Cuba Is Fast Becoming Giambi’s Island Retreat : Baseball: Third baseman, who has helped the U.S. national team to 4-0 record in Pan American Games, has made two trips to Havana in less than a month.

For most of the athletes competing in the Pan American Games in Cuba, the journey to the island 90 miles off the coast of Florida is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Jason Giambi, however, is making his second trip to Havana in less than a month.

Giambi, a third baseman from South Hills High in West Covina who has been a standout at Cal State Long Beach, was in Cuba in July when the U.S. national baseball team took two of three games from the Cubans--the first time in history that the Cubans had lost a series at home.

The series in Cuba was part of Team USA’s pre-Pan Am Games schedule, during which Giambi batted a team-high .347 as the Americans compiled a 19-8 record on a tour that also included stops in Japan and Canada.

The team also features Loyola Marymount shortstop Chris Gomez, Pepperdine second baseman Steve Rodriguez and Pepperdine first baseman Dan Melendez.

Team USA opened play in the nine-team, round-robin Pan Am Games tournament Monday with a 6-1 victory over the Dominican Republic. The team defeated Mexico, 12-4, Tuesday as Giambi hit a two-run home run and knocked in four runs. On Wednesday, Giambi hit two of the team’s five home runs in a 12-0 rout of Aruba.

On Thursday, the United States beat Netherlands Antilles, 5-4, to improve to 4-0.

The United States must finish at least fourth in the Pan Am Games to qualify for the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, Spain, where baseball will be recognized as an official medal sport for the first time.

“We’re all starting to come together,” Giambi said before his departure for Havana last week. “The Cuba wins (in July) brought us together and had us playing on a high. We’re peaking at the right time.”

The same could be said of the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Giambi, who has flourished as a collegian at Long Beach after being virtually ignored by recruiters when he graduated from high school in West Covina in 1989.

On the recommendations of a couple of high school coaches in the San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach Coach Dave Snow watched Giambi play in a Senior Babe Ruth League game that summer. Snow, impressed with Giambi’s ability, attitude and aggressiveness, invited him to try out for the Long Beach team in the fall.

Giambi arrived at the school after its most successful season ever. The 49ers, in Snow’s first year as coach, had rebounded from a 14-47 record in 1988 to finish 50-15 in 1989. They made their first appearance in the College World Series at Omaha, Neb., and were suddenly regarded as one of the nation’s college baseball powers.

Giambi was not intimidated.

“Jason was not a starter at the beginning of his freshman season, but he took advantage of every opportunity to play,” Snow said. “He just kept hitting and making contact and getting on base.”

Giambi, who bats left-handed, finished the 1990 season as one of the 49ers’ leading hitters and was named All-Big West Conference. He batted .424 with 29 RBIs.

“He had a good idea of the strike zone and what his strengths were,” Snow said. “He also had plate discipline. That’s not so much not swinging at bad pitches, but swinging at pitches you know you can drive.

“He understood the importance of working the count. He was beyond his years as far as that was concerned.”

Last season, Giambi started at third base and batted a team-high .407 in 60 games. He also drew a school-record 57 walks, helping him to an outstanding .526 on-base percentage.

Giambi was instrumental in leading the 49ers to an at-large berth in the NCAA playoffs, during which they won a regional at Austin, Tex., and advanced to Omaha for their second College World Series appearance in three years.

It was at Omaha that Giambi caught the eye of Pan Am Games Coach Ron Polk. Long Beach was eliminated from the eight-team tournament after three games, but Giambi had five hits in nine at-bats, including a home run, a triple and two doubles. He also drew five walks.

When Creighton third baseman Scott Stahoviak signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Twins, Team USA extended a tryout invitation to Giambi.

“I was shocked,” said Giambi, who was flown to Millington, Tenn., for the tryouts. “But I knew I would be all right because I take good at-bats. I go up there with a plan. I knew that if I took good at-bats, I would be OK.”

In addition to Giambi’s .347 average, he also had three home runs, 18 runs batted in and a team-high 22 walks for Team USA during its pre-Pan Am Games schedule.

Following the tournament in Cuba, Giambi will return to Long Beach with hopes of leading the 49ers back to the World Series and increasing his value for next year’s professional draft.

Also looming on the horizon are the 1992 Olympics, an event in which Giambi never envisioned himself participating when he was battling to make the Long Beach team two years ago.

“I was worried about making it in college,” Giambi said. “To even ponder the Olympics was a dream.”

The Olympics, however, could be a reality for Giambi. He is already a proven college performer and has gained valuable international experience this summer. Giambi’s prospects for selection to the 20-man Olympic team also figure to be bolstered by Snow, who is an assistant on the coaching staff headed by Miami’s Ron Fraser.

“Fraser is noncommittal at this point; he wants to keep a clean slate and put together the best club he can,” Snow said. “But it’s obvious that (Giambi) is in the picture, and he’s solidified his name among the top college players in the country. He’s in as good a position as he could be as far as playing on the Olympic team.”