He’ll Do All the Hitting, but Prefers Others Do All the Talking : Baseball: Simpson, a former University High player who is at Cal State Sacramento, refuses to dwell on his streaks.

When Casey Simpson gets a hitting streak going, chances are he can’t readily discuss the particulars.

He has an aptitude for hitting, and an attitude that helps nurture and sustain a streak.

The trick is, he doesn’t much dwell on it. Not even on its current status.

“Hold on,” he said, turning away from the phone to get help answering a question after 16 games of a streak that has now reached 21. “How many games is it?” he asked someone else in the baseball office.

Simpson, a former University High player who has found a place for himself as a first baseman for Cal State Sacramento, already has learned that the more you treasure a hitting streak, the faster it disappears.

“I don’t think about it much,” he said recently during a break from extra batting practice. “It starts to put pressure on you.”

A good bit of the pressure this season has been on opposing pitchers. Simpson is hitting .350 with 11 doubles and eight home runs, the most on the team. His 37 runs batted also rank No. 1.

Simpson was a member of two league championship teams at University before starting his college career at Tennessee. He got off to a fine beginning, starting 31 games as a freshman and batting .342 with four home runs and 18 runs batted in.

But before his sophomore season, the coach who had brought him to Knoxville, Mark Connor, left to become a pitching coach for the New York Yankees. Simpson and Connor’s replacement, Rod Delmonico, never hit it off.

That season, Simpson started a mere 12 games, and his average fell 64 points. He went off to play in the Cape Cod League that summer, his mind made up that he would transfer.

He landed in Sacramento, partly on the recommendation of Scott Corliss, a buddy who played at Mater Dei and went on to play for the Hornets.

Simpson’s arrival was the good fortune of Coach John Smith, whose program is a former Division II powerhouse now in its third season in Division I.

“I’d never seen him play, but everybody said he was a quality player,” Smith said. “He’s a good hitter, but he’s also such a great person.

“A lot of times when you get a transfer back from another school, all you’re getting is somebody else’s problem. Casey is someone who gives the team leadership. He’s a team captain, leads by example, goes out and does his job every day.”

Simpson, a left-handed hitter who throws right-handed, batted .356 last season with six home runs and 45 RBIs.

“He drives runs in,” Smith said. “He’s pretty clutch with men on base.”

Simpson is mostly a line-drive hitter, but from time to time, homers turn up, leading to one of the several nicknames Simpson has little affection for--”Homer” Simpson.

“His power comes in streaks,” Smith said. “He gets his home runs in bunches. Then he doesn’t get much to hit for a while, but when people ease up on him, he goes on another streak. He’s a great mistake hitter. If you make a mistake, he’s going to drive it.”

Simpson usually bats third in the order for Sacramento State, but on occasion has been as low as sixth.

“I had him in the six spot right before he went on his last tear,” Smith said. “He was struggling, so I moved him down to six to take off the pressure. He got his confidence back, and I moved him back to the three spot. He hasn’t missed a beat.”

This season, in preparation for the chance to play for a professional team, Simpson has worked on being consistent, and playing as many games as he can. So far he has missed only one of 45.

“My goal was to play every game,” he said. “I’m experiencing fatigue, getting sore and tired. A lot of times you don’t want to be out there, but you have to be.”

A senior, he is waiting to see what opportunity the draft brings.

“I think I’ll get drafted,” he said. “I don’t see it being really high.”

Sacramento State isn’t an unknown place to scouts. During Smith’s 14 years at the school, about 60 players have been drafted.

“We’re hoping he gets drafted,” Smith said. “I have no idea where, when or who. We think he’s had a pretty good year. He’s hit .350 two years in a row. He doesn’t have any liabilities except he’s not real gifted running-wise. He’s solid defensively, and he hits for average and power.”

Those skills didn’t draw much notice from Cal State Fullerton or UC Irvine when Simpson was in high school.

He didn’t mind it too much when his team got an opportunity to play at Irvine this season, winning two of three.

“That was fun being back home,” he said. “We did fairly well (but) we were kind of disappointed. We thought we should have won all of them.”

He doesn’t hold grudges; he just moves on. It’s the same way with Tennessee.

“They’re ranked, I think,” he said. “They’ve been doing fairly well. I don’t pay much attention anymore. I’d still be there if the same coach was still there. I had a great time until Delmonico came. He changed everything for me.”

From Sacramento State’s point of view, all for the better.