Frost Reports In From Texas

Little did the San Antonio Spurs know a Laker spy infiltrated their workouts at Trinity University this season.

“I was sitting there watching them practice, relaying messages to Phil Jackson,” said freshman pitcher Michael Frost, an L.A. native. “Every time I see them, I give them nasty looks. I was thinking about going into the weight room and dropping something on Tim Duncan’s foot.”

It’s good to see Frost hasn’t forgotten his roots, because his nine months attending college in San Antonio left him a changed teenager.

“I like Texas,” he said. “I’m still a city boy, an L.A. boy, but it’s nice to hang out with the cowboys. I herded cattle, I shot skeet, I hung out on a ranch. I did everything but ride a horse.”

Frost came to Trinity, an NCAA Division III school, to play baseball. He was a member of Northridge Little League’s 1994 U.S. championship team and an All-Southern Section pitcher at Campbell Hall.

There were NCAA Division I schools who expressed interest in recruiting the 6-foot-4, 205-pound right-hander, but Frost wanted to make sure he found a school with strong academics and where he could pitch immediately. Trinity was perfect.

Of all the players who graduated from local high schools last year, Frost came through with the best freshman college season. He finished 3-2 with a 1.50 earned-run average, 13th-best in Division III. He struck out 47 and walked 14 in 54 innings.

He’s only 19 with an improving fastball and developing body.

“I’m actually shaving now,” he said.

He still looks like a choirboy, but that doesn’t fool anyone. On the mound, he’s focused and nasty. His fastball comes in at 84, 85 mph, and improvement in his curveball helped ease the transition to college baseball.

“I threw a lot of inside pitches,” Frost said. “I started throwing a slider. My changeup got better and I learned to throw my curveball two different ways, for a strike and not for a strike.”

His most entertaining Texas story involves hanging out with a friend on a ranch. They were transporting cattle in a vehicle when it broke down, forcing them to herd the cattle without a horse or a lasso.

“We had to stand in front of the cattle and hope they didn’t run us over,” he said.

Frost has never been afraid to make tough choices. In high school, people told him he should have transferred to a bigger school to test himself against stronger competition. He declined. The same comments could soon be heard in college.

But he has found a way to experience the best of both worlds--summer ball. He leaves for Michigan early next month to play in a wooden bat league. He’ll be facing batters from NCAA Division I schools. They’ll help him find out if he’s any closer to his ultimate goal.

“I’m definitely going to keep trying to go to the pros,” he said.

Since he has been back at his parents’ Northridge home, Frost has let “y’all” slip into his vocabulary.

It’s the influence of living in Texas, even though his Texas friends tease him with their Southern California greeting, “What’s up, dude?”

There’s no surfing in San Antonio, but Frost has found his baseball paradise.

Birmingham starts the spring and summer as the top City Section football team in the region. The Patriots are going to be fun to watch in passing leagues because of three outstanding juniors--inside linebacker Eric Ochoa, outside linebacker Dennis Keyes and defensive back Chad Green.

Keyes could play seven positions next season. Green is a cornerback with tremendous speed. Ochoa is so strong he scares teammates. . . .

Coach Harry Welch’s first two weeks of spring football at Canyon have uncovered four potential sophomore starters: linebacker Andrew Schantz, receiver Sean Coen, quarterback Nathan Longshore and guard Jeff Briscoe. Longshore, 6-3 and the brother of former Canyon lineman Nic Longshore, didn’t play football last season. . . .

Defensive end Chris Frome of Hart has scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Michigan, Washington, Washington State, Colorado and Clemson. . . .

Sophomore Josh Newborn of El Camino Real cleared 14 feet in the pole vault Thursday to set the City Section record in the freshman-sophomore division. . . .

After an impressive performance at a scouting combine at Stanford last weekend, quarterback Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks is being touted by recruiting experts as perhaps the best in the state. It’s not news to anyone who saw him play last season. . . .

As good as Westlake has passed in recent years, Coach Jim Benkert should find a way to hand off to running back Jonathan Contos next season. Contos ran the 40 in 4.31 seconds at the Ventura County combine, the same time as Lorenzo Booker of St. Bonaventure.

Other excellent times were run by Kasey O’Brien of Westlake (4.40), Dave Anderson of Thousand Oaks (4.40) and Brandon Mascorro of St. Bonaventure (4.50). . . .

Travis Johnson, who just completed his freshman year at Florida State, has been helping coach linemen at Notre Dame High during spring ball. He’s up to 285 pounds.

“One year out of high school, he already looks like a man,” said one Notre Dame observer.

Tim Volk, Notre Dame’s top returning lineman, has been running drills with Johnson.

“It’s great to have him out there,” Volk said. “I get to see what I’ll be going up against in a year or two.”

Johnson seems to enjoy coaching.

“I’m only coming back to take Coach [Kevin] Rooney’s job,” he said.

Said assistant coach Jeff Kraemer: “If Travis takes over, there will be a mutiny by the assistant coaches.”

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Eric Sondheimer’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.