After Impressive Run, USC’s Zito Shifts His Focus to the Postseason

USC left-hander Barry Zito never pitched as consistently as he has this season.

Zito, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior, is 11-2 with a 3.46 earned-run average and has struck out 141 in 96 1/3 innings.

He has won his last 10 starts and went 8-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference, joining former Arizona standout Scott Erickson and former Trojan Seth Etherton as the only pitchers to win all of their Pac-10 starts in a season.

“I’ve been going out every day being just as focused,” Zito said. “I have not been complacent.”

Zito, a third-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers out of Pierce College last year, will start Saturday when defending national champion USC plays its second game in an NCAA regional at Dedeaux Field. It will be his final start before Wednesday’s amateur draft in which Zito and USC catcher Eric Munson are expected to be chosen in the first round.

USC is one of six Southland teams in the 64-team NCAA tournament that begins today with 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to best-of-three super regionals June 4-6. The eight super regional winners will play in the College World Series in Omaha June 11-19.

USC is hosting a regional for the first time since 1991. The Trojans (33-23) are seeded second in the regional and open against Virginia Commonwealth (40-18) at 3 p.m. Top-seeded Pepperdine (43-14) plays Harvard (28-18) tonight at 7.

Cal State Fullerton (44-11) is seeded third nationally and No. 1 in a regional at South Bend, Ind. The Titans play Michigan (32-28) in their opener.

Long Beach State (33-23) is the second-seeded team at College Station, Texas. The 49ers open against Mississippi (33-26).

UCLA (30-29) is seeded third at Wichita, Kan., and plays Oklahoma State (40-17) in a first-round game.

Loyola Marymount (33-26) is seeded fourth at Stanford and opens against the top-seeded Cardinal (43-13).

Zito usually starts the first game of a series, but USC Coach Mike Gillespie is counting on senior Justin Lehr (6-2, 4.48 ERA) to beat Virginia Commonwealth, setting up Zito for a start against the winner of the Pepperdine-Harvard game.

Players, coaches and scouts have come to expect dominating performances from Zito, who struck out 16 batters three times this season--in consecutive seven-inning performances against Oregon State and Arizona and in a two-hit complete-game victory over UCLA. He also struck out 12 in 6 2/3 innings against Arizona State and 11 in six innings against Stanford.

“He came in with a lot of hype and he proved that he was even better than the hype,” UCLA Coach Gary Adams said. “That kid is going to pitch in the big leagues.”

Said Munson: “He’s the easiest guy to catch because you just put your finger down, put your glove up and he hits it. It’s not often that he doesn’t have his good stuff. But when he doesn’t, he bulldogs and gets outs.”

Pepperdine also features solid pitching. Sophomore right-hander Jay Adams is 10-2 with a 2.63 ERA and freshman right-hander Dan Haren is 10-3 with a 3.20 ERA.

Junior right-hander Jay Gehrke leads the nation with 18 saves. Senior infielder G.J. Raymundo is batting .391 with 15 home runs and 61 runs batted in and sophomore catcher Dane Sardinha is batting .378 with 14 homers and 61 RBIs.

Virginia Commonwealth is no stranger to USC. The Rams beat the Trojans, 14-4, last year in the East Regional at Clemson, S.C., the Trojans’ worst postseason loss since 1988.

USC went on to win the regional and its 12th national championship.

Virginia Commonwealth finished second in the Colonial Athletic Assn. this season. The Rams are led by sophomore Jason Dubois, who batted .359 with eight homers and 51 RBIs and was 9-3 with a 3.12 ERA as a pitcher.

Harvard beat Princeton in the Ivy League championship series to advance to a regional for the third consecutive year.

Outfielder Andrew Hulling was named Ivy League player of the year after batting .401 with five homers and 51 RBIs. John Birtwell (4-4, 2.72 ERA) is the Crimson’s top pitcher.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Games

All times PDT

* At Dedeaux Field: USC (33-23) vs. Virginia Commonwealth (40-18), 3 p.m.; Pepperdine (43-14) vs. Harvard (28-18), 7 p.m.

* At South Bend, Ind.: Cal State Fullerton (44-11) vs. Michigan (32-28), 1 p.m.

* At College Station, Texas: Long Beach State (33-23) vs. Mississippi (33-26), noon

* At Wichita, Kan.: Oklahoma State (40-17) vs. UCLA (30-29), 1 p.m.

* At Stanford: Stanford (43-13) vs. Loyola Marymount (33-26), 7 p.m.