UC Santa Barbara’s Lane Bounces Back From Bad Break : Baseball: Shortstop’s productive ’91 season was cut short by a line drive. But Laguna Beach graduate is hitting his stride again.

Danny Lane, UC Santa Barbara’s do-it-all shortstop, couldn’t believe his luck last season.

There he was, leading the nation in runs batted in. A clutch hitter, whose 11 home runs included three grand slams. A guy who knocked in 10 runs in one game.

Yeah, all those coaches who passed on Lane when he graduated from Laguna Beach High School must have been sorry.

Then, a line drive ricocheted off a batting cage pole and smashed the index finger of his left hand. One moment he was lobbing pitches to a teammate, the next his finger sounded like a maraca.

He also learned that there was a tumor in his finger, which had weakened the bone. It took three hours of surgery--during which doctors removed a small bone from his wrist and transplanted into his finger--to repair the damage.

In six days, Lane went from Wunderkind to wondering what had happened.

“I was showing people what I could do,” Lane said. “I was hitting in the clutch, driving in runs. Everything was going my way. Then, just like that, my season was over.”

Today, Lane is trying to get lucky again.

He might never have another season like 1991, when he hit .350 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs in 35 games. But this year hasn’t been so bad.

Although his power stats are down a bit, Lane is hitting .370 and leads the Big West Conference in hits with 43. He also has three home runs, 12 doubles and 26 RBIs.

“I haven’t had any problems with the finger,” Lane said. “It was my left hand, so it didn’t affect my throwing. I can grip a bat pretty good. Everything’s great again.”

Even better, in some ways.

Lane, a junior, has produced in the field as well as he has at the plate. He had always been good defensively, but this season he has added leadership to his play.

“Dan is pretty cerebral out there,” Gaucho Coach Al Ferrer said. “Most players are thinking stuff like, ‘If they hit a grounder to me, I’ll throw to first.’ Dan thinks two or three plays in advance. He’s aware of every situation.”

People became more aware of Lane last season.

After hitting .292 with one home run as a redshirt freshman, Lane opened last season with a two-for-four performance against Loyola Marymount. He had a grand slam and five RBIs in that game.

It was only the beginning.

Lane hit .492 with 30 RBIs during a 17-game stretch. He drove in 10 runs against U.S. International.

“It seemed like every time I came up, the bases were loaded,” Lane said.

He had three grand slams within a two-week period.

“He hit a bomb in Arizona with the bases loaded,” Ferrer said. “The next time up, the bases were loaded again and he hit the top of the fence with a shot. I’ve never had anyone who has hit like Danny did last season.”

All that ended with the injury.

Lane knew the finger was broken when he was hit. But when he went to the doctor, the tumor was discovered.

“The doctor said the finger would have broken eventually anyway because it had deteriorated so much,” Lane said.

Lane’s fears were alleviated almost immediately; the doctor said it was probably a benign tumor. Still, Lane must go in for a checkup once a year.

“It’s a little scary when you hear the word ‘tumor,’ ” Lane said.

The surgery worried him more, though. Because the entire bone was in fragments, doctors had to remove all of it and replace it with a small bone from Lane’s left wrist. It was such a delicate operation that Ferrer missed most of a game to be at the hospital until Lane was out of surgery.

Lane was in a cast for a month and spent three months rehabilitating.

How much did the Gauchos miss him? They were 22-14-1 when he got injured. They played .500 the rest of the way, finishing 33-25-1 and fifth in the conference.

“We depended on Dan for a lot,” outfielder Mike Clapinski said. “It seemed like every time there was a runner on second, Dan was up there to clutch up. Everybody tried to pick up the slack when he got hurt. But that put too much pressure on too many shoulders.”

That Lane has become such a vital player has surprised even Ferrer, who took him sight unseen out of Laguna Beach.

“To tell you the truth, even the first time I saw him play, I thought he would be an average player for us,” Ferrer said.

Part of it might have been Lane’s fault. Maybe if he had looked like a baseball player, things would have been easier for him.

Then perhaps some college coach would have knocked on his door, or, at least, watched him play.

But with the blond hair, the blue eyes, the tan and being from Laguna Beach, Lane was pegged as another beach kid.

A baseball player? Yeah right. Just one look and you knew Lane preferred catching rays to shagging flies.

In fact, when his rehabilitation was completed last summer, the first thing Lane did was go to the beach for a little volleyball.

“He always looks like he’s about to paddle out to catch a wave,” Ferrer said. “We like our players to dress respectable around school. But Dan is always in cutoffs and thongs. He has that, ‘Hey, dude,’ image. But when he steps on the field, he’s all baseball player.”

That was apparent even at Laguna Beach, where Lane was a four-year starter. He was also a fine quarterback, leading the Artists to the Pacific Coast League championship in 1987.

As a senior, Lane hit .457 and had nine home runs to finish tied for the Orange County lead.

“He was probably the best player I’ve coached,” said Scott Magers, who is now the coach at Corona del Mar. “He made one error all season and that was in the first game on the first ground ball hit to him.”

Still, recruiters stayed away in droves. No one offered him a scholarship.

Lane was drafted by the San Francisco Giants, but in the 38th round.

“It’s definitely hard to get recognized coming out of Laguna Beach, unless you play volleyball or tennis,” Lane said.

Magers and Lane’s father, Ron, began shopping him around. Ron Lane, who played baseball at USC, contacted Trojan Coach Mike Gillespie. But Danny Lane wanted to play baseball and football, and Gillespie said that was out of the question, according to Ron Lane.

Santa Barbara, which has a Division III football team, was more receptive. But once Lane got to the school, he decided to concentrate on baseball.

The Gauchos also had a baseball coach who was more receptive to taking a player on recommendation alone.

“I trusted the people who told me about Danny, and he’s been a gem,” Ferrer said.

He isn’t the only one who has been impressed.

Lane was among the 90 players invited to the Olympic Trials. He tried out in October and is hoping to make the next cut in May.

“Hopefully, I’ll get lucky,” he said.

But, in Lane’s case, luck has little to do with it.