UW senior slugger Zach Clem homing in on records

Why in this home-run fanatical era of baseball, when we're bombarded by up-to-the minute exploits of Barry Bonds, has Zach Clem gone virtually unnoticed in his chase of the Washington Huskies' home-run record?

"Well, for starters, I'm not Barry Bonds," Clem said almost sheepishly a few days ago. "And really, no disrespect to anyone, but it's a school record. ... It's not a national record that's been in the books forever and ever.

"It would be nice to break it, but quite honestly, I'm trying real hard not to think about it. But that's becoming impossible."

In Pac-10 baseball circles and among major-league scouts, Clem, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior left fielder who is considered a desirable prospect in the June draft, has attracted a sizable following.

He has toiled in relative anonymity while junior pitcher Tim Lincecum, a preseason All-American, has garnered most of the attention. But Clem's popularity might soon skyrocket to "American Idol" status if he launches a few more home runs and caps a record-breaking season.

With nine regular-season games remaining before the NCAA regionals, Clem is on the verge of becoming Washington's home-run king. He needs one home run to tie Ed Erickson, who set the career mark of 42 from 1997 to 2000, and he's two shy of reaching Chad Boudon's season record of 22 established in 2003.

Batting third for Washington, Clem has hit 20 home runs, which leads the conference and is tied for third among NCAA Division I players. He has a .296 batting average with a team-high 51 runs batted in, 11 doubles and 49 runs while helping the Huskies to a 32-21 record.

He was twice named the Pac-10's player of the week, became the fourth Husky in school history to smack three homers in a game on April 4 against Portland and should notch his second first-team All-Pac-10 selection after the season.

Clem's pursuit for immortality renews today when Washington plays the second of a three-game set against Stanford at Husky Ballpark.

"I try not to pay any attention to any of it, but so many people bring it up you can't help but think about it because so many people are always asking you about it," Clem said. "They read about it. They want to know what you think about it. I try to keep it out of my head as much as possible and just worry about playing well, doing my own thing.

"Between every swing I tell myself to see the ball, swing hard and keep my shoulder in. Every pitch that's what I tell myself. Because if I do that, I feel like I'm fine."

That's his dad talking. Not literally, of course. Clem says the words, but he's only repeating what has been told to him by his father, Jim Clem, a member of the Washington State Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.

The Clems are a baseball family. During a 30-year career, Jim, 53, has led Class 3A Burlington-Edison to 22 straight winning seasons and 12 league titles. Zach's younger brother Jacob will play for Washington next season on a baseball scholarship. Jacob has a 7-1 pitching record for Burlington-Edison and a .354 batting average with 22 RBI and five home runs.

"I started playing basketball and baseball as soon as I could move," Zach Clem said. "I'd be laying there and he'd throw balls at me. I attribute pretty much all of my success to him. I wouldn't be where I'm at without that coaching that was there my whole life."

No one knows Zach's swing better than Jim, who carefully monitored the precocious youngster in the early days and coached his sons at Burlington-Edison. So when Zach struggled through a 13-game streak in which he failed to hit a homer in late February and early March, he dialed up his dad for some extra tutoring.

"More than anything, I try to be a fan and a dad rather than a coach," Jim said. "I think he needs to work with his coaches and work things out. ... If he asks, I'll take a look at his swing and tell him what I always tell him.

"He's been a little streaky this season. He started off strong, then people started pitching around him and pitching him differently, so he went into a little slump."

Zach worked his way out of the slump in April when he belted nine homers, but he has hit just one ball out of the park since April 25.

"If you try to hit a home run every time, you're not going to hit them," he said. "They just come. When a home run happens, you hit it and it's more a reaction than a thought. There's a pause. It feels like you're standing there for like three seconds or five seconds where you don't hear anything and you just kind of see the ball going.

"Honestly, you talk to guys who hit home runs and they'll tell you the same thing. Nobody really tries to hit home runs. I know I don't. I'm up there trying to hit it as hard as I can and whatever happens after that is pretty much out of my control."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com

Huskies Homer Heroes
The top five career home-run totals at the University of Washington:
HR	Player	Years
42	Ed Erickson	1997-2000
41	Zach Clem	2003-2006
33	Jay Garthwaite	2000-2002
32	Kyle Larsen	2002-2005
32	Brent Lillibridge	2003-2005