Bears salvage split with King's

SUNNYVALE – It was one of those days when the jet stream told the story. Ryder Kelly got one into the air in the first inning – on a hit-and-run, no less – and it carried over the fence in right-centerfield.

And then Jimmy Zaharias, who didn't take a bad swing all day, launched a no-doubter that easily cleared the fence in left field.

Those two home runs were the big hits in Menlo-Atherton's 5-4 victory over The King's Academy and helped the Bears maintain their comfortable lead in the PAL Bay Division.

"We haven't been an offensive team," said Zaharias, the first baseman who was called on to get the final five outs to pick up the save. "We're a pitching-dominant team. "Today our bats were definitely way better. This could be the start of a really good streak for us offensively."

It's not often that both teams come out of a series split feeling game. After the Knights' 5-4 win on Wednesday, Menlo-Atherton (16-7) felt like it had a score to settle – to at least maintain its confidence and steady stream of momentum. It did that on Friday.

"This was big for us today," Zaharias said. "King's and Hillsdale (next week) are really huge for us. Being on the losing end of the sweep really just crushes a team and to scrape out a win today was great."

Meanwhile, The King's Academy put forth perhaps its best week of the season, getting solid pitching on Wednesday from Toby Trotter and on Friday from Thomas Castro, who went six innings and threw a career-high 111 pitches.

And the middle of the order continued to do damage. Nate Plata, who was the designated hitter on Friday after experiencing some minor shoulder soreness, doubled off the fence in fifth inning and hit a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning that cut Menlo's lead to one run, 5-4.

Ethan Johnson just missed another home run in the first inning on Friday. He hit a Wes Peterson changeup off the end of the bat and the ball died at the warning track, while Trotter had two hits, scored a run and drove in another for the Knights.

In other words, the Knights (9-9) are going to be just fine, heading into a Saturday matinee with visiting Scott's Valley.

Three Things We Liked

• Will Roberts. The Menlo-Atherton shortstop might have the best glove in the PAL. On Friday, he cleanly fielded five outs cleanly and had made just three errors in nearly 100 attempts this season. He also had a perfectly executed hit-and-run single to right field in the third inning.
• Ethan Johnson behind the plate. With Plata relegated to designated hitter, the catching duties fell to Johnson, who stepped in seamlessly. It was his first action behind the plate this year, but he's no stranger to the position. Before Plata came on the scene, it was Johnson's job. When Plata was a freshman, the two alternated at catcher. Last year, Plata took over full-time catching duties. He plans to be back behind the plate next week when Hillsdale comes to town on Wednesday
• Ryder Kelly's hit-and-run homer. The objective of a hit-and-run is for the batter to hit a ground ball to the right side of an infield vacated by the second baseman, who is covering second with the runner stealing. Kelly did little – no, a lot more – than that in the first inning. "I joked with him, saying 'that wasn't a team at bat,'" said Menlo-Atherton coach Jordan Paroubeck. "He looked at me and said, 'It worked, didn't it?'" Kelly's two-run blast gave the Bears a 2-0 lead. "I got under it a little and it carried out. ... I didn't think it was going to leave, but it ended up leaving, and I was pumped."

He Said It

"We want to win ball games like this. We don't want to squander those opportunities win one-run ball games. We've got to to find a way to win games like this." – Greg Mugg, coach, The King's Academy.

W: Peterson. L: Castro. S: Zaharias. 2 hits- Plata (TKA), Trotter (TKA), AJ Kong (TKA). 2 RBI- Kelly (MA). HR- Kelly (MA), Zaharias (MA), Plata (TKA). 2B- Olivero (MA), Plata (TKA), Sid (TKA).

St. Ignatius Prep 2 Valley Christian 1, 8 innings

For the second straight game, St. Ignatius Prep rallied in the seventh to force extra innings and then won it in the eighth. This time, the Wildcats did it against a Valley Christian squad that hadn't lost in its last 10 games.

DJ Delaney's single in the bottom of the eighth off Rohan Kasanagottu scored Archer Horn and broke a 1-1 deadlock and lifted the Wildcats to the walkoff win.

Jack Callen opened the frame with a walk. Horn took over at first on a fielder's choice grounder. He moved to second on Emmett Johnson's walk and scored on Delaney's game-winning hit.

St. Ignatius trailed 1-0 after having done little against lefty Brock Ketelsen, who allowed just one run over six innings. He struck out 10. But in the seventh, the Wildcats showed more late-inning magic.

