Hart Makes Snap Decision

Billy Hart could hear the ping of the aluminum bats as he stood a short distance away on the USC football practice field.

As his football dreams faded -- Matt Leinart took most of the cherished snaps at quarterback -- Hart couldn’t help but think about what was going on at the adjacent Dedeaux Field baseball complex.

“I’d be over there doing nothing,” Hart said. “Everyone would be here, hitting, working on their game and getting better. ... I remember how difficult that was.”

Hart never really got a chance to perform before the tens of thousands of people who packed the Coliseum last fall. But this spring, before smaller crowds who watched USC baseball games, the former quarterback became a solid third baseman for a Trojan team that opens a best-of-three NCAA super-regional Saturday against Oregon State at Corvallis, Ore.

The super-regional is something Hart is eagerly awaiting. With two victories, the Trojans (40-20) would advance to the eight-team College World Series in Omaha. And to Hart, that would be as big a stage as the Orange Bowl was to the football team.

“I know that it might not be on that scale and it doesn’t compare to playing in front of all those people at the Orange Bowl,” Hart said. “But I think it’s just as big and it means just as much.”

A junior, Hart has been a steady performer for the Trojans since he became the regular third baseman midway through last season.

He ended his sophomore year with a team-leading .367 average, two home runs and 29 runs batted in. This season, Hart is second on the team with a .321 average, and has three homers and 34 RBIs. He has also played well at third base; he made several key plays Monday in the Trojans’ 5-2 regional-clinching victory over Pepperdine.

The Houston Astros used their fifth-round draft pick on him Tuesday, betting that the former Mission Viejo High star can blossom into a major league player if he concentrates on one sport.

“He’s come on real fast,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “He’s a really good player right now and there’s no telling what he might become. He has good hands and he naturally has a strong arm. And he’s turned into a good hitter.”

Baseball was Hart’s favorite sport as a youth, but it was as a high school quarterback that he first made headlines, passing for 3,500 yards and 29 touchdowns in two seasons at Mission Viejo.

Hart was a highly sought-after football recruit -- but so was Leinart, who lived 10 minutes away and starred at Santa Ana Mater Dei. The two came to USC and watched Carson Palmer win the Heisman Trophy during their freshman season, then competed for the job when Palmer left for the NFL.

Leinart grabbed the starting spot in the fall of 2003 and the Trojans are 25-1 with two national championships since. Last season, USC was undefeated and Leinart won the Heisman as the top player in college football.

So even though he kept studying the playbook and ran the scout team in practice, Hart saw the writing on the wall.

“Hey, I wanted to play but I had a couple of Heisman Trophy winners in front of me,” said Hart, who says Leinart is a close friend. “I had a pretty good excuse.”

Hart took one snap for USC in three football seasons.

“It was obviously difficult for Billy,” USC football Coach Pete Carroll said. “Everybody in high school has their dreams. It’s not that Billy wasn’t a good quarterback. ... It was just that he was behind a couple of guys who became great.”

For most of his time at USC, baseball is something Hart worked on around his football schedule, but now it is his priority.

“Baseball has kind of given me something to hold onto,” Hart said. “As a football player, obviously I didn’t play too much. If I didn’t have baseball, I don’t know what I would have done.”