YUCAIPA — There were at least 11 pro scouts in attendance on Friday to watch Taijuan Walker and the Yucaipa Thunderbirds face Santa Barbara High in the CIF Division II baseball quarterfinals.
They were drooling all over their radar guns.
Walker, a 6-5 senior, had his fastball clocked as high as 96 miles per hour while handing Santa Barbara its first shutout of the year, 3-0. Walker recorded nine strikeouts on the day, giving up five hits in front of a crowd of about 1,000 that came out for the game.
Pro scouts flocked to Yucaipa to see Taijuan Walker pitch.
“We knew that it was one of their fortes, that they swung the bat a little bit and had some quality hitters in their lineup,” said Yucaipa coach Jeff Stout. “But when you’ve got a guy on the hill like Taijuan, I mean c’mon, give me a break. How many times have they seen a guy like that this year?”
The answer, of course, is none. The Dons (22-5-1) couldn’t even manufacture Walker’s velocity on second-baseman Jack Crummer’s pitching machine, which they cranked up all the way in practice this week (it got to about 95, according to Crummer).
Crummer, a Chapman-bound senior, led the Dons with a pair of singles and three stolen bases, while Danny Zandona turned in another blue-collar start, allowing one earned run on nine hits, pitching his way out of bases-loaded jams in the first and third innings.
“I thought that Jack Crummer had a really good senior day, and the Collin Dewell really competed,” said Santa Barbara coach Fred Warrecker. “I thought that Danny competed like crazy. He doesn’t have the stuff that [Walker] has, but he was changing speeds, throwing his curveball and spotting his fastball.”
He also highlighted Colin Eaton’s prowess behind the plate, which was key considering the ballpark’s backstop was about 30 feet behind home, allowing lots of room for wild pitches to go haywire.
But Warrecker also felt like the intimidation of facing such a flamethrower may have worked against his team.
“A couple of guys I don’t think competed like they could have or should have… He intimidated some of our batters, there’s no doubt,” he said.
The Thunderbirds (26-6) scored their first run in the third inning. Leadoff man Leonard Malfavon, who went 4-for-4 with four singles and two runs scored, got started with a single and was sacrificed over to second. Back-to-back two-out singles by Walker and Matt Hardison drove him in to make it 1-0.
The next two scores came with two outs in the top of the sixth, when a controversial safe call at first base was followed by a two-run throwing error.
After initially being called out at the plate, Malfavon (the third run) was given a free pass home after an interference call at third base. Dons third baseman Robert Crawford was standing on the bag awaiting a possible throw when Malfavon collided with him. Both coaches felt it was somewhat of a tough-luck call.
The Dons kept battling, as Dewell hit a two-out double in the top of the seventh and Zandona followed up with a single that sent Dewell to third. Santa Barbara got runners to third base in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings. In the third, the runner was thrown out from center field trying to tag up and score. Walker ended the threat in the fourth with a strikeout, and picked up two strikeouts to strand Crummer at third in the sixth inning.
Then came a groundout that left Dewell 90 feet away in the seventh, ending what has been a tremendous season for the Dons’ storied program.
For Walker, a tremendous career may be ahead. He’s fairly new to pitching (he played shortstop last year), and spent the winter averaging 21 points per game for the basketball team. He’s focused on baseball now, and said that he’s trying not to think too much about the upcoming MLB Draft, which could potentially land him a big contract.
He’s also learned to shrug off the radar guns staring back at him from behind the plate.
“I used to think about that but not anymore. I just try to block it out,” said the soft-spoken star.
While there’s no telling where Walker will be next year, the Dons go into the offseason knowing that the majority of their starters will be right back at ol’ Eddie Mathews Field.
“I think we had a really great season, and we still have a lot of starters coming back,” said Zandona.
He doesn’t ever want the baseball season to end.
“We might as well go have practice tomorrow and throw some long toss,” he said with a grin.
YUCAIPA 3, SANTA BARBARA 0
Santa Barbara…000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Yucaipa…001 002 x — 3 9 0
Zandona and Eaton. Walker and Sandberg. WP — Walker (9-3), LP — Zandona (7-3).
2B — SB: Dewell.
Records — SB: 22-5-1, Y: 26-6.
A big crowd turned out for Friday’s game.
“Although he would have likely made it safely anyway, ” Point of correction, The runner was called
out by the home plate umpire and the Dons ran off the field. They were called back out to finish the inning when the home plate umpire changed his call.
Gotcha. I got a little turned around on that play. Too much going on!
“Although he would have likely made it safely anyway, ” Point of correction, The runner was called
out by the home plate umpire and the Dons ran off the field. They were called back out to finish the inning when the home plate umpire changed his call.