A recipe for success: sunshine & Albert

PALO ALTO – Way back in early March, as Palo Alto was off a slow start to the season, coach Pete Fukuhara predicted that the Vikings would get better once the clocks were turned ahead.

You see, the school day at Palo Alto drags on past 4 p.m., meaning by the time the Vikings began practice each day, they had about an hour on the diamond before the sun went down.

That changed on March 9 when everyone received one more hour of daylight.

At that point, the Vikings were 1-4. Since then, Paly has gone on a 14-5, including a 9-5 victory over visiting Wilcox on Wednesday which only bolstered the Vikings' second-place position in the SCVAL-De Anza Division.

But there's also another change to consider. Palo Alto played its first 10 games of the season without senior right fielder Albert Pellizzari, who was forced to sit out after transferring from Gunn.

Pellizzari has played 14 games for Palo Alto. The Vikings have won 11 of those games. Pellizzari has 22 hits in those games, including six home runs, and six doubles, while driving in 18 runs.

In the first inning Wednesday, he launched a two-strike Bishop Roque fastball on a line over the fence in left-center fielder to five the Vikings a 2-0 lead. Most impressive about the home run is that the ball never flew higher than 10 feet but continued cutting through the air like a missile until it hit the netting beyond the outfield fence.

After a walk and a hit better, Jackson Sims homered to left field to make it 5-0.

The Vikings never trailed, even though the Chargers battled back to within two, 7-5, after five innings.

Justin Fung, Pellizzari and Kavan Zia had two hits each for the Vikings.

Wilcox was led by Roque, who had a home run and three RBI, while Preston Jetson had two hits.

W: N.Robinson | L: Roque | 2 hits- Jetson (W), Fung )PA), Pellizzari (PA), Zia (PA). 3 RBI- Roque (W), Jackson (PA). 2 RBI- Pellizzari (PA). HR- Pellizzari (PA), Jackson (PA), Roque (W). 2B- Lee (PA), Slate (W).

Mountain View 6, Santa Clara 0

Zander Yocum had three hits, including a home run, and three RBI for the Spartans, who won their second straight game after snapping a seven-game losing streak on Saturday.

Caleb Low added three hits, while Jackson Blake and Ethan Frehner had two hits each for Mountain View.

Brennan Dooley allowed just four hits in throwing the complete-game shutout. He struck out nine.

W: Dooley | L: Denny | 3 hits- Low (MV), Yocum (MV). 2 hits- Huang (MV), Frehner (MV), Blake (MV). 3 RBI- Yocum (MV). HR- Yocum (MV). 2B- Gibson (SC), Yumui (SC).

Los Gatos 8, Homestead 3

Trenton Welsh had three hits, including a double, while Chase Frolich had two hits and knocked in two more runs for the Wildcats, who find themselves in cruise control in the final 10 days of the regular season.

Los Gatos clinched no worse than a tie for the De Anza Division crown with the win.

Senior Gavin Seiler made a rare start on Wednesday and limited the Mustangs to two hits in five scoreless innings of work. He walked two and struck out one.

Drew Hamburger had two hits for the Mustangs, who are still in the running for a CCS tournament berth as the fifth-place team.

The first four teams will get CCS berths, while the fifth-place team will take on the SCVAL-El Camino Division's second-place team on May 16 for the league's final postseason invitation.

W: Seiler | L: Morrison | 3 hits- Welsh (LG). 2 hits- Hamburger (H), Frolich (LG). 2 RBI- Frolich (LG), Simon (LG), Cho (H). 2B- Welsh (LG).

PAL-Bay Division

The King’s Academy 7, Menlo School 4

Nate Plata continued his hot streak with a four-hit game and The King's Academy rebounded from a tough three-loss week to beat visiting Menlo School in a battle of two teams near the top of the Bay Division standings.

Plata scored a run and drove in another, while adding a double for the Knights, who jumped to a seven-run lead after three innings – a five-run third did the damage – and hung on as a Menlo rally came up short.

Jack Freehill had two hits, including a home run for Menlo, while William Larson hit his first home run of the year and had two RBI.

Taiyo Petersen had two hits for The King's Academy.

W: Wheeler | L: Widner | S: Smith | 4 hits- Plata (TKA). 2 hits- Petersen (TKA), Freehill (MS). 2 RBI- Petersen (TKA), Larson (MS). HR- Freehill (MS), Larson (MS). 2B- Plata (TKA).

Menlo-Atherton 12, Capuchino 3

The Baby Bears broke open the contest with an eight-run fifth inning to remain in contention for the Bay Division crown.

Merrick Lee had two hits, including a home run, and drove in two runs, while freshman Owen Coupe and sophomore Lucas Ten Vaanholt combined for three doubles, a triple and five RBI.

MJ Ellazar and Masataka Shudo, both seniors, had two hits each.

Jordan Estrella led Capuchino with three hits.

W: Brubacher | L: Arceo | 3 hits- Estrella (C). 2 hits- Ow. Coupe (MA), Lee (MA), Ten Vaanholt (MA), Ellazar (MA), Shudo (MA). 3 RBI- Ten Vaanholt (MA). 2 RBI- Lee (MA), Ow. Coupe (MA). HR- Lee (MA). 3B- Ten Vaanholt (MA), Ellazar (MA). 2B- Ow. Coupe (MA) 2, Ten Vaanholt (MA), Shudo (MA), Ellazar (MA).

Sequoia 4, Hillsdale 1

Garrett Johnson allowed two hits over four innings of work and collected two hits at the plate while also driving in a pair for the Ravens, who won consecutive games for the first time in more than a month.

Despite fighting through a late-season slump, Sequoia still finds itself on solid footing to earn a Central Coast Section tournament invitation, but it has little room for error down the stretch.

Isaac Nayfalk has a pinch-hit home run for the Ravens, who will host Hillsdale on Friday.

W: Johnson | L: Dang | 2 hits- Johnson (S). 2 RBI- Johnson (S). HR- Nayfalk (S). 2B- B.Lee (H).

Burlingame 3, Carlmont 2, 9 innings

The Scots played their third straight extra-inning game and lost for the first time in that stretch.

With Levi Wellman on the mound, Aaron Lau delivered a one-out single. Grayson Howard followed with a walk to put runners on first and second. After Drew Gall flew out, Mark O'Grady ended things with a base hit.

The win improved Burlingame's Bay Division record to 9-2, while Carlmont fell to 6-5.

Nate Werbinski had two singles, while Ryan Attard had a pair of doubles for Carlmont. O'Grady had two hits for the Burlingame and pitched three innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory.

W: O'Grady | L: Wellman | 2 hits- Werbinski (C), Attard (C), O'Grady (B). 2B- Attard (C) 2, Mallen (B).