SHARPE DEBUT FOR NEW TROJAN.

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP College Baseball 

Long Beach State ace Jered Weaver joked that he intentionally gave his childhood rival a few good pitches to hit. But by the end of the USC baseball team's season-opening series against Long Beach State, newcomer Blake Sharpe had made it clear he didn't need any help at the plate.

Sharpe, a transfer from Pierce College, has been the bright spot in a Trojans offense that batted .187 while losing two of three games to the 49ers. The sophomore shortstop finished the weekend with a .545 batting average and twice as many hits as any teammate. He also had the team's lone stolen base.

``He's a good hitter,'' Weaver said. ``I've known that for a while.''

Sharpe and Weaver were high school league rivals at Moorpark and Simi Valley, respectively, both playing basketball and baseball.

When they met again Friday, Weaver got the victory, but Sharpe got to spoil the no-hit bid. Sharpe doubled and singled for USC's only hits in a game in which the Trojans tied a team record by striking out 17 times.

Sharpe, batting in the cleanup spot while All-American Jeff Clement is out with mononucleosis, provided the offensive highlights again the next day as he went 4 for 4 with four RBI and a home run in a 6-4 victory.

``You try not to be intimidated or think too much about this being my first time,'' Sharpe said of making the jump to Division I. ``I try to go up there like I always have. ... (Weaver) made me look pretty bad my first at-bat, so I didn't want that to happen again.''

Only one other USC player is batting close to .300.

--New Lions roaring: Loyola Marymount got more than it expected when Clint McGill transferred from Texas Tech. The Lions knew they were getting a capable senior infielder, but they may have also found a closer for a pitching staff depleted by injuries.

McGill made his college pitching debut last week and earned saves in his first two games. He retired the side in order Saturday against nationally ranked Baylor.

McGill, who was the starting second baseman for each of the Lions' four games last week, also batted a team-high .385 to earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors.

Will Quaglieri had a similarly encouraging debut, but with different results. The senior right-hander, who sat out last season after transferring from Hawaii, allowed three hits and one run in seven innings Sunday against Baylor, but took the loss as the Lions were no-hit in the seven-inning second game of a doubleheader.

--Cats clawing way up: Arizona is off to a hot start and two locals are a big reason why.

Former San Fernando slugger D.J. Lewis is batting .429. The freshman outfielder earned his second start Saturday and went 2 for 4 with three RBI in a 10-6 upset of then-No. 8 Cal State Fullerton.

Camarillo graduate Brad Boyer, who earned freshman All-America honors last season with Arizona, is batting .300 with seven RBI after going 3 for 5 with four RBI Sunday.

The Wildcats (5-1) took two of three games from the Titans to move up to as high as No. 11 in this week's national rankings, the highest Arizona has been ranked since 1993.

--Honors: Byron Grubman, a Cleveland of Reseda graduate, was named California Collegiate Athletic Association Pitcher of the Week for throwing a complete-game three-hitter for UC San Diego on Friday against Cal State Los Angeles. The sophomore right-hander retired the final 19 batters in a row for his first victory of the season.

UCLA senior third baseman Brandon Averill was named Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week after helping the Bruins take two of three games from Fresno State.

Cal State Northridge freshman outfielder Keith Renno was named to the all-tournament team at last weekend's Coca Cola Spring Training Classic in Surprise, Ariz. Renno went 4 for 12 with an RBI as the Matadors (4-6) went 0-3.

--Short hops: Weaver moved to second on Long Beach State's all-time wins list with his 24th career victory Friday against USC. ...

Last weekend's three-game series between USC and Long Beach State drew 8,399 fans, one of the region's highest totals ever. ...

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy has two sons playing college baseball in Southern California and they face each other this weekend when Pepperdine plays a three-game series against UC Santa Barbara. Chad Tracy is a freshman catcher for Pepperdine (1-3), having contributed two hits and two RBI in two starts. His older brother Brian is a redshirt freshman pitcher for the Gauchos.