"Boy, he has movement," Groft said of Phillips, whom he was facing for the first time.

"That's a pretty good curveball," Felix replied.

Later in the game, Phillips sent a high fly ball to Groft in right field. Caught in the wind, the ball spiraled away from Groft before the sophomore settled under it.

"Not only does his ball move when he throws it," Groft told his coach, "it moves when he hits it."

Phillips did not have command of the elements on Thursday. It just seemed that way at times.

With more than two dozen major league scouts watching, the Hanover senior and Louisiana State University recruit led his team to a victory over cross-town rival Delone Catholic in a YAIAA Division II baseball game at Hanover Area High School.

Phillips pitched a four-hitter, striking out a season-high 14 batters, in Hanover's 4-1 win. He was just as dangerous at the plate, squeezing a double, home run and two runs batted in out of three at bats.

"I personally think Mark's curveball is much, much better this year," Felix said. "Not that it was bad last year. But, at least today, it was (better). I thought he made strides on his breaking pitch."

With the win, Hanover (3-0 Div. II, 3-0 overall) joined Northeastern as the only remaining unbeaten teams in Division II. Delone, which lost to Eastern on Wednesday, dropped to 2-2 and 4-2.

To the scouts holding radar guns and notepads, however, the outcome was an afterthought.

They were there to see Phillips, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefthander whom Baseball America rates as the 15th-best player in the High School Class of 2000 and the second-best lefthanded pitcher.

He didn't disappoint, keeping the ball low in the zone, working ahead in the count and limiting his walks. His fastball reached 90 miles per hour, according to one observer, and he mixed in a variety of curveballs, sliders and even a few knuckleballs.

Throwing to his younger brother, A.J., he allowed one run on four hits and three walks. He struck out two or more batters in six of seven innings. The outing, coupled with a 13-strikeout performance against York Catholic last week, gives him 27 K's in two appearances this season.

Phillips said he threw more pitches before the game to loosen his arm.

"I focused on warming up before the game," he said. "That really helped."

The scouts were not the only ones seeing Phillips for the first time.

After losing most of the players from last season's division-championship squad to graduation, Delone started five sophomores. Only three Squires — Joe Kotula, Derek Sunbury and Derrick Groft — had batted against Phillips before Thursday.

They can expect to see him again. Phillips has pitched against Delone each of the five times the teams have met since Phillips' sophomore season.

"We haven't faced anybody else," Felix said.

No scouts showed to see Mike Robinson, but the Delone sophomore matched Phillips nearly pitch for pitch through the first five innings. In his longest outing of the season, Robinson struck out three batters while allowing just one run and two hits in his first five innings.

However, Hanover got to Robinson in the sixth.

Tom Sheppard led off the inning with a single, and Phillips followed with a towering home run over the left-field fence. Jesse Jacoby then doubled to left, chasing Robinson from the mound.

Clay McKim retired the next three batters, but Robinson was charged with a run — his fourth of the game — when Jacoby scored on a Mike Adams sacrifice fly.

"I knew we were going to start hitting," Phillips said. "As long as we're swinging the bats, we're a real good team. It just took us a little bit of time."

Interest in Phillips has increased with each week of the season. Six scouts watched him pitch in a scrimmage against Dover. About 15 showed up for last week's game against York Catholic.

Phillips, who committed to Louisiana State months ago, said he is not sure whether he will attend college or go straight to professional ball. He is keeping his options open until Major League Baseball's amateur draft in June.

"The draft could change anything," he said. "I'll just have to wait and see. Anything can happen."

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