LSU’s Cook Might Transfer to Northridge : College baseball: Sophomore who played at Montclair Prep had lost battle for starting job at second base.

Keyaan Cook, a former two-sport standout at Montclair Prep, will leave the Louisiana State baseball team at the conclusion of the season, according to LSU Coach Skip Bertman, and might transfer to Cal State Northridge.

Cook, a sophomore infielder, has played in only 17 of LSU’s 46 games. He is batting .194 in 31 at-bats for the defending Division I champion Tigers, who are ranked sixth.

“Keyaan is too good a player to sit on the bench,” Bertman said Wednesday. “He’s a first-class Division I player.”

The separation is amicable, Bertman said, so much so that LSU has sent letters to six Southland universities informing them of Cook’s impending departure. The letters, mailed Wednesday, were sent to “the same six schools there in Southern California that recruited him out of high school,” Bertman said.

The schools are believed to be Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Loyola Marymount, USC and UCLA.

Cook, who was in uniform for the Tigers’ game Wednesday night against Nicholls State in Louisiana, was unavailable for comment, but his father said he expected his son to return to Los Angeles.

“Keyaan has said he would like to come back to Southern California,” Greg Cook said. “He would like to get the opportunity to play more.”

A source close to the Northridge baseball program said Wednesday that Cook plans to play for the Matadors next season.

Bertman could not confirm that account and Cook’s father indicated a decision had not been reached.

“There’s a ways to go yet to have that happen,” Greg Cook said. “There’s Northridge, Fullerton and some other places, so I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”

Greg Cook said he has not spoken to his son for more than a week.

Senior Denny Vigo is Northridge’s starting third baseman, and junior Scott Richardson, the starter at second, is expected to be selected in the early rounds of June’s professional baseball draft.

Bertman said Cook’s transfer stems from the outstanding play of two first-year infielders who are leading the Tigers in hitting.

Todd Walker, a freshman from Bossier City, La., beat out Cook for the starting position at second base during fall drills. He has not let up since. Walker is batting a team-high .412 and leads LSU in seven other offensive categories. At third base, freshman Russ Johnson is second to only Walker in batting average.

“We assumed those freshmen would fizzle out,” Bertman said. “But there’s no way. They’re just phenomenal.”

Cook played third base at Montclair Prep and batted .500 with nine home runs and 35 runs batted in during his senior season. He was converted to a second baseman as a freshman at LSU.

He played in 44 games for the champion Tigers last season, starting 27 as designated hitter. He batted .276 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Keyaan is the younger brother of Toi Cook, a former baseball and football standout at Montclair Prep and Stanford who is now a defensive back for the New Orleans Saints.