Joining the coaching staff in 2019 for head coach John Carrion of the baseball team will be veteran coach Tony Battilega. He joins the Menlo coaching staff after a couple of long stints at his most recent coaching destinations.
Battilega was the varsity assistant coach at Amador Valley High School for ten seasons, all the way back to 2008. He has spent those ten years as the team's pitching coach, hitting coach, and third base coach, all while calling pitches during the game. The ten years prior to that, Battilega was the head coach of Granada High School, when he migrated to the Bay Area. He previously coached in Southern California at multiple different locations, including San Diego City College, where he was the pitching and outfield coach for one season.
Battilega graduated from the University of San Diego and spent time on the mound as a left-handed starter and reliever for the Toreros. He appeared in 88 games for San Diego, amassing a career record of 13-12 and finished in the "receiving votes" category for the All-Decade team in the 1980s for the University of San Diego. He also spent two summers with the Clarinda Iowa A's of the Jayhawk Collegiate Summer League, where his team won the league both summers he pitched. Baseball has also taken Battilega to Stockholm, Sweden, where he was the head coach of the Edsberg Baseball Club, a unique opportunity to be a player and a manager.
Battilega earned his bachelor of Arts Speech and Communication and a minor in Business Administration in 1989 and earned his teaching credential from National University two years later. He has taught English, Physical Education, and Health across three different high schools over the last 26 years.
