Eight-run first inning carries Knights

SUNNYVALE – Forty-four hours after suffering their first loss of the season – a shutout setback to Soquel – The King's Academy didn't waste any time jumping all over visiting Half Moon Bay in a 9-3 bounce-back victory.

The Knights sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning and came away with eight runs on six hits and a couple of key Half Moon Bay fielding errors early in the frame that set the stage.

Sophomore pitcher Paxton Holden, making his first varsity start, didn't make it out of the first inning. It was a stub of the toe for the Cougars, who's record fell to 2-2. Meanwhile, The King's Academy rinsed away the bad taste left by Thursday's 10-0 loss to Soquel.

"It just felt great to be able to power back like with our first bounce-back win," said senior shortstop Justin Cho, who had two hits and drove in a pair of runs. "Soquel was our first loss, so feels really good to just come back strong in this one."

Brandon Kinoshita led off the bottom of the first with a double into the left-center field gap. Dominic Myung then hit a fly ball that was dropped, allowing Kinoshita to score and for him to get all the way to third base. Nate Plata then hit a grounder to the right side that was booted to make it 2-0.

After Taiyo Peterson singled, Cho singled home two more to make it 4-0. A hit batter was followed by a two-run double from Ollie Entzminger, who was celebrating his 17th birthday.

Kinoshita and Myung would close out the eight-run scoring barrage with a RBI base hits.

"That first inning killed us," said Half Moon Bay coach Brian Anderson. "We made just too many errors behind a guy making his first varsity start."

After the first inning the game settled into something resembling a pitcher's duel. The two teams matched zeroes for most of the game before King's added a ninth run in the fifth. Half Moon Bay had a run in the third on Cole Gianni's RBI single and two more in the fifth on a Clark Colucci sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Derek Rose.

W: Huff | L: Holden | 2 hits- Rose (HMB), Kinoshita (TKA), Cho (TKA), Entzminger (TKA). 3 RBI- Entzminger (TKA). 2 RBI- Cho (TKA). 2B- Kinoshita (TKA), Rose (HMB), Myung (TKA), Entzminger (TKA).

Dublin 15, Homestead 3

The Mustangs dropped their fourth straight to start the season, this time to Dublin, which remain unbeaten with the lopsided victory.

Ajay Lohitsa had two hits for Homestead.

W: Doyle | L: Donahue | 2 hits- Lohitsa (H), Phelps (D). 4 RBI- Chatterjee (D), Gonzales (D). 2B- Phelps (D), Chatterjee (D), Gonzales (D).

San Mateo 5, Lincoln 4

Jesus Olivas pitched allowed four runs over five innings and struck out eight to pick up the victory.

Hudson Brandt and Wilson Morales had two hits each for the Bearcats, who improved to 3-1.

W: Olivas | L: Eislor | S: Copus. 2 hits- Brandt (SM), Morales (SM), Malizia (L). 2B- Su (L), Branndt (SM), Casteneda (L).

Terra Nova 9, Santa Cruz 3

Aiden James picked up the pitching decision, collected three hits, including two home runs, and drove in a career-high seven runs as Terra Nova pulled off a win against the team that held Riordan to one hit the previous day.

Joey Donati and Brody Finale had two hits each for the Tigers, who will host unbeaten Capuchino on Wednesday.

W: James | L: Bentley | 3 hits- James (TN). 2 hits- DaCosta (SC), Donati (TN), Finale (TN). 7 RBI- James (TN). HR- James (TN) 2.

Sacred Heart Prep 9, Los Altos 2

The Gators pounded out seven hits, which led to nine runs – something they're not accustomed to doing.

It made for a laugher because their pitching, led by juniors Kyle Sweeney (3 Innings) and Lucca larson (4 Innings).

Sophomore Brayden Berta drove in three runs, while JP Durrett had two RBI.

Sean Hamby and Derek Etherington had two hits each for Los Altos, which fell to 0-4.

