By Pete Borello

Joe Hu/Town Crier Three Mountain View fielders converge on a ball that drops to the ground in a recent loss at Wilcox.

Things have gone so wrong for the Mountain View High baseball team lately that coach Ray McDonald actually welcomed last week’s rainout of a game scheduled for Gunn.

“Thank God,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m thinking of having a victory party.”

The Spartans haven’t had much to celebrate in recent weeks. They’ve lost four in a row, outscored 31-1.

Mountain View’s second season as a member of the upper SCVAL De Anza Division started well. The Spartans won their first two league games: 6-3 over Wilcox and 10-6 against Gunn. They haven’t won since, sinking to 3-5 overall.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I either underestimated our league or overestimated our team,” said McDonald, the team’s third coach in as many years. “We got out of the gates well and then we stopped hitting.”

Eight games into the season, the Spartans’ team batting average was .234. Four players were hitting above .300, but no one else was over .190.

“When we get behind by a big margin, they try to get us back in one swing instead of playing small ball,” McDonald said in explaining Mountain View’s hitting woes. “With more experience, they’ll keep it small and keep it close.”

The team is heavy with underclassmen, as McDonald chose to cut seniors he didn’t envision starting because he feared they could be a distraction on the bench.

“We had a lot of difficult decisions to make during tryouts, and maybe we would have done them differently now,” said McDonald, who kept six seniors on his initial roster of 18. “But we kept four sophomores who are getting a lot of playing time, and I’m proud of them.”

They include second baseman Jerrick Berry, outfielder Eric Cutler, catcher Mark Good and utility player James Sierras.

Berry is the leadoff hitter and “has a good on-base percentage,” McDonald said. Cutler’s defense is keeping him in the lineup, according to the coach. Good splits time with junior Omar Mejia. Sierras - a designated hitter, first baseman and outfielder - started the year on the frosh-soph team but impressed McDonald so much during an intrasquad game that “there was no way I could put him back down.”

Mountain View’s top two hitters are juniors: Armando Munoz (.474) and TJ Sugimoto (.350). Munoz, who plays first and third base, bats cleanup. Half of his 10 hits went for extra bases. Left-fielder Sugimoto bats second and is among the team’s RBI leaders.

The Spartans’ next-best batters are pitcher/designated hitter Joe Hatasaki (.348) and shortstop Adam Lanthier (.333), both seniors. They bat second and fifth in the order, respectively.

Hatasaki is seen as the ace of a pitching staff that also includes seniors Jason Marshalla and AJ Rossi. Hatasaki, who has signed with Arizona State, had major elbow surgery a year ago and is starting to regain his form.

“He’s throwing as hard as I’ve heard he threw before,” McDonald said of the lefty. “But sometimes I think he worries - subconsciously - too much about velocity; he’s throwing, not pitching.”

Hatasaki, who routinely draws a crowd of scouts when he pitches, is off to a 1-2 start and has a 3.57 ERA. “In his two losses, we didn’t get any runs for him,” McDonald said.

The coach described Chico State-bound Marshalla as “a hard-throwing right-hander.” He is also 1-2 and has a 3.34 ERA.

Rossi, a lefty, is 1-1 with a 4.06 ERA. “Physically, he has some growing to do,” McDonald said, “but he’s as smart a pitcher as we have.”

As for his relievers, primarily sophomores, the coach said: “They’ve done a nice job, but they’re usually in with the game out of hand.”

McDonald is confident the pitching staff will improve, but he’s concerned about Mountain View’s lack of run production and depth.

“We’re getting outgunned,” said the former Sacred Heart Prep coach. “If you’re going to make chicken cacciatore, you’ve got to have chickens. We’re short on depth.”

Qualifying for the playoffs, which would likely require a top-three finish in league, may be a long shot, but McDonald promises his team won’t stop trying.

“What I’m most pleased with is their hustle,” he said. “We’re going to run out ground balls and we’ll be interesting to watch.”

The next chance to watch Mountain View is at 3:30 p.m. today at Milpitas.