Evans’ Journey Ends in Omaha : College baseball: Former Chatsworth High standout leaves Cal, helps Oklahoma reach World Series.

Jason Evans traveled a circuitous road to the College World Series. His route to Rosenblatt Stadium included an impressive freshman season at Cal, an unhappy exit from Cal and a transfer to Oklahoma.

Burdened emotionally by his father’s death in February, Evans nevertheless helped lead Oklahoma to a No. 6 seeding in the eight-team double-elimination World Series. The Sooners were eliminated Tuesday night when they lost to Texas, 8-5.

“Things haven’t gone exactly as I planned in college, but it’s turned out pretty well with all that has happened,” said Evans, who hit a home run Monday in Oklahoma’s 8-4 victory over Wichita State.

Evans, an All-Valley shortstop at Chatsworth High in 1989, was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 12th round of Monday’s amateur draft. He is eager to begin his professional career and concentrate solely on baseball.

“I don’t think I’m going to have any problems adjusting to life in the minors because I’ve lived on my own pretty much for the last three years,” he said. “I want to get going in my career.”

Evans, 21, was a highly regarded quarterback and infielder at Loyola High when he transferred to Chatsworth for his senior year. He played only baseball at Chatsworth on a team that included Pepperdine pitcher Derek Wallace--the Chicago Cubs’ No. 1 draft pick Monday--and third baseman Rich Aude, currently in the farm system of the Pittsburgh Pirates after being a second-round pick in 1989.

Evans was a fourth-round pick of the Cubs as a high school senior. He opted instead to attend Cal and batted .315 as a freshman.

Evans returned to Berkeley in the fall of 1990, but was one of several players who quit the team, citing communication problems between coaches and teammates.

On the advice of a Los Angeles-area scout, he contacted Oklahoma. After playing in the Cape Cod summer league, he enrolled at the Norman campus last fall.

“The coaching at Oklahoma was supposed to be really good,” said Evans, a redshirt sophomore. “It seemed like a good place to get away and focus on baseball.”

In February, however, Evans’ concentration and motivation were thrown into disarray when his father Richard died after a long battle with leukemia.

“It was weird with my father dead,” said Evans, an only child. “We were really close. I felt a big letdown.”

Said Oklahoma Coach Larry Cochell: “Jason has had his good days and his bad days since his father died. There were a lot of days when he just came to my office and we talked and others when he came by and didn’t say much. But he was there.”

Evans, a switch-hitter, batted .309 with seven homers and 48 runs batted in in 63 games entering the World Series. He played left field, right field, and first and third base.

Brian Eldridge, an All-American second baseman from Monroe High, joined Evans in a Sooner infield that featured four converted shortstops. Eldridge, who broke his leg in a collision Monday, was selected in the 12th round of the draft by Oakland after batting .391 with 23 homers and 77 RBIs.