Baby Bears continue winning ways

It's been a tough climb, but with one week to go in the regular season, Menlo-Atherton, which played one of the toughest schedules on the Peninsula, finally reached the .500 mark on Saturday with a 7-3 road victory over The King's Academy.

The Bears, who start three freshmen and a sophomore, find themselves within striking distance of defending their PAL-Bay Division crown. Two games with Hillsdale and a season-ending makeup game with Sequoia next Saturday will determine their outcome.

Presently, Menlo-Atherton is 8-3 in the Bay Division, a half-game behind first-place Burlingame. The Panthers close the season with two games against The King's Academy.

The Bears scored five runs in the fourth inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a lead they would never relinquish. Masataka Shudo had three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs.

MJ Elllazar and freshman Oliver Coupe had two hits each.

Freshman Jake Scott pitched three innings to pick up the victory. He allowed two runs on four hits and four walks while striking out five.

Dominic Myung and Max Roberts had two hits each for the Knights.

W: Scott | L: Huff | S: Emery | 3 hits- Shudo (MA). 2 hits- Ellazar (MA), Ol. Coupe (MA), Myung (TKA), Roberts (TKA). 3 RBI- Shudo (MA). 3B- Ol. Coupe (MA). 2B- Shudo (MA), Brubacher (MA), Entzminger (TKA).

Sequoia 6, Los Altos 5

If the Ravens are going to get an invitation to the CCS tourney, it's going to have to be through one of the at-large bids.

A day after getting throttled by Hillsdale, Sequoia scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth on a Nolan Fausto grand-slam home run that tied the game at 5 and then added the go-head run in the sixth to pull off the victory.

Connor Murray, who also homered on Friday, hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the sixth for the Ravens.

Wes Calhoun, Mason Morgan and Sean Hamby had two hits each for the Ravens.

Morgan Winfield pitched two innings of relief to pick up the win. He allowed one hit and struck out five.

W: Winfield | L: Wharthon | 2 hits- Hamby (LA), Morgan (LA), Calhoun (LA). 4 RBI- N.Fausto (S). HR- Murray (S), N.Fausto (S), N.Fausto (S).

Riordan 3, Mountain View 0

Logan Tuman and Rio Lamotte combined to hold Mountain View to four hits in the shutout win. They walked three and struck out eight.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders got two doubles from Santino Williams and a home run from Greg Hernandez.

W: Tuman | L: Gilbert | S: Lamotte | 2 hits- Williams (R). HR- Hernandez (R). 2B- Yocum (MV), Williams (R) 2, Curmi (R).

Half Moon Bay 3, Santa Cruz 0

Tristan Castro scattered five hits in going the distance for his first varsity shutout victory as the Cougars stayed hot, heading into the first game of Tuesday's showdown series with rival Terra Nova.

Both Half Moon Bay and the Tigers are tied for third place in the PAL-Ocean Division with 8-4 records. At the moment, both are on the outside looking in on CCS tournament bids, but the winner of this series could make a case for an at-large bid.

Cole Giannini had two hits, including a triple, for the Cougars, while Riley Jackson had a double.

W: Castro | L: Miller | 3 hits- Miller (SC). 2 hits- 2 hits- C.Giannini (HMB). 3B- C.Giannini (HMB). 2B- Jackson (HMB), Miller (SC).

Menlo School 3, Sacred Heart Prep 2

Menlo avenged an early-season loss to the Gators to finish the week with a victory after being swept by The King's Academy.

Jack Freehill had two hits for the Knights, while Reid Plamondon threw 4 1/3 innings to pick up the win. He allowed a run on two hits and four walks, while striking out six. Liam Widner picked up the save.

W: Plamondon | L: Pollioni | S: Widner| 2 hits- Freehill (MS).

Woodside 11, More 7

Mateus Mokhtarani had two hits and drove in two, while Cruz Torres had a two-run homer in the Wildcats victory, their third of the week.

W: Joya | L: S.Selway | 2 hits- Mokhtarani (W). 2 RBI- Torres (W), Mokhtarani (w). HR- Torres (W)

Mills 14 Hillsdale 13

One day after putting together their biggest win of the season, a 17-2 victory at Sequoia, Hillsdale fell flat against a Mills squad that is clearly in rebuilding mode.

Mills scored four in the second and six in the third to jump to the lead. The Vikings had one more big inning – four runs in the fifth – and then hung on as the Knights late-game rally fell short.

Joshua Huei had three hits, while Tino Janke drove in four runs and Lucas Wong had three RBI for the Vikings, who entered the game having lost 14 of their last 15 games.

Hugo Guzman had four hits for the Knights, while Martin Gehlhar had aa home run, a double and two RBI.

W: Chan | L: Urguidez | 4 hits- Guzman (H). 3 hits- Huei (M). 2 hits- Minahan (H), Schultz (H), Urguidez (H), M.Lee (H), Gehlhar (H). 4 RBI- Bonner (H), Janke (M). 3 RBI- Wong (M). 2 RBI- Gehlhar (H), Schultz (H), wong (M), Lei (M). HR- Gehlhar (H). 2B- Wong (M), Janke (M), M.Lee (H) 2, C.Lee (H), Gehlhar (H), Jessup (H), Schultz (H).

Milpitas 5, Santa Clara 3

The Bruins lost their 20th game of the year despite getting three hits each from Dominick Chavarria and Bruce Gibson.

W: Banangue III | L: Gibson | 3 hits- Chavarria (SC), Gibson (SC), Carino (M). 2 hits- Ostrander (M), Rodriguez (M). 2B- Chavarria (SC), Ostrander (M).

Los Gatos 24, Homestead 2

Gavin Seiler, Beau Musser and Chase Frolich had two hits and three RBI each as the Wildcats cruised to another lopsided victory.

Los Gatos won three De Anza Division games this week by a combined score of 50-5.

Sam Petke, Trenton Welsh, Sully Roberts and Jackson Fitzpatrick had two hits each as Los Gatos pounded out 17 hits.

W: Oberthier | L: Lohitsa | 2 hits- Hamburger (H), Seiler (LG), Musser (LG), Frolich (LG), Fitzpatrick (LG), Petke (LG), Welsh (LG), Roberts (LG). 3 RBI- Seiler (LG), Musser (LG), Frolich (LG), Fitzpatrick (LG). 2 RBI- Newman (LG). 3B- Musser (LG), Frolich (LG). 2B- Simon (LG), Seiler (LG), Fitzpatrick (LG).

Burlingame 6, Heritage 5

Kai Watanabe had three hits, while Slade Flores drove in two runs for the Panthers, who bounced back from Friday's walk-off loss at Carlmont with a non-league victory.

The Panthers own a half-game lead in the Bay Division, heading into the final week of the season. They will play two games with The King's Academy beginning Wednesday in Sunnyvale.

W: Armstrong | L: Nelson | S: Flores | 3 hits- Watanabe (B). 2 hits- Thomas (H). 2 RBI- Nelson (H). Flores (B). 2B- Guevara (H), Nelson (H).