W: Sweeney | L: Calhoun | 2 hits- Hamby (LA), Etherington (LA). 3 RBI- Berta (SHP). 2 RBI- Durrett (SHP), Calhoun (SHP). 3B- Hamby (LA). 2B- Calhoun (LA).

Mountain View 6, Branham 5

It wasn't a must-win situation, but after Thursday's 12-0 loss to neighboring Saint Francis, Mountain View needed a victory to feel good about the first two weeks of the season.

The Spartans got it thanks to pitcher Brennan Dooley and an offense that pounded out nine hits. Mikito Tsuruoka led Mountain View with three hits, while Alex Nguyen and Zander Yocum had two hits each.

Yocum, the junior centerfielder, added three RBI.

W: Dooleuy | L: Price | 3 hits- Tsuruoka (MV). 2 hits- Nguyen (MV), Yocum (MV). 3 RBI- Yocum (MV). 2B- Johnston (B), Raggio (B).

Serra 4, St. Mary’s of Stockton 2

The Padres pulled off the road victory against St. Mary's a defending NorCal semifinalist and the winner of the Boras Family Classic last April.

Freshman Michael Ohman was impressive again. The freshman came on in relief of sophomore Rocco Zirelli in the fourth inning and tossed four innings of hitless baseball. He struck out six.

For the season, Ohman is 2-0 with a save. He's struck out 14 in nine innings and has yet to give up an earned run.

With the score tied at 2, Serra took the lead for foot in the sixth on a two-out triple by Cooper Hipps, the No. 8 hitter in the lineup. That scored pinch-runner Nate Fahey and Jayce Peavey.

Jack Wessell had a two-run first-inning single for the Padres, while William Walbridge added a double.

The top-ranked Padres will travel to Foothill on Wednesday before playing at Burlingame on Friday night.

W: Ohman | L: Bavarro | 2 RBI- Wessell (S). 3B- Hipps (S). 2B- Silva (SM), Walbridge (S).

St. Ignatius Prep 2, Granada 1

The St. Ignatius Prep pitching staff turned in another early-season gem and the end result was a second straight win for the Wildcats over Granada.

Chase Gordon allowed three hits in four innings before giving way to Charlie Stecher, who retired all six batters he faced. After the Wildcats took the lead, Archer Horn faced four batters in the seventh inning and struck out three of them.

St. Ignatius spotted Granada a first-inning run but took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning. AJ Wineinger led off with a walk but was caught trying to steal second base. Atticus Gibson was safe on an error, and following a walk, pinch-hitter Jason Balmy drilled a two-run double that gave them the lead for good.

The Wildcats return to action Tuesday at Palo Alto before hosting Carlmont on Friday.

W: Stecher | L: Radack | S: Horn |2 hits- Levine (G). 2 RBI- Balmy (SI). 2B- Balmy (SI), Creeden (G).

Palo Alto 6, Christopher 0

The Vikings salvages a win – their first victory of the year – to finished seventh at the Hazlett tournament.

Sho Newman went the distance for Palo Alto by allowing just three hits and striking out seven on 73 pitches.

Offensively, Michael Wu had three hits and drove in two runs for Palo Alto. Rex Martin added two hits.

W: Newman | L: Vasquez | 3 hits- Wu (PA). 2 hits- Martin (PA). 2 RBI- Wu (PA). 2B- Lee (PA)

Wilcox 9, Hollister 7

Samuel Martinez picked up the pitching victory and collected three hits for the Chargers, who won two of three games in their own tournament – their only loss was a 14-inning setback to Monterey in the opening round – to improve to 4-2, heading into Wednesday clash at Dublin.

That will be their final tuneup before they start SCVAL-De Anza Division play with a two-game set against Los Gatos beginning March 18.

Preston Jetson and Bishop Roque had two hits each for Wilcox, while Dylan Jackson drove in two runs.

W: S.Martinez | L: Rivas | S: Cabildo | 3 hits- Martinez (W). 2 hits- Jetson (W), Slate (W), Roque (W), Barone (H). 2 RBI- Jackson (W), Barone (H). 2B- Barone (H), Mendoza (H).

