Regardless of the Situation, Mejia Quietly Takes Control : Preps: University High ace has emerged as one of the best pitchers in the City Section.

University High Coach Frank Cruz has built the Warrior baseball team around a talented pitching staff, a fundamentally sound defense and an offense that can score enough runs to win games.

The cornerstone of the pitching staff is senior Javier Mejia, a right-hander who appears impervious to trouble. Mejia has earned a reputation as one of the top pitchers in the City Section, losing only three games in his three-year career and giving up an average of less than two runs a game.

But what separates Mejia from other talented pitchers is his demeanor.

Mejia rarely becomes emotional, an attribute that has helped him weather troubled times on and off the field.

“Nothing ever seems to faze him,” Cruz said. “He’s always in control. He’s a very successful pitcher because even when he has been hit a little, he never loses his composure.”

In a recent Coastal Conference Western League game matching two previously undefeated teams on a rainy day, Mejia gave up three earned runs to Westchester with two outs in the third inning. But Mejia, who had trouble gripping the ball because of the rain, struck out the next batter to end the threat. He shut out Westchester the rest of the way and the Warriors pulled out a 5-3 victory.

Cruz was unimpressed with Mejia’s performance until he checked his scorebook. Mejia had pitched a four-hitter, striking out seven and walking two.

“I’m saying to myself, this guy didn’t pitch very well,” Cruz said. “He walks two guys and I start to question his control. Then I take a look at the scorebook. I have such high expectations for Javier because he’s done so well. Maybe that’s unfair.”

A look at Mejia’s season statistics shows why Cruz expects so much. In 10 starts, Mejia is 9-1 with a 1.30 earned-run average. He has given up 29 hits and 19 walks while striking out 68 in 58 innings. Last season, Mejia had a 9-1 record with a 1.22 ERA and was selected to the All-City Section 4-A Division first team. He has cut his walk total from 49 in 1990 to 19 so far this season.

“My job is to keep the score close and keep the team in the game,” Mejia said.

Mejia mixes a curveball and a changeup with an 83-m.p.h. fastball. Cruz said that Eric Alexander is the only pitcher he has coached who throws harder than Mejia. Alexander led the Warriors to the City 3-A Division title in 1988.

“Mejia is a real pitcher,” Cruz said. “He finds the spots and mixes up his pitches really well. (Hitters) don’t hit the whole ball very often.

“The other guy (Alexander) was a hard thrower.”

Mejia, who has been invited to try out for the Junior Olympic team, also plays center field when he is not pitching. He is batting .324 with one home run and 13 runs batted in. He leads the team with 19 stolen bases and 21 runs scored and is second with 22 hits.

“He’s a hard-working, sensitive kid,” Cruz said. “He’s a baseball player who leads by example. He’s sensitive because he’s always trying his best. If something happens to go wrong, he puts more pressure on himself for the few failures he has had. He’s a perfectionist.”

Mejia, 17, was born in West Los Angeles to Jose and Irene Mejia, Mexican immigrants. His father taught him how to play baseball at local parks, and he continued to play in the Culver City Little League and Babe Ruth League. The oldest of three boys, Mejia expects to be the first in his family to graduate from college.

“My parents are the greatest parents in the world,” Mejia said. “They supported everything I’ve done and have given me everything I ever needed. They’ve tried to give me what they never had as children and they have made a lot of sacrifices.

“My mom’s biggest dream is for me to go to college and graduate.”

Mejia has been offered a scholarship to USC but needs to raise his grade-point average to be accepted. He needs two Bs and an A in academic subjects during the spring semester to qualify. He had a combined score of 710 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, 10 points above the minimum required by the NCAA’s Proposition 48.

Despite being touted as one the best pitchers in the City, Mejia considered quitting baseball before his senior year because he wanted to help support his family.

“We had family problems in the past,” Mejia said. “My father had a drinking problem, and at a point I started thinking about going to work. Our family worked together and my father got counseling.”

Jose Mejia said he has turned his life around.

“I’m fully recovered,” he said. “I went to a private doctor that deals with alcoholism and he helped me with that and high blood pressure. I’ve been sober for six months.”

Cruz said he was aware of Mejia’s family problems and talked Javier out of quitting baseball.

“I told him that baseball could be an avenue to get a better job and get an education,” Cruz said. “I thought his parents would be extremely proud of him if he went to college and that might bring them closer together. We talked a lot about his problems and I knew there was something wrong. I told him if he ever needed help to call and I would be there.”

Mejia said his father has been a positive influence on him and that has helped him maintain a drug-free life.

“When I was young, my father taught me right from wrong,” he said. “I appreciate him talking to me when I was young. I think it’s a problem that parents don’t talk to their children soon enough.

“The pressure is tremendous. Everyone has a friend that does drugs or they’re friends of friends that do drugs and it goes around. It’s pretty hard to say no. (But) I’ve seen what effect drugs and alcohol can have and how it can break up a family. I’ve learned from experience. I’ve been to parties where I tell my friends, ‘If you’re going to drink, don’t drive home. Please spend the night at my home.’ ”

Mejia posted impressive pitching statistics after his sophomore year but was falling behind in his schoolwork. He had a 7-1-1 record and a 1.11 ERA.

Cruz said he had a meeting with Mejia to discuss the importance of academics to his athletic career after Mejia’s sophomore year.

“He was not a hard worker in the classroom,” Cruz said. “I really tried to get him to improve his grades--’Don’t waste your time, take advantage of your athletic ability and dictate where you want to go. Be able to make a choice. You decide where you want to go to school and don’t let the system decide for you and make you go to a junior college.’ ”

Cruz said midterm grades came Monday and Mejia is on track to get the grades needed to attend USC.

“He has the grades now and he can decide where to go,” Cruz said. “I’m pretty proud of him to get that done.”

Mejia pitched six innings Monday and gave up two unearned runs as University beat Venice, 8-4, in a Western League game. The Warriors are 19-3 overall and tied for first place with Westchester with a 13-1 record in the Western League. The Warriors play Venice today.

It’s been 20 years since a team from outside the San Fernando Valley last won a City 4-A championship. Venice accomplished the feat in 1972 under Coach Art Harris. University competed in 3-A from 1983 to 1988 before returning to 4-A.

The playoffs begin Wednesday with wild-card games, and the Warriors are expected to receive a high seeding if they win the Western League championship.

They would need an extraordinary effort from Mejia to reach the championship game, but Mejia is an extraordinary kid, according to Cruz.

“He has called me a number of times to ask my opinion on different subjects,” he said. “We’ll talk about a teacher, his girlfriend or a family situation. I try to treat him like the rest of the kids, but I know he’s been through difficult times. I don’t want to say he’s like a son to me because he’s more like a little brother.”