DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Elliott shuns back pain for CdM

Austin Elliott’s big swing is gone. Blame the sunflower seeds he tried picking up a couple of months ago in his garage.

Elliott was all set back then. The baseball season was fast approaching for Corona del Mar High. So to soak it up, he wanted to chew and spit a ballplayer’s favorite snack — sunflower seeds.

He walked over to where the bag was stored. But when he reached down to grab some seeds, something went wrong. His hunger went away.

Hurting your back can make you lose your appetite.

Elliott, a healthy looking, well-built 6-foot-1, 175-pounder, didn’t bend his knees when he clutched the bag.

“[My back] felt kind of tight and I dropped the seeds,” Elliott said. “Then I went back down to get them, and I couldn’t reach them because my back starting killing [me].”

What hurt Elliott more was the thought of missing his senior year. The one Coach John Emme told Elliott could end with a CIF Southern Section championship ring on his finger.

Miss all of this for not bending his knees to grab sunflower seeds? Elliott thought it was silly after his chiropractor said he irritated a disc in his lower back.

But he was more irritated, as he sat on the bench by himself, watching his teammates prepare for the season without him.

Emme said the downtime was the best thing that could’ve happened to Elliott and the Sea Kings.

“I think his back injury convinced him to [change his big swing],” Emme said. “He was out for about three weeks, and when he came back … he had the shorter swing. We’ve been trying to get him to shorten it for four years now.

“Thankfully he got better.”

Elliott is more than better now in Jake Lemmerman’s opinion. The Duke-bound senior shortstop has good reason to call the cleanup hitter “Mr. Clutch.”

Not for Elliott not being able to clutch that sunflower seeds bag before the season.

But for Elliott coming up huge under pressure for the Sea Kings (8-3, 3-1 in the Pacific Coast League).

Put runners on for Elliott and he turns into an RBI machine for the fifth-ranked program in CIF Southern Section Division III. He leads the team with 21 RBIs as well as a .526 batting average and .842 slugging percentage to go with two home runs, four doubles and one triple.

The approach is simple. Take a few deep breaths on the on-deck circle and peek at who’s on base before digging into the batter’s box.

All locked in, just Elliott and the pitcher.

Well, at times Emme gets involved, like he did last week against visiting Laguna Hills, which like CdM is a PCL contender.

Elliott was up with runners on the corners and CdM trailing by three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Seeing Elliott go down 1-2 in the count, Emme yelled, “Don’t try to do it all by yourself.”

Elliott heard him and smiled. Two pitches later, he made Emme smile, as he hammered a three-run home run over the center-field fence to tie the game and force extra innings.

“I was surprised they came back and challenged him after getting that far ahead in the count on him,” said Emme, who watched Lemmerman’s walk-off two-run home run in the eighth beat Laguna Hills, 8-6. “I had nothing to say after that game. The kids left me speechless, and they were glad for that because I’m not speechless very often.”

This year, Emme has been left more stunned than in most of his 10 years, mostly because of Elliott’s turnaround.

He’s seen Elliott blast his first career grand slam. He’s watched him clear the bases with a triple, and of course that game-tying three-run home run in the seventh.

The numbers in practically every offensive category from last year are either up for Elliott, or he’s already matched them this year. He hit .302 with a .442 slugging percentage, 17 RBIs, two homers, four doubles and one triple.

Elliott said tweaking his back has a lot to do with his success because he’s not over-swinging. Having guys like Lemmerman and USC-bound senior Vinnie St. John batting ahead of him and getting on base helps, too.

When the chiropractor adjusts Elliott’s back every two weeks, the outfielder and pitcher said he feels like new. There are times the pain returns, reminding him how he injured himself.

But when he’s snacking on sunflower seeds he can laugh about it now.

“I now have to [bend my knees] when I pick up things,” said Elliott, smiling. “After I hurt my back, I just wanted to come back and make an impact.”

Elliott’s made a big impact without the big swing.

AUSTIN ELLIOTT

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Born: April 16, 1989

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 175 pounds

Sport: Baseball

Position: Outfielder/Pitcher

Coach: John Emme

Favorite food: Chicken

Favorite movie: “E.T., the Extra Terrestial”

Favorite athletic moment: Belting his first grand slam in Little League. “I think I was 9 or 10,” Elliott said. “To center field.”

Week in review: Hit a game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against Laguna Hills, forcing the Pacific Coast League game into extra innings. The Sea Kings eventually won, 8-6, in the eighth, and have won eight of their last nine games.