Huntington Beach baseball remains the standard in Sunset League
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Jared Grindlinger usually operates on a pitch count for the Huntington Beach High baseball team, and it’s easy to understand why.
“He’s young and he throws really hard,” Oilers coach Benji Medure said of the left-hander who just turned 17 a couple of weeks ago and is considered a top prospect for this summer’s Major League Baseball draft. “That could be bad for a younger kid’s elbow.”
Coming into Wednesday’s Sunset League showdown against visiting Newport Harbor, Grindlinger hadn’t even gone six innings in a game this season. But with the league title on the line, he told Medure he wasn’t coming out.
After Grindlinger dealt a quick sixth inning, the coaching staff checked with his mother, Karen, to see if he could finish what he started. She said he could.
“Our dugout exploded, because we knew he was going to finish the game,” Medure said. “Tanner [Brown], our No. 2, was ready to go. We were going all in on this game, but he finished it the way he should have.”
Grindlinger retired the Sailors in order in the seventh inning as Huntington Beach earned a 2-1 win, clinching outright its ninth straight league championship.
Junior Elyjah Mason hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the fifth for Huntington Beach, which is now 19-6-1 overall and 15-2 in league headed into Friday’s series and league finale at Newport Harbor. The second-place Sailors, who only could have won the league title with a series sweep, are 19-8 overall and 13-4 in league play.
Grindlinger, who allowed one earned run on five hits and struck out seven, improved to 5-0 this season with a 1.07 earned-run average. The University of Tennessee commit said the coaching sets the Oilers apart as another league title is headed to Main Street.
“Baseball is baseball, but when you have that level of coaching, it’s hard to lose,” Grindlinger said. “And with our level of players … we have good guys coming in that work hard, do their jobs, have good habits. That’s our main thing we talk about, good habits translate over to games, and I think that’s what has been important to us.”
Huntington Beach took the lead in the bottom of the third on a controversial run. Parker Leoff drew a leadoff walk, then Grindlinger followed with a single to center. An out later, Dane Cunningham hit a fly ball to center that was mishandled.
The Sailors felt that the umpire had signaled that Cunningham was out on the transfer from the center fielder’s glove. Instead, he was ruled safe. Leoff scored amid the confusion.
Newport Harbor tied the game briefly in the top of the fifth, as Brooks Francis hit a leadoff double to left. He was brought home an out later, as Oren Damush poked a double down over third base and down the line.
But Mason broke the tie in the bottom of the inning with his second home run of the season, which clanged off the scoreboard in right field to give the Oilers all the runs they would need.
“I was feeling good,” Mason said. “The [at bat] before, I just missed it, and I knew if I was getting a fastball, I was going to try to really hammer it, whether it was [opposite field] or pull side.”
Mason went two for three and Cunningham added a hit for Huntington Beach. Cam Hatfield had a double for the Sailors, with Keoni Wun and Ryan Williams also providing hits.
Medure, in his 26th season in charge, said every league title is special.
“I will never get tired of it,” he said. “I’ve always preached that winning the league is the biggest thing you can do in a year, besides winning the CIF championship, obviously. Winning the league title amongst your peers, where everybody knows each other in the league, that is a big deal.”
Newport Harbor had stayed alive in the league title race on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Huntington Beach at home. Senior Gavin Guy threw the complete game shutout, allowing five hits. He struck out eight and walked one.
The UC Santa Barbara-bound Guy, who is 7-0 this season with a 0.59 ERA, said his two-seam fastball and slider were both working well, keeping the Oilers off-balance.
“If he’s not the best, he’s in the top three of the best Newport Harbor pitchers of all-time,” Sailors coach Josh Lee said. “He really is. You’re looking at a future big leaguer, in my opinion. He’s the best I’ve ever coached, hands down.”
Newport Harbor scored the game’s lone run in the third inning, after Hatfield drew a leadoff walk. One out later, Noah Whittaker connected with a hit-and-run single to left. Then, Wun’s safety squeeze brought the run home.
Whittaker also made a standout diving catch in left field in the seventh inning, providing the second out and keeping a runner on second base before Guy earned a swinging strikeout to end the game.
The Sailors are now locked into second place in league.
“Our kids fought, and that’s the goal,” Lee said. “Every year for the last three years, we play these guys and we know we belong. They know we belong. Obviously, they belong — they’ve won it nine times in a row now. But hey, this is what you want, last series of [league] and No. 1 vs. No. 2, see who comes out on top.”
