COLLEGE BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Williams Has His Act Together

Larry Williams, a professional actor since he was 6, has appeared in more than 40 television shows.

A few years ago, Williams played a young Isiah Thomas in an Emmy-award winning movie about Thomas’ mother.

This spring, though, Williams has had a major role in helping the University of San Diego climb to the top of the West Coast Athletic Conference and a No. 21 ranking by Baseball America--the first time the school has been ranked since joining Division I in 1979.

Williams, a 5-foot-9 sophomore outfielder, attended St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey. He is batting .323 with eight home runs for the Toreros, who are 25-10 overall and 14-4 in the WCC.

“I decided after high school that if acting was ever in the cards for me, I could go back to it after school and after baseball,” Williams said. “Baseball is different. It can’t wait.”

Williams is one of several Southland players instrumental in San Diego’s best start. Sophomore left-hander Travis Burgus from Mission Viejo is 5-1 with a 3.14 earned-run average. Pat James, a sophomore walk-on from Damien High in La Verne, is 7-3 with a 3.57 ERA.

Sophomore Mike Saipe, who threw a one-hitter against Pepperdine and a two-hitter against Loyola Marymount, is the staff ace. Senior catcher Kevin Herde is San Diego’s leading hitter with a .397 average.

“In previous years, you could pitch around two or three of our best guys and we would be dead,” said Coach John Cunningham, in his 30th season at San Diego. “This year, you just don’t know what part of the order is going to come forward and do the job.”

Williams and the Toreros are hoping to unseat defending national champion Pepperdine in the WCC, then advance to their first regional appearance. Ultimately, they want to take their act to Omaha for the College World Series.

“We’re recognizing we can compete with anyone in the nation,” Williams said.

Ranger redux: Reid Ryan, the son of the Texas Rangers’ still-active legend, is 6-2 with a 3.41 ERA for Texas Christian.

Four of Ryan’s victories have been saved by Tim Grieve, the son of the Rangers’ general manager, who is 5-1 with 2.05 ERA for the Horned Frogs.

Current affair: Arkansas reliever Ryan Whitaker shocked the college baseball world with his performance during the Razorbacks’ 10-inning victory over Georgia on March 28 at Fayetteville, Ark.

During a brief rain delay in the first inning, lightning struck a light standard beyond the outfield fence. An electrical charge traveled through the artificial turf at George Cole Field, was conducted up through Whitaker’s metal spikes to his right leg and knocked him to the ground as he was walking between the pitcher’s mound and the third-base line.

Paramedics helped Whitaker off the field and an ambulance took him to a hospital for observation. But he returned 45 minutes later and earned the victory by pitching the final two innings.

First of all: Ninth-ranked USC remained in first place in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division by defeating Stanford, 6-4, on Saturday to salvage the final game of a three-game series.

But the Trojans suffered a loss Monday when pitcher Kent Donnelly underwent major shoulder surgery.

Donnelly, a junior right-hander from Santa Ana, was coming off minor surgery last fall. He had pitched only 1 2/3 innings this season, but the Trojans were hoping he would be fully rehabilitated and available for the end of the regular season and playoffs.

Trailing the Trojans are 12th-ranked Arizona State (10-8), 10th-ranked Arizona (11-10), California (8-10), 13th-ranked UCLA (7-8) and Stanford (6-9).

Runaway: As expected, third-ranked Cal State Fullerton is leaving its Big West Conference competition behind.

The Titans were 22-9 overall and 11-1 in the Big West entering the weekend, 3 1/2 games ahead of San Jose State. The Titans, however, still can’t seem to beat nonconference nemesis Pepperdine.

Last Tuesday, in a rematch between last season’s College World Series finalists, Pepperdine defeated Fullerton, 5-1, at Malibu.

Staff reduction: After getting off to the best start in school history, Cal State Northridge has won only three of its last 10 games, leaving the Matadors 20-10 overall and 6-6 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Coincidence or not, Northridge has been stumbling since the events that led to the resignation of full-time assistant Stan Sanchez on March 24.

Earlier this season, Sanchez was hired as coach at Southern Colorado, which will begin a Division II program next season. Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said Sanchez was devoting more time to preparing for next season at Southern Colorado than to his responsibilities at Northridge. The two coaches, who had been friends for 30 years, clashed over the issue before Sanchez resigned.

“You work for who is paying you,” Kernen said Wednesday. “A lot of the Division I coaches in Southern California have been in situations where they had new jobs coming up. That doesn’t mean you stop devoting all of your energies to the job you have until the end of the season. You fulfill your responsibilities until it’s time to leave.”

Shortly after his resignation, Sanchez told The Times’ Mike Hiserman: “I had too many responsibilities, with people tugging at me from both sides. Both schools deserved better than what I was giving them.”

College Baseball Notes

Ryan McGuire of UCLA is batting .385 with 15 home runs and 44 runs batted in. . . . Mauricio Estavil of Pepperdine is 4-0 with three saves and a 2.05 earned-run average. . . . Sophomore Jesse Ibarra of Loyola Marymount leads the West Coast Conference with 10 home runs in 86 at-bats. . . . Cal State Fullerton sophomore Mike Parisi is 6-0 with a 4.17 ERA.

Offspring Training

Here is a partial roster of current and former major leaguers’ sons playing college baseball this season. The players’ fathers and major league affiliation are in parentheses : OUTFIELD--Jose Cruz Jr., Rice (Jose, outfielder, St. Louis and Houston).

OUTFIELD--Ryan Lefebvre, Minnesota (Jim, Cubs’ manager; infielder, Dodgers).

OUTFIELD--Scott Arlin, Stanford (Steve, pitcher, San Diego and Cleveland).

THIRD BASE--Aaron Boone, USC (Bob, catcher, Philadelphia, Angels and Kansas City).

SHORTSTOP--Cody McKay, Arizona State (Dave, Oakland coach; infielder, Minnesota, Toronto and Oakland).

SECOND BASE--Brian Jorgensen, Missouri (Mike, St. Louis farm director; outfielder, six major league teams including the New York Mets twice).

FIRST BASE--Dale Torborg, Northwestern (Jeff, Mets’ manager; catcher, Dodgers and Angels).

CATCHER--Tom Sandt, Jr., Northwestern (Tom, pitcher, Oakland).

DESIGNATED HITTER--Sal Bando Jr., Oklahoma State (Sal, Milwaukee general manager; infielder, Kansas City, Oakland and Milwaukee).

UTILITY--Tim DeCinces, UCLA (Doug, infielder, Baltimore and Angels).

PITCHER--Jamie Splitorff, Kansas (Paul, pitcher, Kansas City).

PITCHER--Casey Fisk, Illinois State (Carlton, catcher, Boston and White Sox).

PITCHER--Reid Ryan, Texas Christian (Nolan, pitcher, Mets, Angels, Houston, Texas).

PITCHER--Tim Grieve, Texas Christian (Tom, Rangers’ general manager; outfielder, Washington, Texas, Mets and St. Louis).