THE BUCK STOPS HERE

As deep as the Valley Christian pitching staff is, there are hurlers who fly below the radar. Put senior lefty Chris Buck on that list.

Buck was called on in relief of starter Kole Laubach in the fourth inning Saturday with the Warriors trailing St. Ignatius Prep, 1-0, the bases loaded and junior Archer Horn at the plate.

Buck struck out Horn to get out of the jam and Valley responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead and eventually win the WCAL contest, 5-1.

The victory allowed the top-ranked Warriors (19-5-1) to split the series with the Wildcats. The two teams head into the final week of the season with Valley playing a series with Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Ignatius Prep playing two games with Saint Francis.

Laubach and Buck combined to hold the Wildcats (14-8-2) to a run and four hits.

Logan Mull's bases loaded double in the bottom of the fourth inning off the wall in right field cleared the bases and gave Valley a 3-1 lead it would never relinquish.

For three innings, the games was a scoreless battle between Laubach and St. Ignatius Prep starter Spencer Guido.

W: Buck. L: Horn. S: Laubach. 2 hits- Hadfield (VC), Marsh (VC), Mull (VC). 3 RBI- Mull (VC). 3B- Ortiz (VC). 2B- Mull (VC), Marsh (VC), Choi (VC), Gordon (SI).

The King's Academy 12, Scotts Valley 2

Ethan Johnson's home run tear continued Saturday as the senior hit his sixth home run of the season in the lopsided win over visiting Scotts Valley.

The sixth home run ties him with St. Ignatius Prep's Archer Horn and Serra's Ian Josephson for the Peninsula lead and leaves him one homer short of the school record set in 2001.

Johnson's three-run shot in the fourth inning on Saturday gave the Knights (10-9) a 9-2 lead. He ended the game an inning later with a two-run d0uble that gave The King's Academy a 10-run lead.

The Big Three of Johnson, Nate Plata and Toby Trotter combined for nine hits, seven RBI and four extra-base hits.

Skylar Lindquist and Justin Cho had two hits each.

Ryan Wheeler threw three hitless innings with two strikeouts to pick up the victory.

W: Wheeler. L: Acton. 3 hits- Trotter (TKA), Johnson (TKA), Plata (TKA). 2 hits- Lindquist (TKA), Choi (TKA). 5 RBI- Johnson (TKA). 2 RBI- Trotter (TKA), Lindquist (TKA). HR- Johnson (TKA). 2B- Plata (TKA) 2, Johnson (TKA), Trotter (TKA), Martin (SV).

Half Moon Bay 4, Lincoln 1

Andreas Hipkins went the distance, striking out 10 and allowing just three hits as the Cougars bounced back from being swept by Menlo School earlier in the week.

Sophomore Lane Giannini had the big hit, a bases-loaded double in the second inning that staked Half Moon Bay (9-14) to a lead it would never give up.

Gio Ormando had three hits, while Jason Couto had two hits for the Cougars.

W: Hipkins. L: Malizia. 3 hits- Ormando (HMB). 2 hits- Couto (HMB). 3 RBI- Giannini (HMB). 3B- Jackson (HMB). 2B- Giannini (HMB) Villasenior (L).

San Mateo 6, Cupertino 5

The Bearcats scored six runs in the fifth inning and then withstood a late Cupertino rally to win the contest.

Travis Okimura, Tyce Copus, Julien Bleess had RBI in the inning, while Neel Sardesai had a two-run single.

W: Copus. L: Kwon. S: Loue. 2 hits- Hatch (C). 4 RBI- Chanu (C). 2 RBI- Sardesai (SM). HR- Kwon (C), Chanu (C).

Sequoia 15, Aragon 5

The Ravens late-season push – f0ur straight wins – continued with a lopsided victory.

Logan Mathias had three hits, while Cameron Abrams drove in four runs and Drew Ostrander two runs.

The Dons got two hits each from Charlie Henderson, Adi Shanker and Josh Jacobs, who returned to the lineup after being out with an injury.

