HERE'S THE PITCH: TROJANS STAFF IS LOADED.

Byline: PATRICK HIPES / College Baseball 

If you build it, it will come.

A pitching staff, that is. And at USC, it is the reason the No. 5 Trojans could contend for a national championship.

It seems everything has fit into place this season in coach Mike Gillespie's world. In no better place is it evident than on the mound.

Seth Etherton's surprise return to the program is only one reason. All-time Trojans save leader Jack Krawczyk is another.

But wait, as they say on late-night TV. There's more.

The Trojans already were counting on pro prospects Mike Penney and Jason Saenz to fulfill starting roles - both are in Baseball America's list of Top 100 college prospects.

Toss in quality veteran setup men like Steve Immel and Mike Weibling, and suddenly USC - as much as any other team in the U.S. - has a recipe best served hot in Omaha.

``We're obviously excited with the guys we have in the mix,'' USC pitching coach John Savage said. ``We need good years from them to do well, and it could be an exciting staff.''

The pitching looks even better when you consider the other aspects of the Trojans' game - they score a lot of runs and play solid defense. But success is by no means automatic considering Penney is a converted reliever and Saenz is learning the ropes.

``It's a growing process for myself,'' said Saenz, a junior left-hander. ``The more I get out there and be aggressive, the more comfortable I feel.''

All in all, USC's pitching is Herculean compared to the rest of the area's teams. UCLA lost all three starters from last season and has a freshman closer in Jon Brandt. Pepperdine is still sorting out starters from relievers, and Cal State Northridge is still sifting through the program's wreckage.

USC may look even better thanks to a forgiving early-season schedule. The Trojans play 18 of their first 26 games at Dedeaux Field, taking only one trip - to Florida this weekend - further than 40 miles from the campus.

``What opportunity,'' Savage said. ``We can show that we're maybe the best pitching staff in the West, maybe in the country.''

Nice catch: Pepperdine freshman Dane Sardinha, considered the best prep catcher in the nation last year at Kamehameha High in Kahuku, Hawaii, spurned a six-digit offer from Kansas City after the Royals made him a second-round selection in the amateur draft.

When he and agent Scott Boras couldn't agree with K.C., he came to Malibu.

Good thing. He's already given plenty of reasons why he should beat the hype - at the plate and behind it.

On Sunday, the 6-foot, 200-pound version of Ivan Rodriguez showed everyone what all the fuss was about. He hit a towering home run, his second of the year. He also picked a runner off first base with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, quelling a Cal rally.

Holding the fort: When the Northridge baseball program was collapsing around him, then-Hart High standout Eric Hovart stood by his commitment to CSUN coach Mike Batesole.

He was the only one. With the team scrapped until two weeks before the start of winter workouts, other recruits made beelines for other schools - Fullerton, LMU and Long Beach State among them.

``I believed in him and I stuck with him,'' said Hovart, who's made a smooth transition from a high school shortstop to a college left fielder. ``He's pretty much the best hitting coach around. Even if he would've taken a job back East, I would've followed him.''

Through skills or karma (more likely both), Hovart's loyalty is being rewarded. The former All-Southern Section selection is hitting .333.

Short hops: UCLA took two of three games from No. 14 Georgia Tech this past weekend in Atlanta, this after dropping three straight at the University of Hawaii the week before. ``I think we'll be a team that you'll never know all year long,'' Bruins coach Gary Adams said. ``There will be those good days and bad days.'' . . . The NCAA suspended-game holdover rule has received a workout in California, where rain has won more games than anyone.

The rules stipulates if both teams agree beforehand, a shortened game will be restarted from the last complete inning on a later date, regardless of the score.

Case in point - today's USC-Long Beach State game is a continuation of a rain-shortened game Jan. 31. The contest will resume in the fourth inning with the Trojans holding a 6-1 lead. . . . USC coach Gillespie, after Morgan Ensberg hit a booming home run on Jan. 30 that cleared the black screen behind the dead-center field wall: ``I haven't seen that many balls hit out there, and I sure don't see many get out that fast.''