Cleveland Lights Up Eagle Rock, 5-1

Long before the lights came on and the bulk of the crowd arrived at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, Robert Marcial and Byron Grubman of Cleveland High put on a performance worthy of prime time.

Sure, it was for 17th place, but that didn’t stop Grubman from flirting with a perfect game for 5 2/3 innings and Marcial from dazzling with his glove and bat.

The juniors led the Cavaliers to the City Section Invitational championship, 5-1, over Eagle Rock. When Marcial punched out the final two hitters with strikeouts, his teammates orchestrated a dog pile worthy of a world title.

“We wanted to be in the [championship bracket],” second-year Cleveland Coach Joe Cascione said. “But we figured we might as well win this thing. We have a scrappy team, we play great defense and we have timely hitting. I’m real proud of these guys.”

Grubman retired the first 17 batters before Michael Sanchez beat out a drag bunt with two out in the sixth inning.

The hit by Sanchez, who entered the game batting .241, brought the tying run to the plate for Eagle Rock but Grubman got the next batter to end the threat.

“I saw him talking to his coach so I figured something was up,” Grubman said. “It was a great bunt.”

Grubman allowed one run and four hits with six strikeouts before giving way to Marcial with one out in the seventh.

Eagle Rock (17-10) entered the game with seven starters hitting .327 or better. But with Grubman on the mound and Marcial ranging far and wide at shortstop, those numbers plummeted quickly.

Marcial sprinted deep into the outfield to catch two pop-ups and extended himself behind second base for the final out of the fourth. He was three for three with two doubles and a sacrifice fly that gave Cleveland (23-11) a 3-0 lead in the seventh.

“I’ve been hearing that this is for 17th place,” Marcial said. “But we’re one of only four teams playing here. We’re looking forward to coming back here next year and playing in the 7 o’clock game.”