A DREAM COME TRUE : Clayton Leads Cardinals Into Connie Mack World Series

For more than 10 years, Craig Clayton has been trying, mostly in vain, to go somewhere as a baseball player. Now he’s on his way to the World Series--the Connie Mack World Series--starting Thursday in Farmington, N.M.

The trip to Farmington with the Orange County Cardinals will be the highlight of Clayton’s baseball career so far.

“This is probably the first time I’ve gone anywhere for baseball,” said Clayton, a former Loara High School pitcher and outfielder who will be a sophomore at Cal State Northridge in the fall.

Although Clayton, 18, is inexperienced in traveling team competition, his performance last weekend at the Western Regional championships at Hayward didn’t show it.

Clayton, a 6-foot 170-pound right-hander, was 3-0 in the six-game tournament, striking out 16 in 12 innings. He opened with a victory over Tucson last Thursday, and Sunday earned back-to-back victories over Scottsdale to give the Cardinals the championship and a berth in the World Series.

“I’m really excited about going,” he said. “It seems like I’ve never gone anywhere.”

Actually, Clayton made a baseball trip to Hawaii as a high school sophomore, but “that was just for fun,” he said.

As an Anaheim Little League player, Clayton was good enough to make several all-star teams. But the teams weren’t good enough to get past their home parks.

“We’d always be eliminated,” he said. “Real fast.”

Even after hitting a school-record .485 as a senior in 1988, Clayton could only watch as some of his friends took recruiting trips. When college signing day came around, he was a lonely fellow.

“No one ever talked to me,” he said. “I got a few letters from schools, but that was it. . . . I was disappointed . . . I think I just got overlooked.”

Clayton’s name was somewhat lost among other such Empire League players as Los Alamitos catcher Greg Pirkl, The Times’ player of the year, and Esperanza’s Doug Saunders. Pirkl and Saunders signed professional baseball contracts out of high school.

Without any scholarship offers, Clayton enrolled at Cypress College. But on the morning of the first day of classes, Clayton received a call from Bill Kernen, Cal State Northridge’s first-year coach. Kernen, a former assistant baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton and Illinois, offered Clayton a scholarship and Clayton readily accepted.

As a freshman last season, Clayton led Northridge with a .314 average and was named to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. second team as an outfielder.

Clayton, who usually plays center field when he doesn’t pitch, also has played second, third base, shortstop, left and right field for the Cardinals.

“Craig’s the kid we rally around,” said Dave Demarest of La Quinta, a coach with the Cardinals. “I hate to put so much pressure on him, but . . . Craig’s been our main stable force on this team.”

Last Sunday--which Clayton called “the best day I pitched in my entire life”--was a fine example.

The Cardinals, who played in the losers’ bracket after a defeat early in the tournament, had to win both games against Scottsdale to win the tournament title. Scottsdale started the day undefeated.

In the first game, Clayton pitched three perfect innings before being replaced. The Cardinals won, 15-0, in a game stopped in the fifth inning because of the mercy rule.

“It was kind of weird because I had a dream the night before that I pitched a perfect game, and that we were gonna mercy rule the team,” Clayton said. “We had only two hits in the game, they walked a lot of people, but it turned out like I dreamed it.”

In the second game, the Cardinals trailed, 4-3, in the top of seventh with a runner on second and two outs. Troy Babbitt of Western hit a grounder to second, but the second baseman couldn’t handle the ball, allowing the runner to tie the score, 4-4.

Clayton took the mound in the bottom of the seventh, and retired three batters in a row. The Cardinals scored four runs in the eighth and held on for an 8-4 victory.

“At first I thought we had a chance of making it (to the World Series),” Clayton said. “But when we had two outs in the seventh inning and (Babbitt) hit the grounder to second I thought it was over for sure. . . . “

It isn’t over yet. Clayton will be the starting pitcher in Thursday’s opener against Detroit.

“When he’s on the mound, all of the players and the coaches have the greatest confidence in him,” Demarest said. “He’s been the leader of this team all the way.”

Connie Mack Notes

Fifteen of the 19 players on the Orange County Cardinals--who face defending champion Detroit in Thursday’s first round--are from Orange County: Rob Ickes, Tony Pena and Jeff Ciccarella from Mater Dei; Monte Jones of Tustin; Corey Giuliano and Jason Parsons of La Quinta; David Goldstein of Irvine; Craig Clayton of Loara; Mike Helm and Rob Milo of Laguna Hills; Troy Babbitt and Doug McConathy of Western; Jason Bates of Esperanza; Todd Blyleven of Villa Park; and Matt McElreath of Cal State Fullerton.