullerton College Coach Nick Fuscardo said, he would walk behind the mound, his body language telling all.

“If he were a poker player, everybody would have raised the stakes,” Fuscardo said.

Fuscardo said Trachsel’s improvement at Fullerton--he was 4-8 with a 4.81 ERA in his first season and 10-3 with 3.11 ERA in his second--is partly because he became more mature.

“I think he’s made the effort to work on some of his shortcomings, such as his temper and his need to be perfect,” Fuscardo said.

Trachsel, who won’t turn 21 until late October, is something of a late-bloomer. In his junior year at Troy, he played for the junior varsity until the end of the season when he was called up to the varsity for the Southern Section playoffs.

He started one game for the Warriors, shutting out Corona for 6 2/3 innings in a 4-0 victory.

His senior season, he went 7-5 and then moved on to Fullerton College, where he was 4-8 for a 12-27 team. Over the summer, however, he started to excel, going 12-1 with a 1.03 ERA for the Fullerton Angels, his American Legion team that advanced to the Legion’s World Series in Millington, Tenn.

During his sophomore season--during which he was a first-team all-Orange Empire Conference selection--Trachsel started hearing from scouts that he would probably be drafted. However, the word proved to be premature.

“I did look forward to getting drafted,” Trachsel said. “It just didn’t work out for me that year. I’m not really positive why, but I don’t let it bother me anymore.”

Trachsel is secure in the knowledge that the Chicago Cubs approached him last August to sign a contract after his successful summer season in the Alaska League.

He went 4-0 with a 0.24 ERA in about half a season. During the other half, he was taking a couple of summer courses to complete his Associate of Arts degree at Fullerton.

Trachsel said the layoff from pitching and weight training made him stronger and added speed to his pitching.

“Some of my friends up there said I was throwing harder than I was two months earlier,” Trachsel said. “It was kind of an immediate advantage.”

Trachsel says he now weighs 195 pounds, about 20 pounds more than when he was at Fullerton. Besides the added velocity the weight has given him, he also has developed a better changeup and has better command of his curve.

But Trachsel has yet to take command of his emotions, Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said.

Although Trachsel has been the 49ers’ most consistent pitcher, Snow said, he needs to work on dealing with frustration.

“He’s a real competitive kid,” Snow said. “That works for him most of the time but sometimes it works against him.”

Trachsel recognizes the problem. But he says--and Snow agrees--that he has learned to shed his frustration more quickly so that it doesn’t carry over to the next pitch or batter.

“I still continue to work at it,” Trachsel said. “I try to just turn around and say it at center field.”

“It doesn’t affect my pitching, so I think I’m OK that way, but I think I have to work on the volume--it’s a little bit too loud.”