Lovingier Ready to Throw Himself Into Game : Baseball: Former Laguna Hills left-hander, who helped Oklahoma win the College World Series, wants to give the pros his best shot.

Before the 1994 college baseball season began, Vern Ruhle, the University of Oklahoma pitching coach, told Kevin Lovingier to make up his mind about his commitment to baseball.

“Some players want the game,” Ruhle recalls saying, “but other players need the game. There’s a difference, and you really need to decide the one you are.”

Lovingier remembers well that conversation with Ruhle, who pitched in the major leagues for 12 years with Detroit, Houston, Cleveland and the Angels.

“He pretty much told me I had to shape up if I wanted to pitch this season,” Lovingier said. Lovingier, who had been a standout left-hander at Laguna Hills High, had not performed up to expectations the previous year as a junior. Despite a 6-2 record, he was giving up an average of more than five runs a game and was having arm problems. He also had been a part-time starter as a sophomore, going 3-3.

When he returned as a senior, his college career was on the line.

“I told him he was going to have to compete for the opportunity to pitch,” Ruhle said. “He’d been a little lackadaisical about conditioning. We didn’t start him during the first month of the season, but he shaped up and pitched well twice when he came in and got back in the rotation. He ended up having a good year for us.”

Lovingier was 7-2 for the season, and was the winning pitcher in the first of two victories over Texas in the NCAA regional at Austin that enabled the Sooners to reach the College World Series. He gave up two hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 15-4 Sooner victory.

Oklahoma won the national championship over Georgia Tech a week ago, 13-5. Lovingier was the starting pitcher but left in the third inning after giving up a leadoff home run to shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. He also gave up a home run in the second to catcher Jason Varitek, college baseball’s player of the year. Lovingier also had his troubles in his first World Series start against Arizona State, giving up five hits and three unearned runs in 2 1/3 innings.

“I didn’t have the kind of World Series I hoped I would have,” Lovingier said. “But I felt good about the season as a whole and about the way I pitched against Texas in the regional.”

Lovingier, 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, had a 2.99 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings going into the World Series.

He was known for his strikeouts at Laguna Hills High. “He was really a dominant pitcher his senior year,” said Pete Tereschuk, his high school coach. Lovingier led the county in strikeouts with 131 in 1990. He had a 13-1 record and 0.97 ERA.

That reputation as a strikeout sensation and those 87- to 90-m.p.h. fastballs probably caused Lovingier some problems at times in college.

“I thought I could do the same thing in college as I did in high school, and I was trying to throw it past everyone, and also throwing for the scouts and their radar guns,” Lovingier said.

He originally went to Loyola Marymount on a baseball scholarship. But when Coach Chris Smith left after his freshman season, Lovingier decided to switch schools. “A friend of mine who was older had gone to USC, then transferred to Oklahoma and liked it there, so that’s how I got to Oklahoma,” he said.

In hindsight, Lovingier wishes he could have been as solid as a sophomore as he was this season. “If I had been pitching that well in 1992, I think we could have won the World Series that year. We made it to Omaha but didn’t win.”

Lovingier was drafted in the 19th round by St. Louis, and he says he wants to give professional baseball his best effort. “I’m going to really work at it,” he said. “The main thing is that I’ll be getting a chance to continue to pitch and show what I can do. My goal is going to be to climb a level each year.”

Ruhle says Lovingier “has a lot of work to do,” but he says he believes he has a good shot at being successful in pro baseball.

“He reminds me of my old roommate with the Tigers, Mickey Lolich,” Ruhle said. “Their physical builds and their pitching styles are similar. Kevin has a good, moving fastball and his changeup has improved. His fastball still isn’t as good as it could be. He needs to do a better job of hitting his locations with the pitch.”

Lovingier said he will drive to his first assignment in the New York-Pennsylvania rookie league in a new truck, a gift from his father.

Ruhle feels pro baseball will again be a test of Lovingier’s commitment.

“He’s ready for the dream,” Ruhle said. “I hope he’s mentally tough enough for it. It’s not an easy road.”