BERNIE MILLIGAN NOTEBOOK; LOADED LINEUPS.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

A deep supply of strong pitching and playing on a spacious field made home runs rare at last year's Daily News Bernie Milligan All-Star Game.

It could be a lot harder to keep the ball in the park when the 24th annual event is held Saturday. Both teams are loaded with home run hitters.

The East has three sluggers from Highland - Jason Kubel, John Santor and Daniel Champieux - who had 33 home runs among them this year. The West has Granada Hills' John Voita, who led local City players with 10 home runs.

Each side has a player who broke the regional career home run record and finished tied at 33. Royal of Simi Valley's Brian Lipman hit a school- record 13 home runs this year and will play for the West. Littlerock's Delwyn Young made the East team after hitting nine homers this year.

Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks' Chris Dickerson, El Camino Real of Woodland Hills' Conor Jackson and Camarillo's Spencer Wyman are among the other power threats.

In addition to the potential big hits during the game, the third annual pregame home run derby is scheduled for 11 a.m. The West claimed the title the past two years as Camarillo's Jay Caligiuri won in 1998 and Granada Hills' Jon Bringuier won last year's contest by hitting nine home runs.

--Surprise slugger: First baseman Randy Curtis was expected to be Calabasas' home run leader this season. Instead, he hit just one and Tony Sulser, who is better known for his pitching, led the Coyotes with six. They were the only home runs of Sulser's three-year varsity career.

``If you'd have asked me at the beginning of the year who was going to lead our team in home runs, there's no way I would have said Tony Sulser,'' Calabasas coach Rick Nathanson said. ``But he's got some legitimate pop in his bat. He had some genuine shots, there was nothing cheap about them.''

Sulser, Curtis and teammate Mike Grossman are on the West.

--King of K's: Palmdale's Matt Harrington is the one attracting national attention, but there was another local player who had even more strikeouts than the Falcons' hard-throwing right-hander this year.

Tim Thompson's run through the playoffs with Grace Brethren of Simi Valley allowed him to finish with 139 strikeouts - 13 more than Harrington. Thompson did not average as many strikeouts per inning - he pitched 103 innings and Harrington pitched 65 1/3 - and most of his games were against much smaller schools than Harrington faced, but Thompson (17-2) will get the chance to show his stuff against the best as a member of the West. Harrington (11-0) will play for the East.

--The more the better: Thompson's 103 innings pitched are far more than any other pitcher from the area - at least 30 or 40 more than most team's aces - but he hasn't showed any signs of tiring.

Thompson walked just 21 this season and increased his state-record career win total to 56 by throwing three shutout innings in Friday's Southern Section Division VI final that clinched a third consecutive championship for the Lancers.

``He actually gets better as he pitches,'' said Grace Brethren coach Aaron Marcarelli, who maximized the 10 innings a week pitchers are allowed to throw by using Thompson in relief on days he didn't start. ``If you don't get to him early, you don't get to him at all.''

--See you again soon: Several players on the West team will be teammates again in college. Westlake shortstop Jeff Dragicevich, Wyman and Jackson are all headed to the University of California. Thousand Oaks second baseman Adam Leavitt and Royal's Casey O'Quinn and Lipman will be reunited at Troy State (Ala.).

``It's an ideal situation for all of us,'' O'Quinn said. ``I loved the school and the area, but to be able to play with guys you know made it even better.''

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Photo: (color -- ran in Conejo edition only) Thousand Oaks High's Adam Leavitt plans to continue his baseball career at Troy State (Ala.)

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer