Sports
Monte Vista Baseball: Sabo Leads a Seasoned Club
The Monarchs will rely on Nick Sabo's arm and bat plus some brotherly glove work.
Make no mistake about it, 6-foot-5, 225-pound senior Nick Sabo is the cornerstone of the Monte Vista High baseball team.
He can hit. He can pitch. He can run. He can play the outfield. Yes, Sabo, who has a baseball scholarship to Long Beach State in hand, can do it all.
After finishing 15-16 overall and in third place in the Grossmont Valley League a year ago under first-year head coach Chad Williams, the Monarchs have set their sites higher this spring.
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“This is the best high school team I’ve played on in my four years here,” said Sabo. "We’re experienced and we’re clicking. We have a lot of guys returning.”
Seven of the Monarchs starters from last season are back in the lineup. The club recently concluded a five-game run in the prestigious Aztec-Foothiller Classic, where it finished 3-2.
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Sabo is the big stick in the lineup, batting at a .558 (10-for-17) clip with two home runs and seven RBI. Four of his hits have gone for extra bases.
As the ace of the Monarchs’ pitching staff, Sabo is 1-1 and has not allowed an earned run in 12 innings. He’s logged 13 strikeouts and issued only one walk.
“My intention is to pretty much let them put the ball in play,” Sabo said.
That proved to be sound strategy in Sabo’s 5-1 victory over Montgomery. His defense committed only one error behind him in that game. That wasn’t the case in his second start, as five Monte Vista errors led to six unearned runs and a 10-1 loss to Eastlake.
There is nothing secret about Sabo’s pitching philosophy.
“I’ve just been mixing in two pitches–a two-seamer and a changeup,” he said. “I didn’t throw many curveballs. I was trying to bust them inside with a two-seamer and then try to nick the corners with my changeup.”
Other key veterans in the Monte Vista lineup include senior catcher Carlos Ochoa and the middle infielder brother tandem of John (senior) and Richie (junior) Balajadia.
Monte Vista is a band of brothers, including the versatile Guerrero Brothers–senior Benny and junior Cruz.
Special to Patch.com from East County Sports.com