On Tuesday, it was a Ryan Rosenthal homer in the seventh that tied the game and forced extra innings in a win over Bellarmine. This time, it was Delaney who led off with a single. Beau Schaffer bunted him to second and Delaney moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an AJ Wineinger double.

Eddie McCartney pitched the final two innings to pick up the win. Finn Demuth and Tycco Giometti went three innings each for St. Ignatius Prep.

Quinten Marsh and Hunter Fujimoto had two hits each for the Warriors (18-5-1), who will host the Wildcats Saturday in a noon game.

W: McCartney. L: Kasanagottu. 2 hits- Delaney (S), Marsh (VC), Fujimoto (VC), Navarez (VC). 2B- Wineinger (S), Fuujimoto (VC).

Carlmont 8, Burlingame 4

Carlmont scored four runs in the third inning, thanks to six Burlingame fielding errors.

The big inning gave the Scots a 5-4 lead they would never relinquish.

Grant Goetz had two hits, while Pano Koutoulas drove in two runs for Carlmont, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Sophomore Nate Werbinski came on in relief of Jonathan Fong and pitch four scoreless innings to pick up the win. He allowed one hit and struck out three.

W: Werbinski. L: Vorrises. 2 hits- Howard (B), Goetz (C). 2 RBI- Koutoulas (C), Vargas (B). 3B- O'Driscoll. 2B- Florez (B).

Sequoia 6, Sacred Heart Prep at Sequoia 4

Morgan Winfield pitched a complete-game three-hitter, allowing four runs while striking out eight in the Ravens series-sweeping victory over the Gators.

Vince Olinger-Giani led the Ravens (12-9) with three hits, while Logan Mathias and Drew Ostrander had two hits each.

Ostrander's multi-hit game vaulting his season batting average to .397.

Devin Saltzgaber went three innings for the Gators (9-14), allowing two runs on four hits while striking out one.

W: Winfield. L: Saltzgaber. 3 hits- Olinger-Giani (S). 2 hits- Mathias (S), D.Ostrander (S). 2 RBI- D.Ostrander (S). 2B- Selcher (SHP).

Saint Francis 5, Mitty 1

Nick Chow allowed four hits and a run while going the distance for the Lancers, who bounced back from Tuesday's loss to Sacred Heart Cathedral with a WCAL victory.

Saint Francis (18-6) scored single runs in the first two innings to take and took charge with a two-run fifth inning.

Gino Cappellazzo and Bobby Hill had two hits each for the Lancers, while Derek Allen had two hits for the Monarchs, who also got three innings from Carson Seeger.

The senior right-hander made his second straight start, going three innings in each outing after missing most of the season with an arm issue.

W: Chow. L: Seeger. 2 hits- Allen (M), Cappellazzo (SF), Hill (SF). 2B- Allen (M), Munoz (M), Hill (SF), King (SF), Sione Tulua (SF).

Capuchino 5, Hillsdale 1

The Gomez brothers might have been all Capuchino needed on Friday in its series-sweeping victory over Hillsdale.

Bobby Gomez went the distance, striking out two while allowing just a run on three hits.

And as good as that was, Andres Gomez might have been better. The Mustangs' leadoff hitter collected four more hits. He now had 44 hits this season and saw his batting average rise to .537.

Bryce Brooks had a triple and two RBI for Capuchino, while Yulio Ceron had three hits and Lucas Zayac two.

Jack Belloni had two of Hillsdale's three hits.

W: B.Gomez. L: Gilbert. 4 hits- A.Gomez. 3 hits- Ceron (C). 2 hits- Belloni (H), Zayac (C). 2 RBI- Brooks (C). 3B- Brooks (C).

Serra 5, Sacred Heart Cathedral 1

Riley Lim scattered nine hits over six innings, while allowing just a run, and Davis Minton hit a fifth-inning grand-slam homer as Serra remained alone at the top of the WCAL standings.

Lim threw 102 pitches and struck out seven in notching the victory.

Minton's home run broke open a pitcher's duel between Lim and Jacob Vines. The Padres (19-5) had a 1-0 lead when a Nate Hui single was sandwiched between walks by Noah Greenspan and Evan Bradshaw.

Minton came to the plate with two outs and hit his second grand-slam of the season to give Serra a 5-0 lead.

Tedford Lewis had three hits for the Irish, while Santino Baisman had two.

W: Lim. L: Vines. 3 hits- Lewis (SHC). 2 hits- Baisman (SHC). 4 RBI- D.Minton (S). HR- D.Minton. 2B- Josephson (S), Greenspan (S), Matthews (SHC).