The Quieter Clayton Is, the Better It Looks for St. Bernard

Royce Clayton, normally outgoing and a cheerleader for teammates, has become quiet, again. That can only mean that St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey is again competing in the final week of the Southern Section baseball playoffs.

When the top-seeded Vikings play Norte Vista of Riverside today in a 2-A game at UC Riverside, it will be their third trip to the semifinals in as many years under Coach Bob Yarnall. And, like clockwork, Clayton has become as steady with his emotions as he is with the glove at shortstop.

“I recognize that he needs to be quiet a little to gather himself,” Yarnall said.

Clayton has been this way around playoff time for years, even before he got to high school. But this is different.

Today could be his last game in high school. If not, Saturday will be, when the championship game is played at Anaheim Stadium.

Wednesday he is expected to become a first-round pick in the professional baseball free-agent draft. Baseball America rates him as the No. 13 pick, others have said he will be taken before the numbers go to double digits.

“He’s feeling a little more pressure than normal,” Yarnall said. “But he’s still taking extra ground balls and batting practice, so it’s not affecting his practice. He’s just more inward.”

“I’ve known him since he was 13, when I coached him in the youth leagues. Everyone knew all along he had great potential. But this year he didn’t play basketball and worked with the weights and stuck with baseball, so he has been a cut above of what has been expected, especially on defense.”

Clayton, who will play for USC if he doesn’t turn pro, is batting .521 with 10 home runs, 32 runs batted in, 39 hits and 26 stolen bases. At shortstop, where he has great range and a strong arm, he has a .977 fielding percentage while often a victim of his own ability.

“That number (fielding) is not as good as last year,” Yarnall said. “I think we give him errors that may be base hits for other teams because we expect more out of him. After all, we’ve seen him for three years.”

Other area high school selections who rate among the top 60 in the draft, according to Baseball America:

Los Alamitos catcher Greg Pirkl, 22nd; Gardena outfielder Aman Hicks, 38th; Redondo pitcher/shortstop Scott Davison, 41st.

Rated No. 43 by the publication is outfielder Sean Wills from Hanford, Calif., a tailback who was part of UCLA’s football recruiting class.

Davison continues to roll along. He pushed his record to 18-0 last Friday in a 4-A quarterfinal win over Cerritos and could tie Dan Tippitt of Antelope Valley for most wins ever in a season in the Southern Section today, when the Sea Hawks play Covina.

Although he hasn’t received the publicity of Davison, Chino’s Mike St. Esteben has had nearly the pitching success. Leading a team that has won 21 straight and is 27-1 overall, the only loss coming to Yucaipa in the Colton Tournament in March, the left-hander is 16-0 with 13 complete games, 166 strikeouts and only 36 walks in 128 innings.

“It wasn’t like he came out of nowhere to do this,” said Coach Bob Sheehan, whose second-seeded Cowboys play La Mirada today at Cerritos College. “Before the season, we were worried about him as a starter. We knew he could pitch by his stats from last year (4-0), but we didn’t know how well. He was kind of untested as a starter, so that has been kind of surprise.”

Meanwhile, teammate Alan Burke, a two-time All-Southern Section pick, is 6-1 when not playing shortstop.

Prep Notes

Semifinal games will be held today in Southern Section and City baseball and Southern Section softball. . . . The St. Bernard baseball team has 46 home runs this season, second-most in Southern Section history behind the 51 that Glendora hit in 1985. Dan Melendez has 14, which ties him for No. 2 on the all-time single season list with two others, including former teammate Tim Williams, and puts him two behind Arnold Garcia of Oxnard Channel Islands in 1981.

One of the most impressive streaks in area history came to an end last week, when the L.A. Marshall boys’ tennis team failed to make the City playoffs for the first time since the school opened in 1931-32. The Barristers, who until the late 1970s had won the league championship every year, finished third in the Northern this season.