McDonald Quietly Overpowers Batters : High school baseball: Mater Dei pitcher has a no-hitter and a one-hitter this season.

SANTA ANA — A few Mater Dei players came off the field wondering what all the fuss was about.

Sure, the Monarchs had just beaten El Toro, 3-0, in a South Coast League baseball game. But was that any reason to go through a championship-clinching-type celebration?

Then they were told. Mike McDonald had just pitched a no-hitter.

“There were four or five guys who didn’t realize what Mike had just done,” Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes said. “That’s just the way it is when Mike is pitching. You just don’t realize how well he’s done until the game is over.”

McDonald, a senior, has been providing plenty of stealth performances during his three seasons on the varsity. In fact, he is 17-2 since being called up to the varsity midway through his sophomore season.

This year, he is among the leaders in Orange County with a 6-1 record and a 1.10 earned-run average. McDonald, who also plays first base, has produced at the plate as well. He is hitting near .400 with 20 runs scored.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Ickes said. “He’ll finish a game and you’ll think, ‘What did McDonald do? Oh, he threw a one-hitter and had two hits.’ You just don’t get all that impressed with him unless you see him day in and day out.”

McDonald doesn’t help that image. He’s not flashy or even talkative. Quiet? Well, “yup” can be considered a complete sentence from McDonald. In fact, after an interview, Ickes will ask, “Did you get any words out of him?”

So with Huck Finn features and a ‘golly-gee’ personality, McDonald just isn’t all that intimidating. Until he gets on the mound.

McDonald tossed a one-hitter against Capistrano Valley in the South Coast League opener earlier this season. A week later, he threw his no-hitter against El Toro, striking out 10 and walking one. He also was two for three with an RBI.

“Usually when a guy throws a no-hitter, there are a couple of hard-hit balls that are caught,” El Toro Coach Tom McCaffrey said. “Not this one. We hardly touched the ball.”

That’s generally what happens when McDonald has his split-finger fastball and curve working. They complement a fastball that isn’t the fastest, but it doesn’t stay in one place too long, moving down and out.

But what has made McDonald so successful is that even when his other pitches aren’t working, he manages to baffle hitters.

McDonald labored against Capistrano Valley recently. His curve and split-finger weren’t sharp, but he came away with a 12-5 victory.

“I thought we had him that day,” Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora said. “We caught him on a bad day and were really hitting the ball hard, I thought. At the end of the game, we had all of five hits.

“I really like that competitive nature he has. Regardless of whether he has good stuff or bad stuff, he’s a bulldog out there.”

Said Ickes: “That’s the way Mike is. He can struggle for three innings. Then all of a sudden, he finds it and nobody touches him.”

That time-to-dig-deep attitude is what Ickes liked when he promoted McDonald midway through the 1991 season.

The Monarchs were in need of pitching so much so they relied on McDonald, only a sophomore, as their stopper. He went four innings for a victory in his first varsity appearance.

“Being on the varsity didn’t seem to faze him a bit,” Ickes said. “He just went out there and pitched.”

Said McDonald: “I was a little nervous. But after the first inning, everything was all right. I was really pumped up.”

McDonald won two Angelus League games down the stretch, as the Monarchs were fighting for a playoff spot. To qualify, they needed a victory over St. John Bosco, one of the top teams in the Southern Section, in the league finale.

Ickes gave the start to McDonald. He lost, 5-1.

“They hit three home runs off me that day, I remember that,” McDonald said. “That wasn’t too good.”

Said Ickes: “He pitched well that day. They were just a great team.”

That was the last time McDonald lost a game until Mission Viejo beat him, 2-1, in eight innings Wednesday--a 17-game streak.

McDonald was 8-0 last season, including a three-hit shutout against Riverside Poly in the second round of the 5-A playoffs.

“He did it all last season with just his fastball,” Ickes said. “He couldn’t throw his other pitches for a strike. He doesn’t overpower people, so you wonder how he survived. But he got people out.”

And that has inspired confidence from his teammates.

“We know any time Mike goes out there, we’re going to be in the game,” outfielder Brian Barajas said. “He just wins games.”

Which is nothing to make a fuss about.