Alex Dickerson wanted something different.

Jerrud Sabourin just wanted to be wanted.

Both landed at Indiana University, and the Hoosiers' baseball team is better for it.

"I'm a Southern California guy," said Dickerson, a former Poway High standout. "I came to Indiana because I wanted to see what I was missing."

Sabourin tried to walk on at Arizona after a stellar career at Torrey Pines.

He was led to believe he had a spot on the team, but instead was thrown into a one-day tryout with other walk-on candidates.

"So I came home," Sabourin said. "Coach (Tracy) Smith was in San Diego over the winter, saw me working out and said 'Come back to Indiana with me.'

"It was a blessing because I didn't have anywhere to go. He didn't have to ask twice."

Sabourin, a sophomore first baseman, hit .383 last year, gaining freshman All-America honors.

He's doing much of the same this season, hitting .355 with four homers, 13 doubles and 28 RBIs.

Dickerson, who is the Hoosier's designated hitter, has taken up the freshman mantle, hitting .373 with 13 homers, 13 doubles and 50 RBIs for a team that trails first-place Minnesota by a game in the Big Ten standings.

Freshman left-hander Drew Leininger, another Poway alumnus, is also playing for the Hoosiers and is 0-2 in 13 appearances.

"College ball has been a big adjustment," Dickerson said. "We play tough teams every game and the season is longer.

"In high school, you have some easy games and fatten up your average. You maybe play Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here, we play weekdays, then jump into conference games on the weekends.

"But I love it. I love the crowds, the ballparks and the travel."

Already this season, the Hoosiers have played in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan and Illinois.

"That's what I was looking for," Dickerson said. "I've seen way more places than had I stayed on the West Coast.

"We've played at a lot of the big-name colleges, and they're all unique."

Sabourin's parents are from Michigan and the family spent summers there, so his adjustment to the Midwest wasn't tough.

"Except for the winters," he said. "They're different.

"I miss the Padres, miss having a big-league team to go see, but this is everything I could want in a university.

"We play at some great places. Penn State is great, Florida and Georgia were really nice. But the best place to play is home."

Both Sabourin and Dickerson come from top-notch high school programs, a fact Dickerson said helped make his adjustment to college ball seamless.

"The biggest thing is that every pitcher in college is about average," Dickerson said. "And they all throw hard. But you have to be prepared for the offspeed stuff, especially early in the count.

"From Poway to here was straight up hill, a new step every day. But at Poway, the coaches pounded away at the little things.

"I really think the base I had in high school helped make this adjustment easier."

The Hoosiers, who are 25-24 overall and 14-6 in the Big Ten after a weekend sweep of Northwestern, have clinched a spot in the Big Ten tournament.

"These last few weeks are going to be a blast," said Sabourin of a weekend series this week with Michigan State and the conference tournament.

"It's great to be playing well this late in the season. We'll see what happens."

Leake still on fire

Arizona State junior right-hander Mike Leake improved to 12-1 after going seven innings and allowing just one unearned run against Winthrop on Friday. Last week, Leake threw a complete-game, three-hitter to beat Oregon State.

In his last 11 starts, covering 89 2/3 innings, Leake has allowed 52 hits, walked 14 with 94 strikeouts.

Leake has a 1.47 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 97 2/3 innings for the Sun Devils.

Leake and San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg are two prime candidates for national player of the year.

Leake was named Academic All-District 8 last week.

Baseball

-- Kansas senior catcher Buck Afenir (Escondido) is hitting .339 with seven homers, 11 doubles and 53 RBIs. Freshman outfielder Jason Brunansky (Poway) is hitting .281 with a pair of homers and 11 RBIs. Sophomore pitcher Brett Bochy (Poway) is 5-0 with 47 strikeouts in 24 relief appearances for the Jayhawks. Kansas is 35-18 and ranked No. 23 in the country.

-- Andrew Jenkins (Valley Center), Damian Kardas (Oceanside), James Borges (Fallbrook), Cody Burgener (Fallbrook) and Patrick McGuire (Oceanside) all played at the University of Sioux Falls this season. Jenkins hit .410 and was 5-5 as a pitcher. Borges his .302 with 18 RBIs. Burgener hit .288 with three homers and a team-leading 28 RBIs. Kardas hit .244 and was 2-1 on the mound. Sioux Falls is coached by former Valley Center teammates Matt Guiliano and Kyle Thompson. The team finished 17-21 and missed the conference playoffs by a game.

-- Mike Hachadorian (Westview) finished the season at Whittier College with a 2-1 record and led the team with a 3.78 ERA. In 10 appearances, he hurled 33 1/3 innings with 27 strikeouts. A 6-foot-5 freshman, Hachadorian is now off to spring football practice where he will try to win the job as the Poets' quarterback.

-- Senior Anthony Cappelletti (Mt. Carmel) went out in style at Whitter College, leading the team in average (.439), runs scored (48), doubles (17), home runs (10), triples (4) and RBIs (42).

-- Outfielder Mark Bradley (Poway) and shortstop Kevin Lovelace (San Pasqual) helped lead Central Arizona College to the Region I Junior College District championship. Bradley, a freshman, is hitting .423 with 36 RBIs and 47 runs scored. He leads the team with 21 stolen bases. Lovelace, a sophomore who has signed to play at Louisiana-Lafayette, is hitting .392. He leads the team in hits (83), runs (55), doubles (21), triples (4) and total bases (115). In 243 plate appearances, he has struck out just 14 times. The team is headed to the district playoffs.

Softball

-- Fordham senior Melissa Andrews (Rancho Buena Vista) was an All-Atlantic-10 selection for the third time. She hit .327, stole 25 bases and led the team in runs (48), hits (68), triples (5) and multi-hit games (19). She is the first Rams player to steal at last 20 bases in three straight seasons. The Rams lost to St. Joseph's in the A-10 championship game and are 37-22 for the season, the team's seventh straight 30-win season.

