AOW: Hoving delivers in final season for DNHS

Baseball, as the old saying from a Saturday Night Live skit goes, has been very, very good to Michael Hoving.

It has been part of the Hoving family since dad played college baseball at Westmont College.

“As soon as I could crawl, I’m sure I was throwing balls around the house,’’ said Michael, who graduated last week from Del Norte. “I went into Little League and that was it for life.

“I remember crawling up on my dad’s bed and asking him to teach me about baseball situations. I wanted to learn everything.’’

Hoving put all those lessons to good use this spring as the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder had a memorable senior year.

A reliever as a junior, Hoving was the ace of the starting staff. He posted an 8-1 record with a 2.12 ERA. He surrendered just 56 base hits in 59 innings of work.

Opponents hit just .242 against the right-hander as the Nighthawks went all the way to the San Diego Section Division III championship game for the second straight season before losing to Coronado.

“I changed my approach,’’ said Hoving, who plans to major in mechanical engineering at San Diego State. “I focused on getting ahead of batters. Once I get ahead, I can dictate what happens from there.’’

That was not the way Hoving pitched in 2015 when he was mainly a reliever for the Nighthawks, who went to the Division III finals, losing Christian in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Hoving’s statistics from 2015 — he was 3-4 with a 6.65 ERA — did not predict the kind of success he enjoyed as a senior, especially since opposing batters hit .361 off him.

“Last year I was the new guy on the block,’’ Hoving said. “The role of relievers is to come in and save the game for the starter, not blowing the lead.

“As a sophomore on JV, I was solid. My confidence was sky-high, but in my first varsity game I got shelled, gave up the lead and the game.’’

Hoving said he spent the remainder of junior year trying to shake off that outing.

“As a senior, I was sure I could get batters out,’’ Hoving said. “Junior year I was hoping to get batters out.

“My confidence, with all the weight room work to get stronger, snowballed. I felt like a different pitcher.’’

Del Norte coach Rielly Embrey noticed the difference from the outset of this season.

“He struggled with command last year,’’ Embrey said. “This year he settled on throwing strikes. He got ahead and made batters go after his pitch.

“He’d throw that sinker with devastating results. Hitting that bowling ball he throws up there is no fun for a hitter. I’ve had my hands go numb after hitting sinkers enough times to know what that feels like.’’

Hoving punctuated his new-found confidence with his final start, a two-hitter in a 10-0 win over Escondido in the semifinals to earn another trip to the finals.

“I came here from Seattle after eighth grade and now I’ve graduated from Del Norte,’’ Hoving said. “I couldn’t believe that the weather was perfect here every day.

“But my million minutes at Del Norte are up.’’

As is his time on the mound too.