King's shines in upset of Bears

ATHERTON – Ethan Johnson was at centerstage in the first inning of The King's Academy's 5-4 victory over No. 5 Menlo-Atherton on Wednesday. And in the seventh inning he was thrust into the limelight again.

After Toby Trotter hit the wall following more than six superb innings, Johnson came in and got the final two outs – and a much-needed save – for the Knights, who played perhaps their most complete game of the season in knocking off the PAL Bay Division's leader.

"That was a really good team effort," Johnson said. "Everyone picked each other up. It was good. We had big hits and big outs on defense."

But no hit was bigger than his home run in the first, when Johnson gave the Knights a 3-0 lead in the first inning when he launched by launching a Jack Molise fastball over the fence in right-center field after Dominic Myung walked and Justin Cho singled to right.

"Getting those three runs in the first gave us momentum," said Trotter, who was solid for the first six innings, allowing only an unearned run, thanks to a changeup that kept the Bears off balance for most of the day. "... My change felt really good toward the middle innings. I started to get a good feel for it, just trust it for a strike here and off the plate for a ball there."

But if the first six innings went by thisquick, the seventh inning was a slog for The King's Academy. Trotter says he threw two bad pitches, but there were a lot of pitches and the next thing anyone knew, Menlo-Atherton had the tying run on second base with one out.

"Trotter has a good arm. He's a good pitcher," said Menlo-Atherton coach Jordan Paroubeck. "If we get to their bullpen a little earlier, who knows what happens?"

Molise led off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single. Masatake Shudo then drilled a line drive to the fence in left-center field that plated Molise to make it 5-4. Shudo did the Knights a big favor by trying unsuccessfully to stretch it to a triple for the first out.

David Lopez followed with a single and JT Anderson doubled to right-center to put runners on second and third. That was it for Trotter. Tai Petersen came in and gave up a two-run double to Gianni Olivero to cut the lead to one, 5-4.

On came Johnson, who caught Merrick Lee looking at a third strike, intentionally walked Ryder Kelly and got Jimmy Zaharias to pop out to first base.

Three Things We Liked

• Brandon Kinoshita's arm. The King's right fielder gunned out Molise at the plate on JT Anderson's base hit. The play ended the fourth inning and doused any momentum the Bears had garnered by scoring earlier in the inning and cutting the deficit to two, 3-1.
• Nate Plata. The junior catcher is the most important player on the field for the Knights. He shuts down the opposition's running game, handles the pitching staff and bats third in the lineup. His double in the sixth started a two-run rally that proved to be vital.
• JT Anderson. The Peninsula is loaded with quality catchers. Anderson is the most underrated of them all. He ended the first inning with a strike-out-throw-em-out double play, by nailing Trotter trying to steal second base.

He Said It

"Toby was great today. When he's throwing like that, he takes a lot of pressure off the defense. He made everything look good today." – Greg Mugg, The King's Academy coach.

W: Trotter. L: Molise. S: Johnson. 2 hits- Johnson (TKA),Lopez (MA), Olivero (MA). 4 RBI- Johnson (TKA). 2 RBI- Olivero. HR- Johnson (TKA). 2B- Plata (TKA), Zaharias (MA), Shudo (MA), Anderson (MA), Olivero (MA)

Capuchino 11, Hillsdale 2

Declan Mendel was one out away from his fourth straight shutout. An infield error, which allowed two unearned runs to score prevented it from happening, but Mendel still had a day to remember.

The senior right-hander struck out 11, while scattering six hits. And in leading the Mustangs to their fourth straight victory, he lowered his PAL-leading earned-run average to 0.24.

That's basically a run ever four games.

For the first four innings, Mendel and Hillsdale's Jake Belloni were locked in a scoreless battle. And Capuchino (14-9) finally broke the deadlock with three runs in the fifth inning.

Bryce Brooks led off the frame with a walk, Cameron Chin then singled and then Andres Gomez, who had four hits in the game, did what he does best by bunting for a hit to load the bases. After a Lucas Zayac fielder's choice grounder, Anakin Manuel walked to force in the game's first run.

Travis Ciardella drilled a two-run single to make it 3-0.

The Mustangs added a run in the sixth and broke it open with seven runs on six hits and four walks in the seventh inning.

Belloni allowed three runs in five innings of work. Tommy Schultz had two hits for the Knights (10-9).

W: Mendel. L: Belloni. 4 hits- A.Gomez (C). 2 hits- Zayac (C), Ciardella (C), Chin (C), Schultz (H). 3 RBI- Ciardella (C). 2 RBI- Gommez (C), Chin (C). 3B- Zayac (C). 2B- Cerone (C), Minahan (H).

Burlingame 7, Carlmont 3

Trailing 2-1, the Panthers scored three runs in the third inning to send Carlmont to its third straight loss.

Grayson Howard led off with a single. After Liam Philibosian walked, Mark O'Grady singled to drive in Howard and tie the game, 2-2.

O'Grady stole second to put runners on second and third and Michael Vargas singled in a run to give Burlingame a 3-2 lead. Drew Gall followed with an RBI bunt single to make it 4-2.

The Scots (9-12) got two hits each from Grant Goetz and Tyler Webster, while Roberto Beltranena had two hits for the Panthers.

W: Trautwein. L: Goetz. S: O'Grady. 2 hits- Goetz, Webster, Howard (B), O'Grady (B), Gall (B), Roberto Beltranena (B). 2 RBI- J.Tofigh (C), Roberto Beltranena (B). 2B- O'Driscoll (C), Webster (C).

Sequoia 14, Sacred Heart Prep 4

Drew Ostrander had a career game by collecting three hits, including his first home run of the season, scoring three runs and drive in five for the Ravens.

Sequoia (11-9) scored six runs in the first and four in the second to have a double-digit lead before most of the after-work crowd had settled into their seats.

Garrett Johnson led off the bottom of the first with a single. Senior catcher Logan Mathias, who had four hits, singled to put runners on first and second. Morgan Winfield followed with a home run to make it 3-0.

Drew Ostrander doubled and after a dropped pop fly, Cameron Abrams doubled in a run. Mario Fausto plated the fifth run with an RBI single, and Abrams accounted for the sixth when he was credited with a steal of home plate.

The Gators (9-13) got home runs from Connor Schmalzle and JP Durrett.

Durrett drove in three runs.

W: Johnson. L: Sweeney. 4 hits- Mathias (S). 3 hits- D.Ostrander (S). 2 hits- Winfield (S), Schmalzle (SHP), Durrett (SHC). 5 RBI- D.Ostrander (S). 3 RBI- Winfield (S), Durrett (SHP). 2 RBI- Olinger Giani (S). HR- D.Ostrander (S), Winfield (S), Schmalzle (SHP), Durrett (SHP). 2B- Abrams (S), D.Ostrander (S), Mathias (S), Olinger Giani (S).