Ward Concentrates on Complete Efforts

Facing Rancho Santiago sophomore pitcher Matt Ward certainly isn’t an intimidating experience.

Ward, a left-hander with a simple, straightforward motion, is just over six feet tall and looks lighter than his 175 pounds.

He “isn’t going to blow that ball by anyone,” as he says, so most batters dig in and swing aggressively. Ward gives up his share of hits--70 in 67 innings--but that’s about it.

Few teams have had much success scoring runs against Ward, who is on an impressive run.

He has pitched four consecutive complete games to improve to 7-0 for Rancho Santiago, the two-time defending state champions.

His games have become almost boring to watch.

He tends to struggle some in the first three innings but then starts rolling, and the innings slip by in a haze of fly balls, ground outs and the occasional strikeout. His control is one of his biggest pluses. He has walked only six.

“I hate walks,” Ward said. “I’d rather give up a hit than a free base.”

His teammates love it because the games go by so quickly. Infielder and outfielders stay alert. Even when the score is lopsided, like when the Dons beat Saddleback, 18-1, this season, the game only lasted a little more than 2 1/2 hours. It was the same way in his 13-1 victory over Riverside two weeks ago.

Ward pitched much the same way at Irvine High, but with one difference.

“I’m totally focused on the [catcher’s] glove,” Ward said. “That’s all I see. But here we work a lot more on the mental side of the game. I never did that in high school.”

Ward also has added something else this year he didn’t have in high school or even last year--a cutting fastball that runs in on right-handed hitters and away from left-handers.

Ward had a solid freshman year at Rancho Santiago, going 7-3 with three saves, and he got the start in the state championship game against Cypress. But that became a bit of a sore point for him when he gave up six consecutive hits in the first inning and was gone long before Rancho Santiago won, 16-10.

“Six hits in a row,” Ward said. “What are the odds against that? I couldn’t believe it.”

Ward did well last fall and was expected to be one of the the leaders of the staff this year. But he had a couple of ineffective outings early in the season, including one in which he gave up four home runs in four innings at Citrus, which is one of smallest parks in Southern California.

After that game, Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon asked Ward to start working on the cutter to help offset his lack of velocity. Ward said he had thrown a variation of the pitch while in high school, and it started working again as soon as he threw it during practice at Rancho Santiago.

All the recent success has put Ward, who is leaning toward accepting a scholarship offer from Texas A & M, in a rare situation. He is one a handful of community college pitchers who has an earned-run average well below his grade-point average.

Ward’s GPA is 3.8 and his ERA is 2.69. In conference games, where he has a 4-0 record, his ERA is 0.99.

“He’s a coach’s dream,” Sneddon said. “You don’t have to worry about him on the mound or in the classroom.”