Nothing like a little breakfast outing to break a fast.
It certainly proved to be a lucky charm for Mission Hills High School, whose players rose early on the first day of spring break to make the 30-mile trek to La Jolla Country Day for a rescheduled 10 a.m. contest in the 74th annual Lions Tournament, the largest high school baseball event in the world with over 130 teams.
Senior slugger Kyle Rogers went 4-for-5 with two booming doubles and four RBIs as the Grizzlies (4-5) snapped a three-game losing streak. They did it by tasting a season-high 12 plates in a 12-5 win over LJCD (6-4) in the Classic Division.
Mission Hills was 19-12 last year after losing in the San Diego Section Division II semifinals to Cathedral Catholic . This spring, four of the Grizzlies’ losses came against ranked teams.
“We’ve been scuffling a little bit,” said Mission Hills coach Neil Jamison, who starred at Ramona High School and Long Beach State before pitching five years in the Padres’ minor leagues. “It seems like everything was pulling teeth. It was nice to get some key hits today.”
Serving as the designated hitter for the first time, Rogers popped out to second his first trip before lifting his average to .355 and RBI total to 10.
“I was just seeing the ball well today,” Rogers said. “After that first at-bat, my third-base coach (Jacob Seitz) told me to hit the ball off my front foot, and it worked. I had a good mindset. I wasn’t trying to do too much up there. Just make good .”
He wasn’t alone. Riley Brown (2 RBIs) and Jacob Imoto (RBI) both went 3-for-4, and Ryan McVicker (2 RBIs) and Brody Mitchell each went 2-for-4 as Mission Hills collected a season-high 15 hits. Six runs came against LJCD ace Jonathan Freedman (2-1). Headed to MIT in the summer, Freedman had been 7-0 with a 1.42 ERA and only nine earned runs allowed in his career.
“We chart our freebies,” said John Edman, who is in his 25th year coaching LJCD. “Walks, hit-by-pitch, wild pitches, ed balls, errors — and we had 16 or 17 today. Our goal is four. So, that was a shame. It was not our day.”
Junior Jackson Norum gave LJCD an early 2-0 lead with his first home run and added a second in the fifth inning. He finished 3-for-4 with two HRs and a double, three RBI and three runs. Later in the fifth, Jose Partida blasted his first homer to pull the Torreys within 6-4.
Mission Hills senior right-hander Joey Navarro (1-2) yielded only four hits in 4 2/3 innings, but three of them were homers. He struck out 10 and walked four.
On Tuesday, Mission Hills plays host to Vancouver (Wash.) Union (1-4) at 1 p.m., and LJCD is at home against Pacific Palisades (6-5) at 4 p.m.
