It seems like a simple task: see ball, hit ball.
\nHowever it’s been anything but simple for Point Loma High’s baseball team in past years covering several different head coaches.
\nWinter ball and non-league games show the Pointers (9-4-2 overall, 1-0-1 in league) have improved their discipline and\u00a0technique at the plate, giving rise to excitement with Eastern League play now underway.
\nLong known for pitching and defensive strength, the Dogs have been dogged at the plate by\u00a0whiffs and balls that didn’t make it through the infield. But the promising sound of solidly struck balls off aluminum bats has\u00a0accompanied more frequent screaming line drives and even some soaring home runs, a rare but welcome Pointer\u00a0spectacle.
\nNew varsity head coach Jeff Solis, who compiled a sparkling 45-9 record the past two seasons as head Pointer JV coach, credits the addition of a\u00a0new\u00a0assistant coach who has elevated the hitting game.
\nKeegan Acker, a onetime Golden Glove third baseman on a national championship community college team and former Gonzaga University starter spent the past season as a\u00a0graduate\u00a0assistant coach at University of San Diego. He has assisted pro hitting coach\u00a0Merv\u00a0Rettenmund and is currently counseling Pointer hitters.
\nBut along with the increased fortune of Pointer hitters, their Eastern League opponents are a tough bunch as well.
\n“I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win the league,” Solis said, “but all the teams in our league are very\u00a0strong\u00a0this year. We’re going to have to play well but I expect us to do that and win the title.”
\nThe Pointers have two ties on their season record. First they engaged league foe Clairemont in a game that was called for darkness after a 10-inning battle and the score tied 3-3. Earlier, a\u00a0non-league\u00a0game against Otay Ranch was called. A third game, a league match against Coronado, was suspended last week when an on-field medical emergency halted the game.
\nPitching ace Austin Curtice, an SDSU commit, sports a 4-0 record with no earned runs scored against him in 23 innings of work. Hunter Otjen has a 2-0 record and a 0.90 ERA with only four walks and 17 strikeouts in 23.1 innings. Batting leaders include:
\nAverage: Duce Gourson, .348; Hunter Otjen .333.
\nHits: Gourson, Otjen 16 each; Anthony Hall, Ben Berry 15 each.
\nRBI’s: Otjen 17; Hall 12.
\nHome runs: Gourson, Otjen 2; RJ LaRocco 1.
\n“They’re a really great group of kids,”\u00a0Solis noted, “but they are also very good baseball players. We’re super proud of them and at this point in\u00a0the season they’re playing really great.”
\nThe Pointers play home games on April 15, 23 and May 7 and 9. CIF playoffs begin the following week. The Pointers are currently in sixth place of 20 Div. II teams in computer rankings.
\nOther Pointer coaches include John Gerber, Mac Acker, Tom Vaughn and Mike Delgado.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It seems like a simple task: see ball, hit ball. However it’s been anything but simple for Point Loma High’s baseball team in past years covering several different head coaches. Winter ball and non-league games show the Pointers (9-4-2 overall, 1-0-1 in league) have improved their discipline and\u00a0technique at the plate, giving rise to excitement […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":267522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Improved hitting gives Pointers Eastern League hopes","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}