Two weeks ago it was former St....

Two weeks ago it was former St. Genevieve High pitcher Roland De La Maza serving as ace of the Cal State Sacramento pitching staff. Now it’s former Westlake High ace Mike Eby.

Eby, a sophomore left-hander, has kept the second-place Hornets (28-18, 11-7 in conference play) in contention for the Western Athletic Conference West Division title with consecutive WAC victories over Hawaii, San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach. Eby posted a 1.17 earned-run average in the 23 innings he worked in those games. He was named WAC player of the week after his complete-game victory over third-place Hawaii (30-17, 8-7).

Most encouraging for Sacramento is the fact that Eby is just hitting his stride. The three victories improved his record to 6-3 and he leads the team with a 3.58 ERA. De La Maza, a senior right-hander, has been hit hard his last four starts and is 8-2 with a 3.63 ERA.

“I wasn’t sharp at all early and, stamina-wise, I didn’t think I was ready to start the season,” Eby said.

He pitched about 20 innings last fall in a collegiate scrimmage league. The year before, he worked nearly 35 innings in a similar league for Pierce College.

Eby left UCLA and enrolled at Pierce after his redshirt freshman year in 1991 because he was afraid he wouldn’t pitch much for the Bruins. He got plenty of innings (113) while leading Pierce to third place in the 1992 state tournament with an 8-1 record and 2.86 ERA. Then he accepted a scholarship from Sacramento.

Although he didn’t get to pitch much during the fall league with the Hornets, he spent hours in the bullpen working on his changeup.

“I was a two-pitch pitcher at Pierce,” said Eby, referring to his fastball and curve. “I had a changeup, but it wasn’t a good pitch.”

Eby got a chance to show his stuff when he pitched seven-plus strong innings during a 5-3 loss to first-place Fresno State (31-13, 10-3) this month.

“When I was at UCLA, I sat in the stands and watched the games and I kind of got an idea of what I would be up against,” he said. “I felt I belonged (at that level). But I proved a lot for myself in that game against Fresno.”

Eby pitched so well in that game that he’s getting a start against Fresno State this weekend.

Making his best pitch: A lot of chattering stopped the night last month when USC finally used Ray Gardocki (Hart), a designated hitter-reserve first baseman, as a pitcher. Gardocki, a senior who had played in only 10 games for the Trojans before this season, pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning in an 18-8 loss at Arizona.

Catcher Casey Burrill (Hart), Gardocki’s best friend, said Gardocki had made himself a nuisance with his frequent requests to take the mound during a blowout. Now he has the team’s best earned-run average (0.00), and he probably will be used again when Coach Mike Gillespie wants to rest some arms.

“Now Ray always gets the last word when the other pitchers try to give him a hard time,” Burrill said. “Coach calls him the 911 pitcher. That was the first time in that game that we got three batters out in a row.”

Gardocki, incidentally, is batting, .327, and Burrill (.419 average, 11 home runs) is being touted as an All-American.

Checking the fax: In baseball, UC Santa Barbara has given Greg Thompson (Alemany) only 12 at-bats, but two of his four hits are home runs, giving him an .833 slugging percentage. . . . Arizona State has benefited from Jacob Cruz’s return from broken ribs. Cruz (Channel Islands), a sophomore center fielder, is batting .336. Twenty-one of his 49 hits have gone for extra bases. . . . Pitcher Mike Jenkins (Simi Valley) has been effective in the bullpen at Lamar (Tex.). He has a 2.01 ERA, 49 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings, a 3-3 record and two saves.

In softball, Kim Maher (Buena) has hit 11 of Fresno State’s 12 home runs this season. . . . Sonoma State freshman Susie Norberg (Newbury Park) recently recorded her first collegiate shutout, a 6-0 victory over Cal State Hayward. . . . A firmer ball introduced to intercollegiate competition this year continues to pay dividends for Amy Chellevold (Thousand Oaks), Jenny Dalton (Glendale), Jamie Heggen (Thousand Oaks) and Krista Gomez (Alemany) at Arizona. Chellevold (17 stolen bases) is batting .392, Heggen .395, Dalton .323 and Gomez .298. Dalton, a freshman, has six home runs and is 11 for 11 in stolen-base attempts.

Debbie Simpson Litten (Ventura), a junior at Point Loma Nazarene, ranks 10th in the Golden State Athletic Conference in batting with a .310 average. . . . Cathy Balint (El Camino Real), Marilyn Carroll (Newbury Park) and Latoya Williams (Chatsworth/Pierce) making an impact for Cal State Bakersfield (28-3), three-time Division II champion. Balint, a junior outfielder, is batting .351. Carroll, a senior shortstop, carries a .337 average and Williams, a junior third baseman, checks in at .367 and is second with 19 RBIs.

In track and field, Deena Drossin (Agoura) of Arkansas reached the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA meet in the women’s 5,000 meters when she timed 16 minutes 32 seconds to win the collegiate race at the Penn Relays on Friday. Drossin, a sophomore, finished second in the NCAA cross-country championships in November and was the runner-up in the 5,000 in the indoor track championships last month.

Peter De La Cerda (Granada Hills) and Oscar Perez (Glendale College) of Adams State (Colo.) posted personal bests in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays two weeks ago to automatically qualify for the NCAA Division II championships at Abilene Christian on May 27-29. De La Cerda timed 29:43.90 in the 10,000 meters and Perez ran 9:06.2 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Perez moved to fifth on the all-time Adams State list in the steeplechase and De La Cerda moved to sixth in the 10,000. . . .

Jennifer Whelchel (Agoura) of UCLA set a personal best of 163 feet 6 inches in the women’s discus to finish third in the university-open division in the Mt. SAC meet. Her throw exceeded the provisional qualifying standard (159-1) for the NCAA Division I championships at Tulane University in New Orleans on June 3-6.