COLLEGE BASEBALL : Limelight Dims for Record-Holder Peters

Jon Peters is only 20, but he is attempting to regain the form that made him a national celebrity a few years ago. Peters, who recently transferred from Texas A&M; to Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Tex., won a national-record 53 consecutive games at Brenham High between 1986-89.

A right-hander, he was 54-1 with a 1.24 ERA at Brenham High. Peters had five no-hitters, 22 shutouts, 612 strikeouts and led his team to three state championships--credentials that put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated in May of 1989.

After he graduated, Peters hurt his arm pitching in an all-star game. Last February, he underwent elbow surgery and redshirted at Texas A&M.; This season, he would have been the Aggies’ sixth or seventh pitcher.

“It’s been tough and it’s made me real humble,� Peters said of his struggles. “It’s put my priorities in line.�

In his first start, last week, Peters pitched five innings and took the loss in Blinn’s 5-3 defeat at the hands of San Jacinto College, the two-time defending national junior college champion.

“My arm felt really good,� Peters said. “Hopefully, I’ll do well this season and go back to A&M.; If not, I can always stay here another year.�

Scott Sharts lost the weight, but he apparently has not lost his power.

Sharts, a 6-foot-6 junior first baseman and pitcher, hit 29 home runs last season for Cal State Northridge. Yet, he was still viewed by most professional scouts as the same immobile player who set a Southern Section record with 32 homers in his career at Simi Valley High.

At the urging of Northridge Coach Bill Kernen, Sharts went through a diet and conditioning program that helped him drop his weight from 235 pounds to 219.

The result is a slimmer, quicker Sharts. He has hit six home runs and driven in 15 runs in 13 games for the Matadors, who are ranked 20th in the nation by Baseball America magazine.

Sharts, a right-hander, is also 3-0 with a 1.43 earned-run average.

“He was going to be a quality player for us if he weighed 240 or 220,� Kernen said. “But he’s being evaluated by professional people who have stereotypes of what guys are supposed to look like.

“There’s always those questions, ‘Does he gain weight easily? What’s going to happen to his body?’

“You want to try and take away those negative things. It was time to turn him into a different animal.�

Sharts runs 45 minutes to an hour every day and has cut junk food from his diet.

“I never really had somebody hammer it out for me,� Sharts said. “Last year, I started this but didn’t really stick to it.

“I finally realized that this stuff does help your body. It’s gotten to the point where I finally like doing it.�

Catching on: UCLA center fielder Michael Moore is beginning to fulfill the expectations he generated when the Toronto Blue Jays made him a second-round pick in the 1989 draft.

Moore, a 6-4 sophomore from Beverly Hills, hit .304 in 69 at-bats as a freshman. He started this season one for eight but now he is batting a team-high .475.

Two weeks ago, Moore was named most valuable player of a tournament in Florida after going 11 for 14 with five RBIs, nine runs scored and four stolen bases.

“It was frustrating to go from being the fulcrum of your team to a non-factor,� Moore said of the transition from high school to college. “But I started coming up at the end of last year and finished strong. All I needed was a chance to play.�

Moore is the third athlete in UCLA history to start at wide receiver for the football team and in the outfield for the baseball team. David Keating, who is in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system, and Denver Bronco wide receiver Michael Young are the others.

Moore said the Bruins (7-4) will contend for the Pacific 10 Southern Division championship. UCLA opens Pac-10 play this weekend at No. 21 California (8-4), No. 10 USC (10-5-1) travels to Arizona (9-7) and No. 2 Stanford (13-2) plays host to No. 3 Arizona State (10-5).

“I think we’re really being overlooked right now,� Moore said. “We’re going to surprise some people.�

Staying put: Cal State Fullerton’s recent decision to continue its football program ended speculation among college baseball observers that Titan shortstop Phil Nevin would complete his eligibility elsewhere.

USC, for example.

Nevin, a sophomore shortstop who batted .358 with 14 homers last season, is also a kicker and punter for the football team.

In 1989, he was named first team All-Big West in football and has made 24 of 35 field-goal attempts at Fullerton, including a 54-yarder. With the graduation of Quin Rodriguez, USC does not have an experienced kicker returning.

But Nevin, a third-round draft choice of the Dodgers in 1989 who is batting a team-high .415 this season, said a transfer to USC would have been unlikely.

“I would have thought about what I was going to do after the (baseball) season,� Nevin said. “But (USC) had their chance before. I think they missed out. That’s the way I look at it.�

College Baseball Notes

Senior outfielder Jerrold Rountree is batting .377 and has 18 stolen bases in 15 games for No. 25 UC Santa Barbara. Rountree stole six bases against Cal State Los Angeles last week, two short of the single-game record set by Lee Todd of Harvard in 1926. New York Met outfielder Vince Coleman stole seven bases in a game for Florida A&M; in 1982. . . . Santa Barbara shortstop David Lane, a sophomore, is batting .333 with six home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Junior Craig Clayton of Cal State Northridge is batting .400 and has a 2-1 record and a 3.10 earned-run average. . . . UCLA outfielder Joel Wolfe is batting .405 with 11 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 11 games. . . . USC right-hander Dan Hubbs, a sophomore, is 3-0 with 1.50 ERA in 18 innings. . . . Second baseman Steve Rodriguez is batting .491 with a team-high 14 RBIs for Pepperdine, which is ranked 18th.

Arizona State outfielder Mike Kelly, Baseball America’s player of the year last season, is batting .407 with four homers, 14 RBIs and 14 walks. Sun Devil third baseman Todd Steverson, a sophomore from Culver City, is batting .339 with a team-high 18 RBIs. . . . Loyola Marymount third baseman Gerardo Perez is batting .409 with three homers and 21 RBIs in 13 games.