Rodriguez Opens Eyes at Pepperdine : College World Series: Second baseman knows nothing about the school until recruited, then finds scenery to his liking.

Steve Rodriguez never heard of Pepperdine University until he received a recruiting letter during his senior year in high school.

Rodriguez, an infielder, was the latest in a long line of talented players at Valley High in Las Vegas, a school that has produced several major league players and prospects, among them pitchers Mike Morgan and Greg Maddux of the Chicago Cubs, pitcher Mike Maddux of the San Diego Padres, pitcher Dan Opperman--a former No. 1 draft pick of the Dodgers--and catcher Tyler Houston, the No. 2 pick overall by the Atlanta Braves in the 1989 draft.

Coming from that background, Rodriguez was familiar with recruiting pitches from traditional college powers such as Miami, Texas and USC.

Pepperdine? The name conjured images of a culinary academy.

“I didn’t even know where Malibu was,” Rodriguez said. “I had heard, ‘Malibu this, Malibu that,’ but I didn’t know what state it was in. I thought it was back East somewhere.”

Encouraged, though, by handwritten letters from Coach Andy Lopez and his staff, Rodriguez visited the Pepperdine campus, fell in love with it and signed with the Waves.

Three years later, he has helped put Pepperdine on the college baseball map.

Rodriguez’s seventh-inning grand slam against Texas on Thursday night gave Pepperdine a 5-4 victory that advanced the Waves into today’s championship game of the College World Series. Pepperdine, which finished third in its only other World Series appearance in 1979, will play Cal State Fullerton.

“This is what we’ve been working for for three years,” Rodriguez said Friday. “It all comes down to one game to see who is the best.”

With his performance in the World Series--he also homered during the Waves’ series-opening victory over Wichita State--Rodriguez, a 5-foot-7 junior, is solidifying his reputation as one of the best college second basemen. Monday, he was selected by the Boston Red Sox during the fifth round of the amateur draft. And next week, he will travel to Millington, Tenn., to take part in the tryouts for the U.S. Olympic team.

Rodriguez is batting .352, with five homers and 42 runs batted in this season.

“He’s not real flashy, but he plays hard all the time, he knows the game and he hits and plays great defense,” said Miami Coach Ron Fraser, who will guide the Olympic team at Barcelona. “That’s the kind of player you have to have. That’s why he was invited to the tryouts.”

Rodriguez vividly recalls his first visit to Pepperdine, on a sunny day in 1989. He was picked up at the airport and driven to the campus via Pacific Coast Highway. The next day, he attended a doubleheader between the Waves and UCLA.

“I really didn’t pay much attention to the games,” Rodriguez said. “There were a lot of girls in the stands wearing bikinis. I said to myself, ‘I can handle this.’ ”

Rodriguez, however, did not decide to attend Pepperdine until he was laid up in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy.

“It was signing day and I was sitting there in bed with a letter of intent from USC on my left and a letter of intent from Pepperdine on my right,” Rodriguez said. “Coach Lopez calls to see how I’m doing and asks, ‘Have you made a decision?’ I said, ‘Coach, I’m coming to Pepperdine.’ ”

Rodriguez was part of Lopez’s first recruiting class. It featured nine freshmen, including first baseman Dan Melendez, shortstop Eric Ekdahl, catcher Scott Vollmer, outfielder Chris Sheff and pitchers Derek Wallace, Steve Duda, Chris Myers and Steve Montgomery--all of whom start or play key roles for the Waves.

“We had so many new guys, no one knew anyone else,” Rodriguez said. “But I remember Coach Lopez telling me, ‘Think about this: In three years you’re going to have all these juniors with experience, and you’re going to play for the national championship.’ ”

Rodriguez, 21, batted .332 as a freshman. Pepperdine finished with a 37-23 record and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Last season, he was chosen as a first-team All-American by Baseball America magazine after batting .419, with seven home runs and 32 stolen bases. The Waves won the West Coast Conference title and advanced to the West I Regional at USC, but lost their first two games and finished 41-17.

“That was a great learning experience for all of us,” Rodriguez said. “It showed us that we weren’t prepared to really perform at that level. We were a year away.”

Rodriguez continued to mature as a player with the U.S. national team last summer. He batted .268 and drove in 18 runs in 37 games as Team USA won the bronze medal at the Pan American Games.

This season, Rodriguez helped lead the Waves to the championship of the West Regional at Tucson and three consecutive World Series victories against Wichita State and Texas.

Today, he and his teammates have a chance to make history.

“Coach dug it into our heads that we would play for the national title,” Rodriguez said. “As we’ve gotten older, we’ve realized that we can win this thing.

“We have a legitimate team with players that deserve to be here, guys who should have big World Series rings on their fingers when its over.”