THE COLLEGES / MIKE HISERMAN : Reprieve Gives CLU’s Clark a Shot in the Arm

Mike Clark does not remember the date of the day he describes as perhaps the most enjoyable in his life. He does, however, remember the my-dog-just-died look on baseball Coach Rich Hill’s face as Hill peeked around the Cal Lutheran dugout and sternly said, “Mike,” before flashing a wide grin and adding, “You got it.”

Those were the words Clark had waited months to hear.

Clark is a senior pitcher for Cal Lutheran, the same school that listed him as a senior last baseball season. It just so happens that Clark’s was a collegiate career unwilling to end.

Undrafted and unsigned after winning six of seven decisions with a 2.81 earned-run average last season, Clark, with the help of Hill and Cal Lutheran administrators, set out to earn another season in which to prove himself to professional scouts.

Their target was Clark’s shortened freshman season in 1987 when, less than a half-dozen games into his first junior college baseball season at Pierce, Clark developed tendinitis in his shoulder. He was unaware at the time that he could be granted a redshirt year because of the injury.

Later, he wanted to regain that lost season. And so started a three-month process of sending applications, medical records and letters to the offices of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., of which Cal Lutheran has dual membership.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” said Clark, who improved to 6-2 with a 2.18 ERA this season after throwing a no-hitter against Pomona-Pitzer on Friday. “Every day it was on my mind.” Then came what quickly became his three favorite words: “You got it.”

“That whole day at practice I was like a little kid,” Clark said. “I enjoyed everything that day.”

His college career given a reprieve, Clark now concentrates on stimulating the interest of scouts. He has two strikes against him: limited physical stature (Clark is 6-foot-1, 190 pounds) and arm strength (low 80-m.p.h. range on a good day).

“When I was at Pierce, I was a thrower,” Clark said. “I’d aim for the middle of the plate and hope I missed a little. Now I pitch. I change speeds, stay on the corners and move it around. I’m not the type you’d sign out of a one-day tryout camp, but I battle.”

And he wins. In his three seasons at Cal Lutheran, the right-hander has won 19 games with only five losses. Included was a 1-0 decision over powerful USC earlier this season.

“That was a high point,” Clark said. “I like pitching against better competition. It makes me concentrate more. You know you can’t make a mistake.”

Still, despite Clark’s credentials, there seems to be little interest from the professional ranks.

“Sometimes you ask yourself, ‘What have I got to do?’ ” Clark said. “But all you can do is keep on playing. Keep trying to make an impression.”

Which is exactly what he is doing. For another month or so, anyway.

Briefly: Glendale might not be considered among the best baseball teams in the Western State Conference, but the Vaqueros have a habit of knocking off those at the top. Glendale (17-15) has defeated all four of the conference’s front-runners--Cuesta, Canyons, Pierce and Oxnard. . . .

He runs well between the tackles and has sure hands for passes out of the backfield, two reasons why Cal State Northridge’s Albert Fann should hope the San Francisco 49ers draft him--no matter which the round. . . .