ADAMS GIVES CHANCE, GETS GIFT FROM MCCARTHY'S PLAY.

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP College Baseball 

Add Ryan McCarthy's name to the long list of Gary Adams success stories. Like the many others who were undrafted and received little or no interest from colleges before being given an opportunity by Adams to play baseball at UCLA, McCarthy has blossomed into a talented pro prospect.

A grateful McCarthy is doing his best to repay Adams with the ultimate parting gift. McCarthy, a Westlake High graduate, played a significant role in getting the Bruins to the postseason for the first time since 2000, a destination few expected Adams to reach in his 30th and final season as coach. UCLA, the preseason pick of conference coaches to finish seventh, placed third in the Pacific-10 Conference and earned a spot in the NCAA Regionals in Oklahoma City, where the Bruins open Friday against Oklahoma.

``It's pretty exciting,'' said McCarthy, a junior shortstop. ``Nobody on our team's been to the playoffs, so we're all excited and worked really hard to get there. But with this being skip's last year, that makes it even more special. We really wanted to do this for him.''

McCarthy did his part by hitting .301 and playing vastly improved defense. His 71 hits, 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 43 RBI are team highs. His steady supply of clutch hits included two home runs in a recent upset of nationally ranked Washington to keep the Bruins in the playoff race. He has committed five errors this season after making at least 17 each of the past two years.

``I had a scout ask me the other day, 'Gary, where does Ryan McCarthy rank among all the shortstops that you've had?' '' Adams said. ``I said he's right there at the top. ... Defensively, Ryan's in the top three.''

Although the 6-foot-3, 180-pound McCarthy attracts significant attention now, his options out of high school were sparse. He said UC Irvine was the only other school to make an offer, but that fell through and he didn't know what he was going to do until he heard from Adams.

``That's a guy that came kind of out of nowhere,'' Adams said. ``I don't live too far from where he went to high school, so I had heard about him and knew he left baseball for a while. I said, 'Here's a good athlete, if we could polish him up, he could really be good.' ''

McCarthy, who resumed his baseball career upon entering high school after years of focusing on tennis, credits much of his improvement to the tone set by Adams. McCarthy's first two years at UCLA included hours of extra ground balls before and after practices, and Adams running out on the field in the middle of practice to demonstrate proper techniques, which McCarthy said ``are ingrained in my mind now.''

McCarthy was recruited as a utility player who played every position except catcher and first base in high school, but he never had to focus on playing anything except the infield for the Bruins. He took over the starting shortstop job about 15 games into his freshman season. McCarthy batted .258 with 20 RBI that year and followed with a .264, seven-homer sophomore season.

As the once distant dream of playing professionally began to seem like a possibility, McCarthy's drive intensified and his performance soared.

``Over the summer and this year, I think I've probably worked day in and day out the hardest I've ever worked in my life at trying to get to my top potential,'' he said. ``I think that's what's paid off the most this year. I'm pretty much the same size I was in high school - I'm a little bigger - but my work ethic is improved a lot.

``It's nice to see all the hard work pay off. I've put myself in the position to have an opportunity to be drafted - who knows how that will turn out - but right now I'm thinking more about playoffs. This is pretty special for not only myself, but all the other seniors and juniors who might be drafted, to finally get this experience and see our years of hard work pay off. We're going to keep it going as long as we can.''

--Quaglieri signs: Loyola Marymount senior right-hander Will Quaglieri signed with the New York Mets organization this week. He is scheduled to begin at Single-A Brooklyn of the short-season New York-Penn League. Quaglieri (5-6), who ranked among West Coast Conference leaders with a 3.84 ERA in his only active season for the Lions, was eligible to sign before next week's draft as a fifth-year senior.

--LMU pitcher honored: LMU sophomore right-hander Stephen Kahn (7-3) was named West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. Lions coach Frank Cruz was named the conference's Coach of the Year.

Heather Gripp, [phone]

heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com