Monterey 7, Carlmont 6

Monterey rallied from a 6-2 deficit and then walked it off with a run in the bottom of the seventh with a walk, hit batter and a double by Anthony Esquivel.

The loss was Carlmont's second straight one-run loss and cast a pall over what began as a pretty good week at the Hazlett tourney in Santa Clara. Instead, they had to settle for fourth place.

Nate Werbinski and Caden Stinson had two hits each for the Scotts. Werbinski also drove in a pair of runs.

Carlmont will face a challenging week when it travels to Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday, where the Scots are expected to face hard-throwing right-hander Rallin Covey. They hit the road again for a Friday game at St. Ignatius Prep become coming home Saturday to host Mitty.

W: Money | L: Prathipati | 2 hits- Werbinski (C), Stinson (C), Esquivel (M). 2 RBI- Werbinski (C), Lamaire (M). 2B- Esquivel (M), Rose (M), Money (M).

Valley Christian 7, Mitty 0

Valley Christian took home the Hazlett tournament championship for the second straight year while handing Mitty its first loss of the season by holding the Monarchs to one hit.

Gabe Felix went four innings and held Mitty to their lone hit, while Rahul Patel threw a hitless final three innings.

The Warriors were led offensively by shortstop Colton Hadfield, who had two hits. Nathan Miller and Christian Cabanas drove in two runs each.

Valley will host highly regarded Soquel on Tuesday.

W: Felix | L: Humbert | 2 hits- Hadfield (VC). 2 RBI- Miller (VC), Cabanas (VC).

Riordan 4, Leigh 0

Santino Williams blanked the Longhorns and the Crusaders got home runs from Liam Fong and Dante Curmi in the victory.

Fong's was a two-run shot.

W: Williams | L: Burriss | 2 RBI- Fong (R). HR- Curmi (R), Fong (R). 2B- Arevalo (L)

Bellarmine 9, Oak Ridge 6

The Bells won their third straight game by pounding out 13 hits. Drew McClelland had three hits including a home run and three RBI, while Vincent Kim and Isiah Beyah added three hits each.

Beyah drove in two runs.

Emmett Arnot and Nathan Chew each doubled for the Bells, who will face Pioneer and Lincoln of San Jose at home this week before traveling to San Ramon Valley on Friday.

W: Pennington | L: Yovdan | 3 hits- Kim (B), Beyah (B), McClelland (B), Busalachi (OR). 2 hits- Tim (OR). 3 RBI- McClelland (B). 2 RBI- Beyah (B). HR- McClelland (B). 2B- Busalacci (OR), Womack (OR), Toply (OP), Arnott (B), Beyah (B), Chew (B).

Menlo School 12, Santa Clara 2

In a rematch of last year's NorCal-Division IV final, the Knights came away with another victory, this time far less dramatically than they did when the stakes were higher last June.

Liam Widner allowed two hits, while striking out five in five scoreless innings of work.

Fletcher Cahill led the Knights with two hits and four RBI, while Chuck Wynn had two hits and drove in a pair. Widner also drove in two.

The Knights added five doubles, including two by Cahill and one each by Wynn, Widner and Zach Roeder.

W: Widner | L: Sanchez | 2 hits- Cahill (MS), Wynn (MS). 4 RBI- Cahill (MS). 2 RBI- Wynn (MS), Widner (MS). 2B- Cahill (MS) 2, Wynn (MS), Widner (MS), Roeder (MS).

South San Francisco 9, Washington 1

Giovanni Bernal homered and had a double and drove in two runs for the Warriors who remained unbeaten.

W: Nagung | L: Troy | 2 hits- G.Bernal (SSF). 2 RBI- G.Bernal (SSF). HR- G.Bernal (SSF). 2B- G.Bernal (SSF).

Hillsdale 7, Lowell 5

Hugo Guzman had two hits, while Tommy Schultz drove in a pair as Hillsdale won for the third time in four games this year.

Curtis Lee picked up the victory.

W: Lee | L: Yee | 2 hits- Reed (L), Guzman (H). 2 RBI- Schultz.