Forgive Jason Bates if he doesn't get too excited after a game-winning hit.

Forget the fact that it was just a spring training game, it's just that clutch hits are nothing new to him.

In front of a sellout crowd of 7,727 at Hi Corbett Field on Saturday, Bates € who did not play until the eighth inning on what was to be his day off € stepped to the plate, in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, and sent the first pitch into right field to score Quentin McKracken, as the Colorado Rockies topped Seattle 5-4.

"You've got to be aggressive in that situation," Bates said.

Perhaps that is the one thing that signifies the play of Bates, who played for Arizona from 1990-92, the best: making the most of every given opportunity.

Last year, Bates hit over .267 coming off the bench for the Rockies as a late-inning defensive replacement with eight home runs and 46 RBI in 116 games. His hits set up RBI opportunities for the Rockies' numerous power hitters at the hitter-friendly Coors Field in Denver.

"He's what you call a 'gamer,'" Arizona head coach Jerry Kindall said. "We got a lot of clutch hits from him."

Bates led the Wildcats to a first-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division in 1992 by hitting .344 with 8 home runs and 40 RBI.

After the season, he was taken by the Rockies in the seventh round of the draft. Since this year marks just the fourth as a franchise for the Rockies - who made the National League playoffs as a wild card last year before falling to eventual champion Atlanta in four games - Bates was given his shot at the big leagues early in his career.

"I guess the key word with me was 'consistent,'" said Bates, who was recently awarded the starting job at second base. "I plan on holding on to that job."

"I felt he was a big-league prospect," Kindall said. "But I didn't think he would get up that quick. The Rockies gave him a shot early on, and boy did he make the best of it."

Bates' manager, Don Baylor, said he was pleased with the progress of his young second baseman at the plate.

"Maybe we should just make him think bases loaded all the time," he said after Bates' game-winning hit.

But Bates has built a career not by being the hero, but by getting on base for big home-run hitters - he seems to surround himself with them everywhere he goes. During his junior year, Bates was second in hits and second in runs scored on a team that averaged a home run per game. Last year, Bates' responsibility was to get on base for Rockies' first baseman Andres Gallaraga, outfielders Dante Bichette and Larry Walker and third baseman Vinny Castilla, all of whom hit over 30 home runs.

"He was one of the key offensive players who set the table for us," Kindall said. "We certainly could not have won the (conference) championship without him."