SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Overachieving Understudies : After an Injury Knocked Jason Edwards From the Mound, 2 Unknowns Took Over and Led Hart to the 4-A Title Game

Keith Halcovich, a gangly, 6-foot-5 sophomore, stood in the aisle of the bus and flexed his wiry arms. He shouted. He snarled. He snorted.

The rest of the Hart High baseball team, including the coaching staff, burst into hysterics during Halcovich’s 10-minute impromptu impression of Hulk Hogan. The humor was magnified because Halcovich, until then, was painfully shy around his teammates.

The impersonation of the wrestling muscle man was appropriate. Halcovich, a right-hander, and Andrew Lorraine, a junior left-hander--the strengths of the Indian pitching staff--have executed a task some consider Herculean.

The culmination of that task will take place today in the Southern Section 4-A Division championship game at 4:30 p.m. between Hart and Cerritos at Dodger Stadium. Lorraine is scheduled to start but, as has been the case the past two playoff games, might share duties with Halcovich.

The loss of senior ace Jason Edwards, who was 11-0 last year but could not pitch this season because of a shoulder injury, left Halcovich and Lorraine as starters. Neither had varsity experience.

And as the season began, the team’s confidence in the duo wasn’t exactly etched in stone.

“People just wrote us off when they found out I wasn’t going to pitch,” said Edwards, now a designated-hitter. “The first thing we said was, ‘Boy, we’re going to have to score 20 runs a game to win.’ It was like, ‘Oh, man, it’s going to be a long season now.’ ”

True. The season has lasted longer than even the most optimistic of supporters predicted. Hart (23-6), which lost in the second round of the playoffs last year, has scored 57 runs in four playoff games and has advanced further than any team coached by Bud Murray in his 17-year career.

As for the revamped pitching staff?

“By the time they’ve got 75 innings under their belts, they’re no longer dummies,” Murray said. “I’ve seen a lot of maturity in both of them as far as gaining confidence and taking command.”

Lorraine (9-4), probably the hardest thrower on the team, has a 2.20 earned-run average and 93 strikeouts in 86 innings. Halcovich (9-2), who relies primarily on his split-fingered pitch, has a 1.28 ERA and has walked only 11 in 76 1/3 innings. In addition, Kevin Foderaro (1-0, two saves), Dave Margrave (2-0), shortstop Robby Davis (1-0), second baseman Darin Tsukashima (1-0) and Edwards, who faced three batters, have pitched.

Before he learned of Edwards’ injury, Murray intended to groom Lorraine for the No. 2 role. Halcovich, however, was out of the picture.

“Lorraine flat out has the ability, but Halcovich was really a surprise to me,” said Murray, who credits most of the pitching staff’s success to assistant Pete Calzia. “For a kid (Halcovich) to walk as few players as he did in that many innings is just amazing. Hell, he doesn’t even have a driver’s license yet.”

Instead of pressing Halcovich and Lorraine to mow down batters, Calzia reduced the task to a simple concept--two strikes for every ball thrown. “Both of those kids assumed the responsibility right away,” Calzia said. “Neither of them looked glassy-eyed or said, ‘Oh, crap!’ Neither of them was cocky--they didn’t have anything to be cocky about.”

Calzia adds that, despite the success of the newcomers, he still missed Edwards on the mound, especially during a tight game. “That was the only time I really felt down,” he said. “I thought, ‘Doggone it. I wish we could just put Edwards in there, so he could just dominate.”

Halcovich, who thought he would only be pitching when the Indians “were ahead by 15 runs,” says that his teammates’ support has made a crucial difference in his performance.

“At first, all they told me is ‘Throw the ball over the plate and let them hit it and we’ll score the runs for you,’ ” Halcovich said. “Now they are more confident that if we aren’t getting the runs we can still shut them down.

“It’s taken a lot of time but now I feel like if I throw my pitch and make them hit it, I’ll come out on top most of the time.”