Turn of Events Turns Out to Be in Ward’s Best Interest : High school: Huntington Beach pitcher stuck with baseball. Next season, he’ll be a Titan.

It was a left turn that would ultimately change the course of events in the life of Jon Ward.

Ward, then in eighth grade, had tired of playing baseball in Fountain Valley’s South Little League. Ward’s interests had shifted to skateboarding and racing remote-controlled cars.

“Both of my sons were going through the skateboard phase,” said Charles Ward, an electrical contractor. “You know, scraped elbows and knees and scratches all over their legs. All they wanted to do was hang out.”

Charles Ward had other ideas. He wanted both his sons, Jon and Jamie, to continue playing baseball and devised a plan that tricked them into signing up for Little League.

One Saturday morning, Charles told his sons, “Let’s go down to the hobby shop and look at remote-controlled cars.”

Instead, Charles took a left turn near the hobby center in Fountain Valley and headed for the South Little League’s field for the final day of sign-ups.

“You should have heard those boys,” Charles said. “You know what I heard in the truck all the way home? ‘Baseball (stinks).’ ”

That was five years ago. Today, baseball plays a prominent role in the life of Jon Ward. Whenever he is pitching for Huntington Beach, there’s an army of scouts armed with radar guns gauging his pitches.

Ward hasn’t disappointed. He is 9-0 with an earned-run average of 1.26 and 109 strikeouts. He’ll be on the mound when Huntington Beach plays host to Cypress at 3 p.m. today in the first round of the Southern Section 5-A playoffs.

Ward helped Huntington Beach win a school-record 22 games and earn the county’s mythical championship as the top-ranked team in the final Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. baseball poll.

“So far, I’m very happy with my season,” Ward said. “Everything seems to be going my way. I’ve been playing baseball for 12 years, and it’s finally starting to pay off.”

Much of Ward’s success can be attributed to a 90-m.p.h. fastball he relies on for his “out” pitch. The pitch has a tendency to cut in on right-handed batters, and he often jams batters.

Ward also throws an effective slider, curve and split-finger fastball. He throws the slider sidearm and the ball tends to rise when it reaches the plate. He comes over the top with the curve and it has a tendency to drop.

“I just started throwing the split-finger in the second round of league,” he said. “I probably throw only four or five a game.”

Ward claims he gets pitching tips “from everyone” and has never worked extensively with a pitching coach.

“What you see now is me in the raw,” Ward said. “I’ve never lifted weights seriously. I’ve never been on a running program. I’ve never been on any special diet.”

Ward in the raw was good enough for Cal State Fullerton. Titan assistant Chris Vanderhook initially saw Ward throw for the Seattle Mariners’ scout team in winter league and offered him a scholarship. But Ward wavered on signing day after giving an oral commitment to play at Fullerton.

“I was going to sign with Fullerton, but my dad started talking to an adviser, and he suggested that I wait and see what other offers I might get,” Ward said.

So, while a national letter of intent sat on his desk, Ward entertained offers from USC, Pepperdine and San Diego and took aptitude tests for virtually ever major league team in preparation for June’s amateur draft.

Professional scouts are high on Ward, 17, because of his 6-foot-5 frame and projection of growing another inch or two. He has been told repeatedly he will be drafted next month, but opted to sign with Cal State Fullerton two weeks ago after weighing his collegiate offers.

The attention seemingly has overwhelmed Ward, who is quiet and modest by nature. He takes great pride in maintaining the pitching mound at Huntington Beach, saying, “I don’t let anyone else touch it. The mound is my place on the field.”

And despite all the attention and accolades, Ward remains humble, calling himself “just another guy on the team.”

“I don’t have an ego; I don’t want an ego,” Ward said. “I always want to be a team player and do whatever it takes to help the team win.”