EXTRA SWINGS PAY OFF CHAMINADE 15, GRAN. HILLS 5.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

The Chaminade baseball team figures to have one of the region's most productive offenses under normal circumstances. When rain wipes out practices and leaves the Eagles with nothing to do but hit the batting cages, pitchers beware.

Chaminade of West Hills hitters showed the impact of their added batting practice by pounding 16 hits, including four home runs, in a 15-5 victory Tuesday against Granada Hills in a Daily News Invitational contest at Chaminade that ended in the sixth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.

The Eagles (2-1) had multiple hits in every inning and led 6-0 before the Highlanders scored in the third.

Chaminade batters were not the only hot hitters in the game that featured eight home runs. Chaminade's Jon Higashi hit three home runs and Granada Hills' Ryan Braun and John Voita hit two each. Mike Nesbit, who went 4 for 4 for the Eagles, hit the game's final home run, a two-run shot to center in the sixth.

Jim Milkovich followed Nesbit's homer with another drive to center that would have been a homer if it was a few more feet to the left. Instead, he had to settle for a double as the ball hit the outfield screen above the fence line from center field to the right-field line. He scored two batters later on a single by Ryan Soroka to end the game.

``We've been working on our swings and everything's coming together,'' said Higashi, who has four home runs this season. ``With all the rain, we haven't been able to get on the field much, but we're still in the batting cage every day working on our hitting. I really think that's helped.''

Chaminade's extra-inning loss to Westlake on Saturday didn't bode well for Granada Hills either.

``We knew we weren't gonna lose another game after that,'' Higashi said. ``We beat them even though the score didn't show it. We played a better game, we just made too many errors at the end.''

The Eagles' error-free play left the Highlanders with little opportunity to score other than with the long ball. Sophomore right-hander Sean Clark and sophomore left-handed reliever Bob Paschal held Granada Hills to seven hits, with all of the Highlanders' runs coming on home runs.

Braun hit a solo shot in the third and Voita led off the fourth and sixth innings with homers to center. Braun's two-out, two-run homer in the fifth brought the Highlanders within five at 9-4, the closest they came to catching the Eagles, who often followed Granada Hills' runs with twice as many in the bottom half of the inning.

Highlanders starter Jon Beal, a sophomore right-hander, went four innings and dropped to 1-1.