Tagliaferri Sold on Inside Pitch

Jeff Tagliaferri is making the jump from high school to NCAA Division I baseball appear easy.

Tagliaferri, a true freshman from Kennedy High, leads seventh-ranked Cal State Long Beach with a .346 batting average. He also ranks second in runs batted in (21) and doubles (9) for the 49ers (23-7).

But the transition has been far from effortless.

“It wasn’t easy,” Tagliaferri said. “It was hard as hell. It still is to this day. I struggle and battle.”

The breaking pitches are nasty, the practices exhausting, the studies tedious, the responsibilities sometimes overwhelming.

“The biggest thing is class,” Tagliaferri said. “You’re going on the road and missing lectures. You got to get your study hall in. You squeeze that in with ball. You have no free time.

“I had no spring break this year. I practice till 5:30 or 6, then I got to go home and study. Sometimes I get frustrated. But it’s worth it. College baseball is fun. I’d do it forever.”

Tagliaferri led Kennedy last season with a .456 batting average, 10 doubles and seven home runs (tied with Rick Nadeau, now a teammate at Long Beach). He drove in 34 runs.

But college recruiters showed only lukewarm interest. Tagliaferri opted not to sign with the San Francisco Giants, who drafted him in the 38th round last June.

“At 8 a.m. the morning after I was drafted, Wyoming called with a scholarship,” he said. “I’d heard of Wyoming the state, but I’d never heard of Wyoming the school. That night, Long Beach called. It wasn’t a tough decision. I could be in the snow or I could be an hour away from home.”

When he showed up for the 49ers’ fall practice at 210 pounds, coaches put him on a weight-loss program. Then they questioned his defensive abilities, he said.

But if 49er coaches were down on Tagliaferri last fall, they don’t appear to be now. He has started 23 of 30 games, although he doesn’t bat against most left-handers.

“To be honest, I just hoped to get some at-bats,” he said. “But now I think I’m doing the job. I would like to think they’re counting on me. I would like to believe I’m their first baseman.”

The biggest of all of Tagliaferri’s burdens--the school, the jump to big-time baseball, the weight loss (he’s dropped 10 pounds)--is the one he relishes most: playing for the sake of his brother, Gino Tagliaferri.

Gino was the most feared hitter in the Valley in 1989, his senior year at Kennedy. He hit 13 home runs, then signed with the Detroit Tigers, who drafted him in the third round. But after a shoulder injury and two sub-par seasons in the New York-Penn League, Gino was out of baseball. After advising Jeff not to sign with the Giants, Gino watches Jeff from the grandstands.

“He didn’t give me a choice,” Jeff Tagliaferri said. “He said, ‘You’re going to college. You can play pro ball later.’

“He made my decision, because he went through it. He was 3,000 miles from home at age 18 and he had a hell of a time. He basically went from student to just another guy trying to play ball. He could have gone to 10 Division I schools. He regrets it.

“Now he tries to live the game through me. He wants me to do so well. When I’m frustrated, he’s frustrated. In a way, it’s like both of us playing out there.”

*

Checking the fax: Tagliaferri is one of three true freshman from the Valley playing at Cal State Long Beach. Casey Snow (Crespi), son of 49er Coach Dave Snow, is batting .222. Nadeau (Kennedy), Tagliaferri’s roommate, is batting .231 in 13 at-bats. . . . California third baseman Justin Stark (Chaminade) lifted his batting average from .255 to .276 last week by going six for 14 against Arizona State and Nevada. . . . Cal pitcher Keith Evans (Crespi), a true freshman, is 3-0 with a 2.48 earned-run average in Pacific 10 Conference games. He is tied for the conference lead in innings pitched (57.7) and is third in walks per nine innings (2.39).

USC first baseman J.P. Roberge (St. Francis) is batting .324 with eight home runs, 34 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. He has hit safely in 15 of the past 18 games and, in three games at Arizona last week, he went eight for 14.

Nichols State second baseman John Aguilar (Hart, College of the Canyons) is batting .349 and is seven for 15 with two out and runners in scoring position. . . . Westmont pitcher Brian Overfelt (Glendale) threw the second one-hitter of his career last week, an 11-1 victory over Cal State Los Angeles. He had a no-hitter through 8 1/3 innings.