Schiefelbein tosses shutout, Corona clinches Big VIII title

Big VIII League baseball coaches are not going to shed many tears when Ethan Schiefelbein graduates next month. Well, five of the six won’t. Schiefelbein’s dominance against Big VIII League opponents continued Friday afternoon, as he scattered six hits and helped Corona to a 2-0 victory over Centennial. The Panthers secured the league championship outright with the win.

Schiefelbein, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound southpaw, has signed with UCLA but is expected to be selected in the early rounds of this year’s MLB Draft. Schiefelbein only struck out four batters Friday, the fewest he has recorded in a Big VIII League game since his sophomore season. Schiefelbein instead pitched to contact, recording 11 outs on fly balls or line drives.

“Ethan is interesting guy and had a goal for today,” Corona coach Andy Wise said. “He wanted to be super-efficient and be on the mound at the end of the game. And if he’s striking a lot of guys out, the pitch count is going to go up pretty fast. He took an approach of letting (Centennial) put the ball in play and trusting his defense to make the plays.”

Schiefelbein is 8-0 with a 0.43 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 49 innings against Big VIII League opponents over the past two seasons.

Corona (22-2, 12-0) brought home the championship from the prestigious National High School Invitational in North Carolina last week and had to bounce back immediately with a three-game league series against Centennial.

Schiefelbein needed only 78 pitches to complete the game. The most pitches he threw in an inning was 17 in the seventh.

“I wanted to go as long as possible today, so I was looking to keep my pitch count down,” Schiefelbein said of his approach Friday. “Our plan was to attack the zone early and get as many outs as possible on the first few pitches.”

Schiefelbein needed to be sharp, because the Panthers had trouble getting hits against Centennial’s Michael Malki.

Malki, a senior who has signed with California Baptist, did not surrender a hit until the fifth inning, when Daniel Rivera led off with a single up the middle. Malki allowed only two hits in six innings, but he walked four batters between the second and third innings and Corona took full advantage of the free bases.

Billy Carlson drew a walk with one out in the second inning and moved up to third following a pair of stolen bases. Carlson scored on a sacrifice fly by Schiefelbein, just beating the throw home from left fielder Charles Rodgers.

Anthony Murphy walked with one out in the third inning, stole second and advanced to third on a ground ball by Brady Ebel to the right side of the infield. Murphy scored Corona’s second run of the game when he scampered home on a wild pitch.

Schiefelbein did have to work out of a jam in the top of the seventh inning. Ryder Dykstra and Edgar Gonzalez had back-to-back singles with one out, and Centennial had runners at second and third with two outs. But Schiefelbein escape damage, getting pinch-hitter Espn Simpson to swing at curve ball to end the game and secure the title.

This is Corona’s fifth Big VIII League championship in eight years, but this was the first time the Panthers were able to celebrate the clinching victory on their home field.

“It’s great for the kids and all the home folks who come out to watch us play,” Wise said. “But there’s still more work to do.”

Corona wraps up the regular season next week with a series against Roosevelt, which is coming off a sweep of Norco. The last team in the Big VIII League to post a 15-0 record was Norco in 2014.

“There’s no doubt, we want to sweep league,” Schiefelbein said. “We also want to make sure we’re at our sharpest for the playoffs.”

The Usc-bound Dysktra had two hits for Centennial, which closes league play next week with a series against King. The Huskies (18-6, 8-4) will enter the final week of the regular season in second place in the standings, one game ahead of Roosevelt.