LOCAL COLLEGES: Back in the swing: USD's Meador putting freshman struggles behind him

By TOM SHANAHAN - For the North County Times | Sunday, May 4, 2008 8:09 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- James Meador is making it look easy again.

After a frustrating freshman season, the University of San Diego sophomore is leading a nationally ranked team in hitting and RBIs. And his ability to bounce back from the first prolonged struggles of his baseball career has reinforced in Meador's mind that he made the right call when he committed to USD out of Ramona High.

Most of the reasons for Meador's peace of mind are obvious. He's playing for a program with a chance to win a second straight West Coast Conference title, return to the NCAA tournament for the third straight season and maybe make a run at the College World Series.

But most of all, USD was the right fit for Meador because it's close to home. That proximity became more important than he realized when he Meador began to struggle last spring.

"I never pictured playing anywhere else, but I wondered if I could still do this," Meador said. "It made it a lot easier for me to know my parents had faith in me and I could go home. My Dad would tell me, 'You can do this. I've seen you do it a millions times. Keep going after it.' "

Oh, he's still going after it.

Meador, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound right fielder, was named the WCC player of the month for April when he led the Toreros during a school-record 16-game winning streak. For the month, he batted .413 (31-for-75) with five home runs and a conference-high 29 RBIs.

"His hard work really paid off," USD coach Rich Hill said. "This year he's one of the guys we want coming up in an RBI situation the way he's swinging the bat. He's very balanced and very confident."

His April numbers bumped his season average to .370 (60-for-162) with 46 RBIs in 45 games. The Toreros (37-13, 15-3), ranked No. 7 in Collegiate Baseball's national rankings, won two of three games at Pepperdine over the weekend to clinch a spot in the WCC championship series.

Meador's numbers mark a drastic improvement over last year, when he began the season in the starting lineup, but batted .216 to fall into spot duty.

Hill said Meador's drive never slowed down.

"He came in here a much-heralded athlete like a lot of our freshmen," Hill said. "He was driving 55 miles per hour in high school, and it's 85 to 90 up here. There was an adjustment period and learning curve that needed to take place."

That adjustment period didn't happen until last summer, when he played in the Central Illinois Collegiate League. Meador accumulated the steady at-bats that Hill couldn't afford to give him in a lineup seeking a WCC title and NCAA bid.

"The pitching in college was more difficult than I thought," Meador said. "I was seeing a good pitcher every game. My timing was off, and when I was sat down, it was hard to get it back. But I got a lot more experience against college pitching in the summer. The pressure was off, and I was able to get 150 at bats."

Meador not only hit, he hit with a wood bat. That told him he could hit for average and power ---- as he had throughout his career ---- when his sophomore season arrived. He has five home runs and a .570 slugging percentage to go with a .411 on-base percentage.

"We've sent a lot of players to the Illinois league; they thought he was one of the top 10 prospects in their league," Hill said. "They absolutely raved about him and thought he was something special."

Now he's playing like something special in the WCC, too.