W: Hymer. L: Kammer. 3 hits- Mathias (S), Abrams (S). 2 hits- Henderson (A), Shanker (A), Jacobs (A). 4 RBI- Abrams (S). 2 RBI- D.Ostrander (S), Henderson (A), Matye (A). 2B- Abrams (S), Winfield (S), Henderson (A).

Bellarmine 7, Riordan 2

Bellarmine avenged a Friday loss to the Crusaders to salvage a split in the series.

Trailing, 1-0, Riordan took the lead on a DJ Sanchez home run and a Luchiano Dorsch sacrifice fly to put the Crusaders ahead, 2-1.

That was all they would get of Christian Duarte, who went the distance, allowing just three hits, while striking out nine. He threw 97 pitches.

Meanwhile, the Bells (11-11) broke it open in the bottom of the sixth when two straight hit batters were followed by an Ollie McNamara single that tied the game, 2-2. A walk to Dash Knight loaded the bases. Luke McNeil singled home two runs and after a balk, Drew McClelland followed with an RBI triple.

W: Duarte. L: Williams. 2 RBI- Kim (B), McNeil (B). HR- Kim (B), Sanchez (R). 3B- McClelland (B).

Serra 17, Sacred Heart Cathedral 5

The Padres became the Peninsula's first 20-win team with the lopsided win. They collected 17 hits, including a career-best three-hit game from sophomore outfielder Aaron Minton.

Minton and brother Davis became the Peninsula's first players this year to homer and collected four RBI in back-to-back games. Davis had a grand-slam homer in Serra's victory over the Irish on Friday and Aaron followed suit with a solo shot on Saturday. He would add a triple and four RBI.

His second-inning solo blast was followed by Ian Josephson's solo shot. It was Josephson's sixth home run of the season.

Josephson and Tyler Harrison had two hits each.

Serra (20-5) broke open the contest in the fourth inning. Already ahead, 7-1, Evan Bradshaw singled. An out later, Jack Armstrong laced a base hit and Harrison followed with a run-scoring double.

Jack Wessel then singled in a run and after a walk to William Walbridge loaded the bases, Nate Hui delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 10-1. Josephson closed out the scoring in the inning with a single that gave the Padres an 11-1 lead.

Kelly Crawford went four innings – his longest stint since the early season – and allowed just a run on four hits to pick up the win. He walked three and struck out five.

W: Crawford. L: Middleton. 3 hits- A.Minton (S). 2 hits- Do (SHC), Harrison (S), Josephson (S). 4 RBI- A.Minton (S). 2 RBI- Do (SHC), Harrison (S). HR- A.Minton (S), Josephson (S). 3B- A.Minton (S). 2B- Ganim (S), Harrison (S), Walbridge (S).

Burlingame 8, Santa Cruz 6

The Panthers continued their late-season offensive push by collecting 10 hits.

Drew Gall led Burlingame (10-12) with three hits, including a pair of triples, while Slade Flores and Michael Vargas had two hits each. Liam Philibosian had a home run.

Ea Leialoha worked the first four innings to pick up the victory.

W: Leialoha. L: Fowler. 3 hits- Fusari (SC). Gall (B). 2 hits- Vargas (B), Flores (B), Camiolo (SC), DeCosta (SC). 2 RBI- Gall. HR- Philibosian (B). 3B- Gall (B) 2. 2B- Flores (B), DeCosta (SC), Fusari (SC), Caltaviano (SC).

Saint Francis 13, Mitty 3

Freshman Landon King led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and the Lancers broke it open with nine runs in the second inning to complete the sweep of the rival Monarchs.

In that second inning, the Lancers (19-6) sent 14 batters to the plate. They collected six hits, four walks and had a hit batter. The big hit in the inning was a bases-loaded triple by Tanner Wall, who continued his extra-base team of the last month.

Wall finished with three hits, while King had two.

Felix Chang and Tyler Manago had two hits each for the Monarchs (11-13).

W: McMahon. L: Engin. 3 hits- Wall (SF). 2 hits- King (SF), Chang (M), Manago (M). 3 RBI- Wall (SF). 2 RBI- King (SF). HR- King (SF). 3B- Wall (SF). 2B- Hill (SF), Cappellazzo (SF), Chang (M).