Currier’s Return to Basics Makes Him a Winner for USC

Rik Currier says he’s having fun again. It wasn’t always that way last season, when the USC pitcher had a 5-7 record and a 6.38 earned-run average.

“I think I took everything too seriously then,” Currier said. “I was spending too much time analyzing the way I was pitching, and trying to fix every little thing. This year, I’m just going out and throwing the ball and trying to have fun.”

It seems to be working. Currier, who pitched for Capistrano Valley High, is 10-3 with a 3.57 ERA. He has 101 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings.

Currier said pitching last summer for the Chatham A’s in the Cape Cod collegiate league helped him. “I was able to just focus on baseball, and I had lot of fun there,” said Currier, who was named pitcher of the year in the league. “I made up my mind to have that kind of fun this season.”

The burden of high expectations wore on him last year.

As a freshman two seasons ago, Currier was 6-1 with 100 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings for the Trojans’ national championship team. His average of 12.62 strikeouts per nine innings ranked second nationally.

Currier started two games in the 1998 College World Series, winning one when he held Mississippi State to four hits and one run with 12 strikeouts in eight innings.

“I don’t look back on last season as a negative as much as a learning experience,” Currier said. “I know I’m a better pitcher now. My change-up has improved and I have better control of my slider. My fastball has moved up into the 89-91 [mph] range.”

USC Coach Mike Gillespie has noticed the change.

“He’s consistently thrown with more velocity,” Gillespie said. “When he’s had a problem in the past, it’s been about consistency. His stuff has always been good enough. I think it’s a matter of him being more mature and more confident this season.”

Gillespie regards Currier as a top candidate for postseason honors.

“There are some high-profile pitchers in our conference, but [Currier] went head to head with [Stanford’s] Justin Wayne and beat him,” Gillespie said. “If Currier wins our next two Friday games, he could be the pitcher of the year in our conference.”

The Trojans (32-18 overall, 10-8 in the Pacific-10) are in fourth place heading into this weekend’s home series against Oregon State. They host Washington in a three-game series May 19-21. Stanford leads the conference with a 15-6 record.

“The important thing is getting in the [NCAA] playoffs,” Currier said. “That’s my main goal now.”

Currier said he isn’t sure what to expect from the June amateur draft.

“There’s always the question about my height [5-feet-10] when the pro scouts evaluate pitchers,” Currier said. “I think I’ll get my shot with someone, but I’m not going to sign for anything. If I don’t get what I want, I’ll come back for my senior year.”

REGIONAL PLAYOFF SITES

NCAA regional baseball tournament sites are scheduled to be announced Monday, and Cal State Fullerton, which has expanded its stadium, hopes to be one of them.

The NCAA baseball committee might delay its decision on some sites until the last regular-season games have been played and pairings are announced on May 22.

A year ago, tournament sites went to Stanford and USC. A question is whether the West will get three tournaments this time. Stanford, Arizona State, Fresno State and Fullerton appear to be the leading contenders.

Jeff Cova, director of athletic development at Fullerton, said Fullerton has received commitments for slightly more than 600 tournament passes. “That’s about $30,000, which is in the range of what we expected, not having hosted a regional before,” Cova said.

Several schools that have traditionally hosted regionals are expected to bid again.

Southeastern Conference schools Louisiana State, Mississippi State, Auburn and South Carolina are expected to make strong bids. So will Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference, along with independent Miami. Texas and Baylor are also expected to bid.

NEW LOOK FOR 49ERS

Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow decided something had to change last week after the 49ers lost for the seventh time in their past eight games.

Snow’s order: The team’s traditional baseball hats with “LB” on the front would stay in the lockers and the team would wear plain black hats without any insignia.

“I was trying to send a message to our players that they needed to do things a lot better than they had been,” Snow said.’

Wearing the no-name hats, the 49ers swept a three-game series against Pacific last weekend to regain second place in the Big West race and move within one game of first-place Fullerton. The 49ers are 29-21 overall.

This weekend, the 49ers play a three-game series at Nevada, which is only a game behind Long Beach with six conference games remaining.

Fullerton plays a three-game series at Pacific beginning Friday, then goes to Long Beach for the final regular-season series May 19-21. Nevada ends its regular season at home against Pacific.

TOUCHING THE BASES

UCLA first baseman Garrett Atkins, a junior who played at University High, is batting .361 with 15 homers and 54 runs batted in. The Bruins are 31-22 and 13-5 in the Pac-10, a half-game behind first-place Stanford.

Junior Jordan DeJong, who transferred in January from Cal State Fullerton to Tennessee, is 5-3 with a 4.71 ERA in 10 starts and 17 appearances. DeJong, who played at El Dorado High, was 4-1 with a 5.74 ERA for the Titans in 1999.

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