NO LOOKING BACK FOR USC TROJANS ENTER SEASON DETERMINED TO BRING BACK SERIES TITLE.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

Newcomer Blake Sharpe made sure to give catcher Jeff Clement a hard time about their meeting in the 1996 Little League World Series when Sharpe's Moorpark team defeated Clement's team from Iowa.

But Clement and the rest of the USC baseball team didn't need to be reminded about the postseason disappointment. Last season, when the Trojans failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, is still fresh in their minds.

The unfamiliar ending is something USC doesn't want to experience again. After all, this is a team that has won more College World Series titles than any school. Determined not to let their childhood World Series experiences be the last, the Trojans are determined to return to prominence. Their progress is evident as they enter the season as the only local representative in the national rankings.

``I feel that everybody on this team believes and knows that we are a better team than last year,'' junior first baseman Joey Metropoulos said. ``We all want to prove that. We want to win as many ball games as we can and try to get back to the World Series.''

Many of the same players who limped to a 28-28 overall record and a fifth-place tie in the Pacific-10 Conference after losing the final four games of last season will lead the quest for redemption.

The veteran infield features returning starters Michael Moon at third and Jon Brewster at second along with preseason All-Americans Metropoulos and Clement, who are counted on to anchor an offense that ranked second-to-last in the conference last year. Clement hit a school freshman- record of 21 home runs last season as he earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and Collegiate Baseball Freshman Co-National Player of the Year honors.

Sharpe, a sophomore transfer from Pierce College, is in a tight race with freshman Hector Estrella for the starting shortstop job. Other newcomers expected to make an immediate impact are freshmen Daniel Perales and Ian Kennedy. Perales, an All-State player from Mater Dei High of Santa Ana, will start in center field. Kennedy, a right-hander out of La Quinta of Westminster, is expected to assume the role of No. 1 starter in a pitching staff that will be pivotal to the team's success.

``This year we have more healthy guys and we have a few young pitchers coming in who should make an impact,'' Metropoulos said. ``And we're going to have a good offense. So I think we're going to be contenders this year.''

USC, which last appeared in the College World Series in 2001, is absent from some national preseason rankings, but is ranked as high as No.16 by Collegiate Baseball.

``We are unknown, unranked and unloved after last year,'' said USC 17th-year coach Mike Gillespie, whose team opens against Long Beach State on Feb. 13.

``We are shellshocked after last year. ... We are an unknown for sure. But I don't think it has to mean we won't compete. We are competitive.''

Heather Gripp, [phone]

heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com