Every Game A Road Trip -- Larry Frostad's Love Affair With Baseball Is Truly A Long-Distance Relationship. The Former Tyee High School Player Flies 300 Miles From Spokane To Seattle For ''Home Games'' With The Seattle Studs.

Larry Frostad chuckles at the irony.

Six years ago, he balked at the 60-mile round-trip commute it would have taken for him to play semipro baseball for the Everett Merchants. Today, he doesn't hesitate to fly 300 miles each way for weekend doubleheaders with Seattle's Performance Radiator Studs.

On a team filled by guys with a passion for the game, Frostad must be the most love-crazed. He commutes from Spokane nearly every weekend and will be the starting right fielder when the Studs open play in the National Baseball Congress World Series Friday in Wichita, Kan. The Studs play Jacksonville, Fla.

"That's the love of the game right there," Studs Coach Jeff Scanlan said of Frostad's commitment. "He spends a lot of money flying in and out every weekend."

About $100 each round trip.

Frostad, a 1982 graduate of Tyee High School who later played at the University of Washington, says it's worth every penny.

Camaraderie makes it worth it

"One of the big reasons is the people I associate with and play with," he said. "I think back on that '82 (Kent) Legion team and I remember (Coach Ed) Marcoe talking about camaraderie. That's really what it is. The longer I've play baseball, the more I've started to enjoy meeting people on other teams. Before, they were just numbers in the lineup. Now, they're people.

"If the chemistry wasn't there, I think I could handle playing decent baseball (in Spokane). The competition is another big factor. We're starting to play better and better teams every year."

Frostad's wife, Andrea, insists she doesn't mind being a weekend widow during the season. His love of baseball was evident the day they met four years ago, on a plane to Spokane after one of his routine doubleheaders.

`Prenuptial agreement'

"That was about the only thing we had to agree upon before getting married, that I could play baseball as long as I wanted," he said.

"That was our prenuptial agreement," she said, laughing. "It's no problem. It's what he likes to do. If I liked to do something, I'd be disappointed if he asked me to stop doing it."

Andrea hates to fly. She does not accompany Frostad on his weekend jaunts. They used to make the commute from Spokane by car, so she could watch him play and because he couldn't afford air fare.

Frostad, who turned 30 last Sunday, rarely misses weekend games. He did skip two trips this season as Andrea reached the late stages of pregnancy. Missing the birth of their son might have been pushing things, he acknowledged.

"I'd have been in trouble," he said.

Austen Frostad was born June 26.

Larry's first exposure to semipro baseball was with the former UW summer team, Husky Fever. After his four seasons at the university, Frostad took the summer of 1987 off, then considered playing with the Everett Merchants in '88.

"It's funny to look back on, but I felt the 60-mile round trip for a game was too far," he said. "But I didn't have a job at the time."

Frostad said he isn't sure why he didn't try to hook up with the Studs instead. But they picked him up at the end of the '88 season and he joined the team full time in 1989. That summer, he was hired by the Department of Transportation and stationed in Spokane.

"I remember I was hired on June 16. We played a game on Thursday and I drove to Spokane that night and reported to work Friday morning," he said.

Commuting by Greyhound

Originally, he commuted by Greyhound bus. Then he started renting cars for the trip. Finally, air fares dropped and his income rose.

"You're only an hour away (by plane), so it's really not any big deal," he said.

Despite missing more than half of the Studs' 42 games (he has played in 20), Frostad is third on the team in runs batted in with 16. He is hitting .368 (21 for 57), a drop from the .441 average he carried last season.

The game Frostad regrets missing most was the alumni game last month, commemorating the Studs' 40th anniversary.

Instead, Frostad flew to Seattle on Saturday morning for a doubleheader with Kelowna, B.C., then flew back that night. The alumni game was the next day.

Studs pick up Dailey

The Studs have picked up three players for the national tournament, including infielder Shawn Dailey from the West Seattle Classics. Dailey played at Kennedy High School and the University of Washington.

The team's best pro pospect, Scanlan said, is outfielder Matt Wimmer, a graduate of Seattle Christian High School who completed his eligibility with the UW this past spring.

"Wimmer has a chance," said Scanlan, who took on duties as head coach this season when Barry Aden (head baseball coach at Liberty High of Issaquah) decided to help start a franchise in Tacoma. "He was going to play in an independent rookie league back east, but the scouts told him he'd be better off staying with us and making it to Wichita, which draws about 100 scouts."

The Studs finished fifth at the national tournament in 1992 and were 11th last season.

Notes

-- Pitcher Jamie Hansen, a Kentwood High School graduate, is the only other player from South King County on the Studs' 1994 roster, but he will not be making the trip to Wichita. Another Kentwood grad, Justin Bice, will be at the tournament with the Tacoma Timbers, Aden's new team. The Timbers earned the PIL's second berth to nationals by capturing the Northwest qualifying tournament last weekend in Hermiston.

Bice, who will be a sophomore at the UW this fall, led his team in saves with nine. Outfielder Damon Minor, who played at Lindbergh, is also a key player for the Timbers. He hit for the cycle against Hermiston in last weekend's tourney.

Other South End players on the Tacoma roster are pitcher Brian Basteyns of Enumclaw and first baseman Tom Magruder, who graduated from Redmond High School and lives in Federal Way. Aden still pitches sparingly.

Tacoma opens tournament play Friday night against Long Island, N.Y.