Grijalva shuts down CdM

CORONA DEL MAR — In the background, the machine, shredding branches slashed off trees nearby Corona del Mar High’s baseball field, roared.

As annoying as the constant sound was to the home crowd, so was seeing San Clemente pitcher Jeff Grijalva saw off the Sea Kings’ bats for six innings.

The USC-bound senior controlled Corona del Mar in the Beach Pit Classic championship with one devastating pitch.

“Most of us couldn’t get around on his fastball,” said Austin Elliott, CdM’s No. 3 hitter.

Grijalva blew the ball past the Sea Kings, improving to 5-0 on the year as the Tritons won, 5-1, Wednesday.

The Sea Kings (13-4) didn’t even see Grijalva’s hardest stuff.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder said he was throwing below his usual 88-92 mph range, but the difference in velocity didn’t prevent him from being pumped up during the game.

In a matchup pinning him against a future college teammate in USC-bound senior pitcher Vinnie St. John, Grijalva looked forward to pitching against the ninth-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division III.

Maybe the right-hander was too wound up. After recording a strikeout in the bottom of the second inning, Grijalva looked woozy on the mound. The game stopped for a couple of minutes because of Grijalva’s condition.

San Clemente catcher Danny Doyer and Coach David Gellatly, the home plate umpire, and even CdM coach John Emme came to Grijalva’s aid on the mound.

“It was just adrenaline,” Grijalva said. “Just got a little dizzy for a second, then I just collected myself and I was fine.”

Grijalva proved he was more than OK for San Clemente (10-6), which won the four-day, 16-team tournament.

He attacked hitters, using his fastball to get the count in his favor immediately. He struck out four batters. The slider is the pitch Grijalva said confused hitters because of the movement.

The Sea Kings finished with six singles against Grijalva. However, the only hitter to create problems for Grijalva during his 88-pitch, six-inning stint was St. John, a leadoff hitter.

Twice St. John made Grijalva work, forcing full-count situations that resulted in walks. Those were the only free passes offered by Grijalva, who threw only 24 balls.

The first walk to St. John came in the third, where CdM, down, 2-0, appeared as it could jump on a pitcher who last week in the competitive South Coast League no-hit Capistrano Valley, a CIF Southern Section Division I championship caliber program.

Collecting his third career no-no was out of the picture by the time Jake Lemmerman’s bloop single went between third and shortstop. The ball would’ve been caught by shortstop Chris Mata for an out if he hadn’t covered second base with St. John moving on a hit-and-run call.

St. John scooted to third after third baseman Timmy Troyer left his base to retrieve the ball near the edge of the infield.

With runners on the corners and no outs, Elliott came up next. Two pitches later, St. John scored to cut the deficit, 2-1, on a grounder to Mata. The Tritons got the force out at second as Elliott reached first on a fielder’s choice.

Grijalva responded, getting Michael DiRocco to foul out to end the inning.

“We knew we had our hands full, but we certainly gave them their runs,” said Emme, whose team committed three errors, two leading to one run in the first and one in the last inning. “That’s a little frustrating because Vinnie matched him pitch for pitch if you ask me.”

St. John (3-2) did his best in trying to keep up with his counterpart.

That’s until St. John left after Emme said he got a blister underneath one of his nails on his right hand. Only hurting St. John more was having to be replaced after four innings of work and CdM down, 4-1.

St. John stayed in the game, moving to center field, where he could contribute with his glove. He did his part with the bat, reaching base in each of his three plate appearances.

As for the rest of the Sea Kings, Elliott said they weren’t focused in getting Emme his first championship in the tournament, known as the Pride of the Coast in the past. It was Emme’s second title appearance in his 10 years at CdM. Both losses have come against San Clemente.

“That’s what it seemed like,” said Elliott of players looking forward to four days off from baseball as they’re on spring break. “Everyone wanted to get out and hurry up and get on vacation.”

Having to face Grijalva can cause you to want to get away.

Beach Pit ClassicChampionship

San Clemente 5,

Corona del Mar 1

Score by Innings

SC 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 - 5 8 2

CdM 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 3

Grijalva, Meastas (7) and Doyer; St. John, Doering (5) and DiRocco. W -- Grijalva, 5-0. L -- St. John, 3-2. 2B -- Jones (SC).