-- Sonoma State outfielder Simone Brandalise (Poway) was named to the CCAA All-Tournament Team. Sonoma went on to the West Regional championship game, losing to Cal State Fullerton. Brandalise finished the season hitting .325 with a team-leading 35 RBIs and 10 doubles. Nikki Jaime (Palomar College/Mission Hills) also played for Sonoma State, appearing in 35 games for a team that was 36-25.

-- Katie Moy (Vista), a freshman at Southern Oregon, was named to the All-Cascade Collegiate Conference team. Moy finished the season hitting .373 with a homer and 16 RBIs.

-- Chelsea Troupe (El Camino) was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year and first-team all-conference after a stellar season at Texas-El Paso. She hit .392 with eight homers, 15 doubles and 32 RBIs. She also had 20 multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI games.

-- Kelsey Quist (Escondido resident/Francis Parker), a junior outfielder at Princeton, led the Tigers in RBIs (28) runs (23) and walks (18). She also handled 35 chances in the outfield flawlessly.

Men's volleyball

Bryce Easter (Poway), a junior setter, helped Lindenwood College to the NAIA national championship with a four-game upset of No. 1-ranked Cal Baptist. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Mo., finished the season 37-3.

Easter, who transferred to Lindenwood from Hawaii, led the team in games played (144).

Gandy wins another title

UCLA senior Tanya Gandy (Rancho Bernardo) went out in style Sunday, scoring three goals --- including two in the first minute -- as the No. 3-seeded Bruins beat No. 1 USC 5-4 in College Park, Md., to win the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship.

It was the fifth straight title for the Bruins, and four in a row for Gandy.

She had four goals in a 12-11 win over Stanford in the NCAA semifinals and two in a first-round victory over Michigan.

Gandy finished the season with a school-record 79 goals and scored 187 career goals, third-best in school history.

Gandy is a finalist for the Cutino Award, the women's water polo equal of the Heisman Trophy, and leaves for the USA National Team tryouts on May 22.

USA Water Polo has invited 25 players to the tryout, will cut to 15 for a tournament in Russia, then cut to 13 for the World Championship in Rome.

Women's water polo

-- Forel Davies (Carlsbad) had a goal in USC's 6-4 loss to UCLA in Sunday's NCAA championship game. Davies also had two goals in a first-round win over Hawaii. She scored the game-winning goal in the final minute as the Trojans beat Stanford 6-5 to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title. USC finished the season 26-2.

-- Kira Hillman (Carlsbad) had a goal in Stanford's 12-11 loss to UCLA in the NCAA semifinals. She also had a goal in a third-place win over Hawaii. Hillman had two goals in a 6-5 loss to USC in the championship game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. The Cardinal finished 26-4.

-- Lauren Orth (Poway) of Michigan had two goals in a first-round loss to UCLA at the NCAA championship. She also had a goal in a fifth-place match against Loyola Marymount and finished the season with 31 goals and 25 assists.

-- Rachel Jordan (Fallbrook) finished her senior season at Maryland with 50 goals. In her four years with the Terps, Jordan scored a school-record 207 goals, the only Maryland player to hit the 200 plateau. She also finished with a school-record 252 points and had 45 assists, tied for third in school history.

-- Kelsie Emerick (Vista), a sophomore attacker at Long Beach State, finished the season with 17 goals. One of those goals was a game-winner with 2:11 to play to beat Pacific in the Big West Tournament.

-- Julie Monday (La Costa Canyon), a sophomore at Occidental, was named first-team all-tournament at the Collegiate III National Championship as the Tigers finished fourth in a field of eight.

-- Katrina Thorsen (Rancho Bernardo), a freshman at Whittier College, finished with a team-high 64 goals, fifth-most in school history. She was named honorable all-conference.

You're hired

Niccole Deneke (Palomar College/El Camino) was hired as the strength and conditioning coach at Cal State Monterey Bay. Deneke, a 5-foot-10 middle blocker, played women's volleyball for the Otters.

A kinesiology major, she'll work with all sports on campus.

Next move?

MIT dropped several sports, including women's ice hockey in which Kameron Klauber (Carlsbad) was the star of a program that appeared to be on the rise. Klauber was named to the ECAC East Women's Ice Hockey second team and the conference's All-Rookie team. Klauber led MIT in scoring, finishing with 23 goals and 12 assists, setting school records for goals and points in a season. Klauber is only the third MIT player to gain all-conference recognition.

Northern Iowa dropped baseball where Anthony Meza (Vista) is playing. Meza chose Northern Iowa because the school allowed him to wrestle and play baseball.

Klauber is free to transfer and would be immediately eligible at the school of her choice should she choose to transfer.

Meza's situation isn't quite as clear since he is a two-sport athlete. Meza was injured early in the wrestling season and didn't participate in either sport for the Panthers this season.

And the award goes to …

-- Gabriella Decker (San Dieguito Academy), a freshman at Wells College in New York, was named second-team All-North Eastern Athletic Conference in women's lacrosse. She was also named Rookie of the Year on the school's field hockey team.

-- Brittany Parks (Escondido), who played at Vassar, was named co-Rookie of the Year in the Liberty League, the first Vassar player to be so honored. For the season, Parks averaged 14.3 points a game, 2.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals. In league play, she was third in scoring with a 15.2 average with 3.2 assists.

John Maffei's Alumni Report appears every other Tuesday through the college season. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547, by fax at (760) 740-5045 or at jmaffei@nctimes.com. Readers are urged to submit information on former North County prep athletes.