Opponents Feeling Melendez’s Wrath for Olympic Snub : College baseball: Pepperdine first baseman on a tear since learning he is not invited to try for Barcelona.

Dan Melendez believed he was on the fast track to Barcelona as the first baseman for the 1992 U.S. Olympic baseball team.

After graduating from Playa del Rey St. Bernard High, Melendez helped the United States to the gold medal at the 1989 Junior World Championships. He had an impressive freshman season while playing first base for Pepperdine, spent most of the summer of 1990 playing for the U.S. national team and was a starter last summer when Team USA won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games.

He was stunned when he was not among the 40 players invited by the U.S. Baseball Federation to try out for the Olympic team June 8 at Millington, Tenn.

“I was shocked and very disappointed,” Melendez said. “I thought everything that I had worked hard for had been taken away.

“I think it was an insult to my ability. I think I’m the best (amateur) first baseman in the country.”

Melendez, a junior, has gone a long way toward proving his case in the College World Series. Pepperdine pitchers shut out Wichita State and Texas in the Waves’ first two games and have received most of the attention here. But Melendez hit home runs early in both games to give the pitchers a cushion and also has made several outstanding defensive plays.

“I’m not trying to prove anything out here, but I think I’ve shown people that I can do some things,” said Melendez, who was selected by the Dodgers Monday in the second round of the amateur draft. “I’m in a pretty good groove right now. So is our whole team.”

Pepperdine plays Texas tonight at Rosenblatt Stadium needing one victory to advance to Saturday’s championship game. Steve Duda, a junior right-hander with a 9-1 record and 1.86 earned-run average, will start for Pepperdine against Brooks Kieschnick (11-2, 2.93), an All-American sophomore right-hander. Texas must beat the Waves tonight and Friday to play in the championship game.

“We wouldn’t be in this position without Melendez,” said Andy Lopez, Pepperdine coach. “He has been an important player for us from the time he stepped onto the field as a freshman.”

Melendez has not been told why he was unable to gain the stamp of approval of the Olympic team selection committee. Ryan McGuire of UCLA and Eddie Pearson of Bishop State Junior College (Ala.) were the first baseman chosen.

“I guess I didn’t fit into the mold they were looking for,” said Melendez, who is hitting .352 with 12 homers and 44 runs batted in in 184 at-bats.

Miami Coach Ron Fraser, who will guide the Olympic team in Barcelona, saw Melendez perform at the Pan American Games and in December at a preliminary Olympic tryout in Homestead, Fla. “I guess it was more or less we were looking for a (power hitter),’ ” Fraser said. “Someone who can really hit with power. Coaches say ‘good guy, good glove but not a lot of power.’ ”

Melendez, 6 feet 4 and 195 pounds, has heard doubts about his power and intensity throughout his collegiate career. He hit 10 homers as a freshman and six as a sophomore. He struggled early this season in an attempt to impress scouts.

“He was trying to hit the ball out of our park, which is pretty doggone hard for a left-hander to do with the dimensions and conditions at Pepperdine,” Lopez said. “He has a great stroke and enough power. All he had to do was relax and get back to doing things the way he always has.”

The snub by the Olympic selection committee triggered what Pepperdine players refer to as the Cinco de Mayo Massacre. On the day he learned he was not invited to the Olympic tryouts, Melendez hit three of the Waves’ seven homers in an 11-2 victory over Cal State Northridge. He is 17 for 46 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 13 games since the announcement.

With his selection by the hometown Dodgers, Melendez said his disappointment over not participating in the Olympics has been replaced by an eagerness to begin his professional career.

First, however, he wants to win a national championship.

“We’re playing every aspect of the game with confidence,” he said. “We like our chances.”