COLLEGE BASEBALL: FINALLY, JOHNSON CATCHING A BREAK.

Byline: Chris Branam Staff Writer

When the talented catcher from Nevada-Las Vegas announced he was coming to UCLA, everyone figured he'd be the starter. Everyone but Forrest Johnson.

Johnson, a hard-luck and little-used outfielder for two years in Westwood, beat out UNLV transfer Ryan Hamill for the No. 1 job in the fall and emerged as one of the top hitters in the Pacific-10 Conference.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Johnson led the Bruins in RBI (51) and was second in home runs (15) entering UCLA's nonconference game Monday night at home against San Diego. He was batting .358 - third among the team's regulars.

``I had a goal - to be the starting catcher for UCLA,'' said Johnson, who has a .733 slugging percentage. ``That was my goal from day one as a freshman. . . . (Hamill's transfer) made me 100 percent better. I had to battle a great catcher like him; it made me a better player. I always trusted that I'd get my fair shot.''

A season of injuries in 1999 forced Johnson from people's minds. Most national magazines, when ranking the Bruins in their respective preseason polls, didn't even mention Johnson, a junior from Rialto.

Last year, he was UCLA's opening-day right fielder. He batted .326 with five home runs but missed most of the season with a broken jaw. He only made one start at catcher.

``The third game of the season against Hawaii, me and Nick Lyon collided in right-center,'' Johnson said. ``It took me awhile to get back in the swing of things, then I broke my jaw. I got hit by a line drive in the batting cages.

``Last year was pretty disappointing for me, because of the accidents, but I persevered. I hoped things would get better and they did.''

A solid summer in the Alaska Baseball League was the first positive. Then Johnson surprisingly became the starter even though Hamill - a junior from West Hills who went to Chaminade - hit 16 homers as a freshman at UNLV in '98 and eight more in only 45 games in '99.

``(Johnson) took the job,'' Bruins coach Gary Adams said. ``He took the job and ran with it.''

Johnson: ``It was a tight battle. It went down to the last weekend of fall. I'm sure a lot of the coaches and a lot of guys on the team didn't expect me to make such a big turnaround.''

The injuries - and watching Hamill become a backup - have changed Johnson's perspective.

``It hurts when you feel you can contribute and you're sitting on the bench,'' he said. ``I feel for Ryan. He's a great baseball player. When you're playing every day, you're so grateful just to be out there and be blessed with the opportunities God has given you.''

--The races: UCLA lost 2 of 3 against No. 3 Arizona State this past weekend, dropping to third in the Pac-10 and to 21st in Baseball America's Top 25.

The Bruins (8-4, 25-18 overall) are one spot ahead of unranked USC (8-7, 27-17). The Trojans lost the last two games of their series at home against fourth-ranked Stanford.

Stanford and Arizona State - both 11-4 - are tied for first in the conference. The Pac-10's top four teams are likely to get NCAA playoff bids.

Loyola Marymount is ranked No. 17 by Baseball America, and the Lions have several quality nonconference wins, including UCLA and Cal State Fullerton. But LMU (15-6, 28-15) is battling to win its division in the West Coast Conference.

With eight games left, the Lions lead second-place Gonzaga by two games in the Coast Division. The Bulldogs play at LMU on May 5-7. Thanks to LMU's two wins over San Diego this weekend, unranked Pepperdine (14-6, 26-19) is comfortably ahead in the West Division, leading USD by five games.

--Keeping tabs: Mike Byer, a former Royal High of Simi Valley pitcher and the MVP of the 1998 Daily News Bernie Milligan All-Star Game, went eight innings to help St. Mary's beat San Francisco 12-6 last week.

Byer is 4-5 with a 4.63 ERA for the Gaels. Brett Wayne, Byer's high school teammate at Royal, is the team's starting shortstop and he's batting .294 with 15 RBI.

ON DECK

Today: Long Beach State at LMU, 2:30 p.m.; Cal State Fullerton at UCLA, USC at UC Santa Barbara, 5 p.m.

Wednesday: UC Riverside at CSUN, 3 p.m.

Friday: LMU at San Francisco, 2:30 p.m.; UCLA at Washington State, Santa Clara at Pepperdine, 3 p.m.; Arizona State at USC, 6 p.m.; CSUN at Arizona, 7 p.m.

Saturday: Santa Clara at Pepperdine (DH), 11 a.m.; LMU at San Francisco, 1 p.m.; Arizona State at USC, UCLA at Washington State, 1 p.m; CSUN at Arizona, 7 p.m.

Sunday: LMU at San Francisco, CSUN at Arizona, Arizona State at USC, UCLA at Washington State, 1 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

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Box: On deck (see text)