HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Monte Vista Batting Practice Makes Perfect

EL CAJON — Most coaches just coach, but Tuesday, Monte Vista’s Robbie Phillips did a little pitching. An hour and a half, to be exact.

It paid off Wednesday in the Grossmont 3-A League opener at Granite Hills as Monte Vista hit four home runs in an 8-4 victory.

On Tuesday, Phillips--a left-hander--threw batting practice to simulate what his team might face in the opener.

Sure enough, Granite Hills put a lefty on the mound, Ryan O’Coyne, and the result was nothing but trouble for O’Coyne.

He was greeted rather rudely: Two of the first four batters--Ernie Reyes and Darren Rucker--hit home runs. Monte Vista also got a two-out single from Steve Dolias that scored Kurt Howard as Monte Vista took a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Not a bad job of simulation by Phillips, and the coach also had his team work on some fundamentals that came into play against Granite Hills.

Besides the two-out single in the first that drove in a run, Howard had a two-out double in the third to knock in Rucker. In both cases, the runners scored easily because they had first stolen second.

Still, with Monte Vista (14-6, 1-0) doing nearly everything right, Granite Hills (12-6-1, 0-1) hung close until the final inning, when Monte Vista’s final home run, a three-run shot by Vern Mullis, gave the Monarchs their four-run advantage.

Granite Hills hit two home runs. The first came after John Fenn opened the fifth with a double; Shane Spencer followed with a hit that landed well over the center-field fence.

That made it 5-3, and Granite Hills edged within one run in the sixth when Darron Schwartz, the ninth batter in the order, hit a home run off starter Robbie Stone.