NUMBERS GAME

Who says math learned in school never comes in handy?

College baseball coaches employ fractions, long division and the subtle art of addition by subtraction in an ongoing quest to put the best team possible on their favorite geometric configuration--the diamond.

Recruiting is a numbers game that never ends, although variables in the equation change radically as the year progresses.

Cal State Northridge Coach Mike Batesole will agree with Pepperdine Coach Frank Sanchez and UCLA Coach Gary Adams on a player’s talent, but for a variety of reasons only one might offer a scholarship.

Tight budgets and loose transfer rules squeeze a coach from one end while academic requirements and a family’s ability to pay a portion of tuition pinch from the other.

Then the amateur draft comes along in June and major league teams take the biggest bite of all.

Despite the obstacles and uncertainty, Batesole, Sanchez and Adams have excellent track records.

Batesole finds talent schools with more resources overlook and in three seasons is 127-57, a record that doesn’t take a math major to appreciate.

Sanchez, after many years landing blue-chip players as recruiting coordinator at USC, brought in a wave of talent in his first year at Pepperdine.

Adams’ recruiting classes are consistently among the nation’s best and he re-stocked with 17 freshmen this season after making the College World Series in 1997.

Whether a coach is at a sprawling Cal State campus, a pricey private university or a prestigious UC school, recruiting is an inexact endeavor that produces more stress than easy answers.

DOLING OUT DOLLARS

Difficult as it sounds, dividing the NCAA-maximum 11.7 scholarships among a roster of 35 players is a luxury only Adams can afford.

Sanchez has the full allotment of scholarships but his roster is small because few players walk on at a school where tuition, room and board for a year equal the cost of a modest luxury car.

Gender-equity requirements that limit participation in men’s sports handcuff Batesole, who can give only eight scholarships and carry no more than 26 players next season.

Because his roster is larger, Adams will recruit one or two long-range projects every year. Sanchez and Batesole need every recruit to step in and contribute.

“I don’t recruit potential,” Batesole said.

Full rides are almost nonexistent at all three schools. Most players receive a partial scholarship ranging from several thousand dollars to just enough to cover books.

This is where Batesole gains an advantage because more players are able to cover the remainder of the $8,300 it costs to attend Northridge than the $11,000 UCLA tab or the $28,500 Pepperdine requires.

Sanchez must consider a recruit’s financial situation. And his religion.

“They need to be comfortable in the Christian environment,” Sanchez said. “If that isn’t important, we should probably go our separate ways.”

Academic requirements are most stringent at UCLA, where an incoming freshman must score at least 1100 on the SAT and have a 3.1 grade-point average in core high school classes.

“I’m waiting for the radar gun to be invented that registers GPA and SAT,” Adams said.

THE TIMETABLE

Recruiting is done in three phases and a coach’s emphasis depends on his needs.

Scouting begins at the Area Code Games, where the best high school players convene the summer before their senior year. Coaches lock up as many of these blue-chippers as possible by signing them to national letters of intent during one week in November known as the early signing period.

The second phase is the regular season in the spring. Recruiting of junior college players is done at this time because coaches have been familiar with them for years. Coaches are cautious of signing high school players in the spring because scouting is limited to the infrequent days their college teams are not busy.

Last-minute needs are frantically filled during the summer after players drafted in June sign and free up scholarship money.

Adams signed three players in November, including John Ennis, a right-handed pitcher from Monroe High. Sanchez signed four players, including first baseman Woody Cliffords of El Camino Real.

Neither added players this spring. “Now we wait for the draft and adjust,” Sanchez said.

Batesole faced an uncommon problem because until December he didn’t know if his program would survive beyond this season. Because of the uncertainty, he did not sign anyone early and has played catch-up this spring, signing six high school seniors and two junior college sophomores.

Even in a normal recruiting year, Batesole is well-versed in finding mid-level talent with exceptional desire. Recent Matador All-Americans Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick and Eric Gillespie are prime examples.

“Those are the guys I invest my time in,” Batesole said. “Would I rather have a great player who isn’t fun to be around because I’m always on him, or somebody who is not as talented, but who has the qualities I’m looking for?”

EVALUATING TALENT

It’s an art--measuring intangibles by observing body language and the way a batter prepares in the on-deck circle.

And it’s a science--timing a sprint to first base and a catcher’s throw to second.

Finding the players a coach wants to pencil into his lineup every day for the next several years is like picking through a mine field. Everybody has a horror story.

“Evaluating talent on the timetable we’re on is a crapshoot,” Batesole admitted.

As Northridge’s recruiting coordinator several years ago, Batesole gave the thumbs-down to Simi Valley High infielder Ryan Hankins.

“I really believed he wasn’t good enough,” Batesole said. “Next thing you know he’s an All-American [at Nevada Las Vegas].”

Scouting many years ago, Adams was impressed by the swing of Montclair Prep’s Torey Lovullo. But after flying out, Lovullo flung his bat hard and nearly hit a teammate.

