COLLEGE BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Trojans, 49ers Need a Strong Finish

In the final week of their schedules, USC and Long Beach State have much to gain by finishing with a flourish.

Fourth-ranked USC, the champion of the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division, plays host to Northern Division champion Washington State tonight in the first game of a best-of-three conference championship series.

USC is 39-18. The Trojans, who started conference play 3-6, won 14 of 15 in the second half and finished 21-9. Washington State is 28-28 and finished conference play 18-12.

USC will make the 48-team NCAA playoff field regardless of whether it wins the series. But the Trojans can lock up a probable No. 1 seeding in one of the six-team regionals by defeating the Cougars.

Long Beach State finished second behind top-ranked Fullerton in the Big West regular season and postseason tournament. The 20th-ranked 49ers are 34-21 and considered a good candidate for an at-large bid because of their strength of schedule.

But the NCAA tournament selection committee, which will announce the field on Monday, has sprung some surprises based on teams’ performances the final weekend. Long Beach, therefore, might have its fate determined by how well it performs against No. 9 Miami in a three-game series that begins Friday night at Blair Field.

Fullerton (49-9) has earned an automatic bid to the playoffs, which begin May 25-26 at eight regional sites.

Sixteenth-ranked Pepperdine (34-17) also earned an automatic bid by winning the West Coast Conference title.

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A year after the entire region was shut out for the first time since the regional format was adopted in 1975, Fresno State got the West’s only regional site with a bid that emphasized the school’s high attendance and the money it could guarantee the NCAA.

The Bulldogs, winners of the Western Athletic Conference’s West Division title, averaged 3,733 this season.

Ron Maestri, chairman of the Division I baseball committee, said 18 schools submitted bids, including Fresno State, Stanford and Long Beach in the West.

The NCAA mandated that bids start at a minimum of $50,000.

USC Coach Mike Gillespie said he was surprised that two sites in the West were not chosen.

“They tell us it’s not strictly a dollars deal, but apparently it is,” he said.

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National player-of-the-year awards often are determined in the regionals, and two Southland players are considered among the leading candidates.

Fullerton outfielder-pitcher Mark Kotsay was named Big West player of the year after leading the conference in batting average at .422, homers at 18, runs batted in at 75, hits at 97 and runs at 75. The versatile sophomore from Santa Fe Springs is also 2-1 with an 0.38 earned-run average and nine saves in 23 2/3 innings.

USC outfielder Geoff Jenkins, a junior who will be a first-round draft pick in June, leads the Pac-10 in batting at .392 and homers with 18. His 59 RBIs are one fewer than Stanford’s Steve Carver had.

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Pepperdine freshman Randy Wolf helped the Waves clinch the West Coast Conference championship with a three-hit shutout against Loyola Marymount.

Wolf is 8-1 with a 1.84 earned-run average and three shutouts.

Long Beach State freshman Rocky Biddle had his third consecutive outstanding performance in a 2-0 victory over Nevada in the semifinals of the Big West tournament.

Biddle struck out 14 for the third game in a row and has not allowed a run in 26 1/3 innings.

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Pitcher Ila Borders of Division III Southern California College, who attracted attention last year by becoming one of the few women to play college baseball, finished her sophomore season 1-7 with a 7.20 ERA.

She was 2-4 with a 2.92 ERA in 1994.