Wave Star Survives, Flourishes : Pepperdine: After car crash, Wallace faces draft, College World Series with new perspective.

Derek Wallace was sprawled in the mud. But he was more concerned with the whereabouts of his car than his physical condition.

Only a few minutes before, Wallace had left his apartment in Calabasas and was driving north on the Ventura Freeway to pick up a pizza. He glanced down momentarily to change radio stations, then looked up into a frightening red glow of brake lights. Wallace, unable to stop in time, swerved to the right to avoid a collision. As his car jumped the curb of the Kanan Road off-ramp, he heard the sound of shattering glass.

“I closed my eyes and thought, ‘This is it, I’m dead,’ ” Wallace said. “I didn’t know how I ended up where I did on the ground. All I really remember thinking about was, ‘Where is my car?

“Then I looked to my left, and it was coming right at me.”

Wallace rolled out of the way as his car flipped for a final time on the embankment and settled to rest. He emerged from the single-car incident with a broken leg and scratches all over his body.

“Everywhere except my right arm,” Wallace said.

For Wallace, the spared right arm was both fitting and symbolic.

The accident, which occurred last March, left a lasting impression on the 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior right-hander for Pepperdine, who is expected to be chosen in the first round of the pro draft Monday, and who is expected to be an important part of Pepperdine’s attempt at a national title in the upcoming College World Series in Omaha.

He knows he is fortunate to be alive and to be sidelined for only a month. Those points were underscored further when Pepperdine players visited Children’s Hospital during Easter.

“I went into a part of the hospital where there are kids who have been in accidents and they can’t walk away from it like I did,” Wallace said. “Everything that’s happened made me realize that there isn’t any real pressure when you’re playing baseball.

“Sometimes, when I’m sitting in the dugout and things aren’t going right, I’ll think, ‘This is nothing compared to what those kids are dealing with.’ ”

Wallace has given up only two earned runs and recorded 21 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings since returning to the mound April 28. Last Sunday, he gave up three hits in 7 2/3 innings, as Pepperdine defeated Washington, 11-0, on its way to winning the championship of the West Regional at Tucson. The victory earned the pitching-rich Waves their second College World Series appearance.

Pepperdine (44-11-1) is seeded seventh in the eight-team tournament that includes Miami (53-8), Wichita State (56-9), Texas (46-15), Cal State Fullerton (42-15), Florida State (48-19), Oklahoma (42-22) and California (35-26).

Top-seeded Miami plays No. 8 California in the series opener today at 3:06 p.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium. No. 4 Fullerton plays No. 5 Florida State at 6:36.

Pepperdine begins play Saturday against No. 2 Wichita State. No. 3 Texas plays No. 6 Oklahoma in the other first-round game.

The tournament follows a double-elimination format but will be decided with a single championship game June 6 regardless of records within each bracket.

Wallace, 20, has thrown his fastball 92 m.p.h. and also uses a slider and changeup. He is 3-2 with a 3.55 earned-run average and has 56 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings this season.

“Derek has been a better pitcher since the accident,” Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez said. “Before, he was just throwing and was really kind of conscience of strikeouts and overpowering everyone.

“I think he said to himself, ‘I’m going to enjoy this thing and not worry about the radar gun.’

“When he’s going well, our players kind of go to a new level.”

Despite Baseball America Magazine’s projection that he will be the eighth player chosen in the draft, Wallace is generally considered the third starter on a staff that has compiled a 3.20 ERA.

Senior right-hander Patrick Ahearne, a first-team All-American, is 13-2 with a 2.66 ERA. Junior right-hander Steve Duda is 9-1 with a 1.96 ERA and is 32-6 in three seasons.

Senior left-hander Jerry Aschoff (5-2, 4.99) pitched 6 1/3 innings last Monday in Pepperdine’s 9-0 victory over Hawaii that gave the Waves the regional title. Steve Montgomery (9-2, 1.72), a junior right-hander, is the Waves’ closer with seven saves.

“I don’t worry about how I’m used on this team,” Wallace said. “This is a great staff with some real winners.”

Wallace was a standout at Chatsworth High, where he also played several infield positions. He was selected by Pittsburgh in the 36th round of the 1989 draft but enrolled at Pepperdine with the hope of improving his velocity and adding some muscle to his 170-pound frame.

Wallace started five games at third base his freshman season. He was moved to pitcher full time after he bounced several throws across the infield off the mound and others off the first-base dugout.

“It wasn’t like I was short-hopping the throws,” he said. “I was erratic.”

Wallace became the Waves’ top reliever and finished his first season 1-3 with a staff-low 2.82 ERA and 10 saves. He spent the summer pitching in the Cape Cod League, where he continued to develop arm strength and command of his fastball.

Last season, Lopez used Wallace as a starter, middle reliever and closer. Wallace finished the season 4-0 with a 2.58 ERA but ended the year by surrendering nine runs in one inning against USC in the West I Regional.

“I was trying to throw it by guys and they were just rocking me,” he said.

Once again, Wallace spent the summer in the Cape Cod League. He developed a changeup and started filling out physically, as most baseball scouts projected he would when he was in high school. Wallace returned from the Cape weighing 200 pounds and was selected as the league’s best major league prospect in a survey of major league organizations.

The accolade excited Wallace. It also hampered him early this season.

“I’d see 30 scouts out there and start to overthrow a little bit, trying to make the great pitch every time,” he said.

After one particularly poor start against St. Mary’s that came before the accident, Lopez pulled Wallace aside.

“His mentality was, ‘I’m going to strike out 27 guys today,’ ” Lopez said. “I told him, ‘Hey, if you continue to throw like that, you’re going to do all of your pitching on Sundays, which is tough because we don’t play on Sundays.’ ”

Wallace was on his way to turning things around before the accident and has continued his transformation into a complete pitcher since his return.

With the draft looming Monday, he is focusing on team goals.

“We have a great shot at winning it because the pitching is there, the hitters will swing it and the defense is great,” he said. “I’m trying not to think too much about the draft because you never know what’s going to happen. But to be a No. 1 draft pick and to win a national championship would be a great way to end a college career.”