Adams shook his head and went straight to his car, deciding Lovullo lacked poise. Lovullo’s coach spoke glowingly about the infielder, so Adams grudgingly made the most minimal of offers--the opportunity for Lovullo to wear the number of his choosing.

Lovullo became a UCLA captain in 1986 and ‘87, is one of 30 former Bruins coached by Adams to play in the major leagues, and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame this year.

“I labeled him as a bad attitude and it turned out Torey Lovullo has one of the best attitudes of anyone I’ve coached,” Adams said. “Mistakes are made.”

Talking a college coach out of his own evaluation is rare. There are so few scholarships that coaches are loath to trust anything but their own judgment.

Although Batesole uses a stopwatch to provide “a reality check,” he looks primarily for the mental toughness that is a trademark of his teams.

“I watch everything a guy does when he’s not at the plate or fielding a ball,” he said. “Facial expressions, how he treats his teammates, those are the clues that tell me whether he will be willing to put in the time it takes to be successful.”

Sanchez believes that top high school shortstops convert most easily to other positions, and he signed two last fall--Tony Garcia of Temecula Valley High and Danny Garcia of Riverside North.

More than Sanchez or Batesole, Adams charts the progress of standout high school sophomores. By the time everyone else is clued in on a player, UCLA already has a file on him.

AN ETHICAL QUANDARY

All coaches know that many high school prospects signed in November will be drafted in June. As will top juniors already in their programs. (College freshmen and sophomores are ineligible for the draft.)

All coaches must predict which of those players will choose a professional contract over a scholarship.

Some coaches react by spending countless hours convincing prospects that education beats bouncing around the bush leagues.

Other coaches react by promising more than 11.7 scholarships and praying that after the draft the numbers even out.

And if they don’t?

“I know coaches who have gone over their scholarship limit by as many as five and end up telling a kid drafted in the 30th round to sign professionally when it isn’t in his best interest,” Adams said.

Adams will over-recruit by one scholarship, which he considers conservative.

“You can’t be reckless about it,” he said. “By the end of our season I can predict pretty well which of my players will [sign professionally.]”

Sanchez and Batesole won’t even go that far. They refuse to promise more scholarships than they have.

“I like to sleep at night,” Sanchez said.

SUMMER SCRAMBLING

When five Pepperdine recruits were drafted last June, Sanchez must have done some tossing and turning anyway. Two players--Antelope Valley High pitcher Sean Douglass and Villa Park High infielder Matt Boone--opted to sign professionally, leaving gaping holes on his roster.

Sanchez used some of the money he had promised Douglass to sign right-hander Brad Tucker, a Fresno State castoff. Chalk one up for Sanchez: Tucker is 8-0 and a major reason the Waves are contending for the West Coast Conference title.

A suitable replacement couldn’t be found for Boone, so Sanchez boosted the aid of several veteran players.

“We called them in and said, ‘Merry Christmas, this is a thank you,’ ” Sanchez said. “We had money and gave it to guys who deserve it.”

Not much has changed heading into this draft. Several Pepperdine pitchers and junior shortstop Dave Matranga are likely to be drafted.

Who will sign? “It’s a real interesting dilemma,” Sanchez said. “Because of our philosophy not to go out and overspend, we might be left holding the bag.”

Batesole proved last summer that a good team can be assembled weeks before school begins. His program was cut in June and reinstated in August, forcing him to fill his roster with players overlooked or discarded by other teams.

Nevertheless, the Matadors are 33-19.

Unlike in football and basketball, baseball players can transfer once without losing eligibility. Disgruntled transfers Nakia Hill, Darren Dyt and others provided Northridge with productive veterans this year, but Batesole warns against expecting such luck regularly.

“Sometimes a guy just needs a change of scenery to blossom,” he said, “but when you take players at the last minute who have had problems somewhere else you run the risk of bringing in bad apples.”

Finding an overlooked high school player in mid-summer is equally dicey. But not impossible.

As a USC assistant in 1987, Sanchez desperately sought a pitcher to replace Bobby Sheridan, who had signed with the San Diego Padres.

He found Jeff Cirillo, largely unknown because he attended tiny Providence High in Burbank, playing in an all-star game and signed him. Cirillo converted from pitcher to infielder, became an All-American and now plays third base for the Milwaukee Brewers.

“Normally you can’t roll the dice giving a guy money late in the summer,” Sanchez says. “But once in a while it works out.”

Adams could find himself scouring for a Cirillo a month from now. Bruin recruit Josh Karp of Bothell, Wash., is considered the nation’s top professional prospect among high school pitchers.

In spite of the enormous effort spent reeling in Karp and the euphoria Adams felt when he signed in November, it could all be for naught after the draft.

“We battled Stanford for him and won that one,” Adams says. “Now we’ll have to gear up all over again.

“The one sure thing about recruiting is that it never ends.”