I think it can. The stick wasn't used for anything else in Hollow Bastion. So it probably can. If I remember correctly, the wooden sword Sora uses does in fact hurt the heartless, it just does so little damage it would take forever to kill anything. Also, (again if I remember correctly) the wooden sword actually hits the heartless, like a normal keyblade. If it had no effect it would go right through the enemy like when roxas fights the dusks in KH2 or hit the 'invincible' barrier like often happens when fighting bosses It may also be due to Org XIII's powers to control heartless, like I believe Xemnas does just before KH2's 1000 Heartless war