Westlake Throws a Changeup at Torrance : Prep baseball: Unheralded Clark steps in for Eby and pitches the Warriors to 4-1 win.

James Clark’s numbers are as impressive as his pinpoint control. His earned-run average stays as low as his fastball, and his won-loss record puts batters on their heels like a curveball on the corner.

But the junior pitcher just could not find the limelight at Westlake High. Until Tuesday.

Despite an unbeaten record and an earned-run average of 1.17, Clark had been lost in the shadows of Mike Eby, a senior left-hander headed to UCLA. Eby is the author of the Warriors’ pitching record book.

Yet it was Clark who had center stage Tuesday, pitching a complete game in Westlake’s 4-1 win over Torrance in the second round of the Southern Section 5-A Division baseball playoffs. Top-seeded Westlake (27-1) will play Bishop Amat (18-9) in Friday’s quarterfinals at a site to be determined.

Clark was on the mound Tuesday because Eby went the distance in Westlake’s 6-5 win over Mira Costa last Friday. Eby decided Monday that he had but two innings of work left in his arm for Tuesday.

Clark (7-0) responded by not allowing a runner past first base until the sixth inning. He struck out five, walked none and provided Eby (10-0) a full week’s rest for Friday’s quarterfinal.

“The only guy we really knew anything about was Eby,” Torrance Coach Jeff Phillips said. “(Clark) wasn’t on any scouting report we had.”

Clark took advantage of that oversight--as well as his control and an assortment of pitches--to confuse Torrance (19-9), which entered the game hitting .337.

“We’ve been hitting the ball real well, but he shut us down,” Phillips said.

Trailing, 4-0, Torrance put runners at second and third with none out in the seventh. During Coach Rich Herrera’s visit to the mound, Eby wandered over from his first-base position and offered the kind of advice that has helped him complete 10 of his 13 starts.

“I really went out to see how Mike was feeling, and he said ‘let (Clark) finish it off,’ ” Herrera said of Eby.

Clark struck out the next two batters and, after Ivan Elias’ fourth hit of the game scored a run, Brian Mullings hit into a game-ending force.

“I didn’t know too much about them,” Clark said. “But I don’t like knowing too much about a team.”

Westlake took a 1-0 lead in the third on Mike Lieberthal’s sacrifice fly before adding three runs--two unearned--in the fifth.

After consecutive one-out walks to Tim Falsken and Lieberthal, Keith Hess (two for three) singled home Falsken. One out later, Torrance second baseman Ruben Moreno dropped Todd Preston’s fly ball, allowing Lieberthal to score. Sean Howard followed with a run-scoring single.

Westlake had just four hits but took advantage of five stolen bases and eight walks. Three of the four Westlake runners who scored reached base via walks.