Grigsby Draws the Attention of Olympic Team

Apparently major league scouts aren’t the only ones who have noticed the talents of Benji Grigsby, San Diego State junior right-hander. The U.S. Baseball Federation, in conjunction with Coach Ron Fraser, announced Tuesday that Grigsby is one of 40 players to be invited to the Olympic baseball trials June 8-14 in Millington, Tenn.

Grigsby said Fraser, Miami baseball coach, left a message on his answering machine Monday night.

“I was wondering why he called me,” Grigsby said. “Then he called me back this morning and told me I was invited. I was pretty pumped. I was feeling a lot of emotions at the same time.”

Grigsby is 9-1 this season with seven saves and a 2.53 ERA.

“This just makes this year all the more special,” said Grigsby, who came to SDSU from Lassen (La.) Junior College. “When I told my teammates there were high fives all around.”

As many as 12 to 15 professional scouts have attended SDSU’s games with radar guns in their hands. An anonymous scout was quoted in Tuesday’s Daily Aztec saying he thought Grigsby would be a first-round pick in the June draft.

“He has the best slider in college baseball,” the scout was quoted as saying.

Dave Kuhn, SDSU baseball sports information director, said Grigsby was clocked by scouts last weekend against Hawaii as fast as 92 m.p.h.

“I’ve heard I might go in the first round,” Grigsby said. “I’m just trying to hold on. You want to get excited, but you want to control your emotions. I’m trying to concentrate on the team the rest of the way.”

The 40-man Olympic roster will be cut to 30 by June 11 before the start of a three-game series with with Venezuela. After the series, Fraser and his staff will select the 25-man travel squad.

Before the Olympic games in Barcelona, from July 26-Aug. 5, the U.S. will play a 27-game exhibition schedule against international competition.

SDSU, USD stay home: After their collapse against New Mexico Saturday in the Western Athletic Conference men’s tennis finals, the unranked Aztecs are not expected to receive a bid today to the NCAA team tournament.

However, the Aztecs will not be without representation at the NCAAs. The doubles team of Jeff Belloli and Chris Numbers are ranked 22nd and probably will be invited to the NCAA individual tournament that follows the team competition.

The USD men’s team won’t be at the NCAAs either, but figure on Jose Luis Noriega being there for the individual tournament. Although he hasn’t played competitively in more than a month because of tendinitis in the rotator cuff, Noriega is working out and he expects to be ready when the tournament begins May 20th at Georgia.

“He’s making visible progress,” USD Coach Ed Collins said. “He’s made some technical changes in his service motion that I think will reduce some of the strain on his arm. He starts playing sets today in practice. He looks real sharp on his ground strokes and his volleys.”

Miller cleans up: His team was nowhere near qualifying for postseason action, but Point Loma Nazarene senior outfielder Rich Miller was selected the NAIA District player of the year. Miller batted .467 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs for the Crusaders, who finished 21-25. But his most amazing statistic might be his slugging percentage of .769.

Sophomore second baseman Jack Campbell was only other PLNC player to make first team All-District. He batted .347 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs. Pitchers Craig Van Hulzen and Justin Knox were selected to the second team.

Van Hulzen, a sophomore, was 5-4 with a 3.67 ERA. Knox, a senior, went 3-3 with five saves and a 3.35 ERA.

Star sighting: If you attended the San Diego State-Hawaii game Saturday and you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, they weren’t. That was Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield, who played for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins in the 1960s and 1970s, outside the Aztecs’ locker room.

Warfield, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, and works for NFL properties, was waiting for his son, Malcolm, who plays outfield for San Diego State. Malcolm, a freshman from Columbus Academy, has appeared in only 14 games and is hitless in six at-bats. He has been used by SDSU Coach Jim Dietz mostly as a pinch-runner and has scored four runs and stolen two bases in two attempts.

But in 27 junior varsity games, Warfield has shown the Aztec coaching staff he can play a little. He is hitting .477 with 28 runs scored, three doubles, three triples, one homer, 12 RBIs and 23 stolen bases in 28 attempts.