UCLA NOTEBOOK: MANNING HIT WITH TWINS.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

While many of his teammates stayed in Westwood the past few months to lift weights, run and work on various skills, Ricky Manning went to Florida for his summer job.

Manning, a sophomore cornerback from Fresno, spent his second consecutive summer playing center field for the Fort Myers Twins of the Gulf Coast League, the Minnesota Twins' rookie affiliate.

So far, Manning has showed he can hit and run in both sports.

With UCLA, he started the final nine games and had two interceptions and 53 tackles, fourth on the team. He had seven solo tackles in the upset of Washington, including a jarring hit on quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo that forced a fumble the Bruins turned into a touchdown in a 23-20 overtime win.

This summer, he batted .276 in 26 games - mostly in the leadoff spot - with a .427 on-base percentage and 13 strikeouts.

``Obviously, there's no telling how good he could be if we had him full-time,'' Twins farm director Jim Rantz said. ``In two years, he's made considerable improvement.

``We played him against left-handers and he hung in there. With the speed he has and the way he slaps the ball around, yes, we think he's a prospect. But where he fits depends upon how long we can work with him. The fact is, he can only play so many years in a rookie league. This is kind of up to Ricky to see which way he's going to go.''

Manning wants to continue to play both sports and let the market, if not his heart, decide which will be his career.

``I made a lot of progress this summer, but I know I'm going against the odds,'' Manning said. ``Instead of playing six months like everyone else, I'm playing six weeks. I made a lot of sacrifices to come to UCLA and I made a lot of sacrifices to play baseball.''

Those sacrifices aren't financial.

When Manning signed a letter of intent with UCLA in February of 1999, he was content to play college baseball, too. The Twins drafted him in the 22nd round that June but offered him fourth-round money: $275,000 plus $80,000 toward finishing his education.

Manning signed what is known as a two-sport contract, meaning the bonus is paid out in equal installments over five years. This prevents players from taking the bonus money and quitting.

--Basketball recruits: Lakewood Mayfair guard Josh Childress and Compton Dominguez 7-footer Tyson Chandler joined the afternoon pick-up games with current Bruins and NBA players Thursday at the North Gym. They also visited UCLA's coaches, but Childress said he is not close to making a commitment and has scheduled recruiting visits to Stanford on Sept. 30 and Kansas on Oct. 13. Chandler is all but assured of entering the NBA draft.