Trotter throttles Hillsdale

SUNNYVALE – Greg Mugg admits The King's Academy has been better over the last week but won't say there is no room for improvement.

"We can still be better," said the Knights' coach following Wednesday's 12-2 dismantling of Hillsdale. "We can be a lot better."

That's true. Perfection is fleeting. Especially in high school baseball, but when Toby Trotter is pitching like he was on Wednesday, The King's Academy becomes a tough team to beat.

"We've hit a groove and not it's time to keep that momentum going," Trotter said.

Trotter threw five shutout innings against Hillsdale. He allowed three hits and a walk, while striking out 11. It was his second straight solid start after beating PAL Bay Division leader Menlo-Atherton last week.

"These are my best two games by far," Trotter said. "I've been just trying to be as loose as possible. At the beginning of the year, I was really tense."

Trotter said he has a new gameday pitching ritual of going into the office of King's Athletic Director Joe Maemone for a conversation that doesn't always have anything to do with baseball.

"He always gives me good words of wisdom," Trotter said. "I go in there every Wednesday before I pitch him, just to talk to him. He's been there for me."

Trotter gave up a game-opening double to deep left field to Parker Jessup but escaped the jam unscathed with a popup to Jake Belloni and two straight strikeouts.

Hillsdale never got a runner to third base against Trotter, who struck out at least two batters in every inning.

Belloni wasn't nearly as on point. He walked the first two batters – AJ Kong and Cyrus Sid – in the second inning. King's pulled off a double steal. Kong slid into third and the throw, seemingly on target from sophomore catcher Jackson Snodgrass, got away at third base, allowing Kong to score the game's first run.

Belloni walked two more hitters in the third and an infield error loaded the bases for Kong, who singled to left to bring home both Justin Cho and Ethan Johnson and make it 3-0.

The Knights chased Belloni in the fourth by scoring five runs. Dominic Myung had an RBI single, while Nate Plata and Ethan Johnson drove in runs.

Johnson, the Peninsula's leader in RBI, drove in three runs, while Plata knocked in two and Trotter added two base hits. By the time the dust had settled, King's had a 12-0 lead and both teams spent the last two innings going to their reserves.

Two Things We Liked (and One We Wonder About)

• Trotter's off-speed stuff. Last week it was the changeup against Menlo-Atherton. On Wednesday, it was his slow curveball. Of his 11 strikeouts, five were on called third strikes. "That was a good pitch for me today," he said.
• The bottom of the King's batting order. For much of the season, it has been ineffective, but the bottom four hitters on Wednesday played a big role in getting Belloni out of the game early. AJ Kong, Cyrus Sid, Brandon Kinoshita and Caleb Kong combined for a hit, four walks and a hit batter against Belloni.
• When did the Mercy Rule go away? We've seen games called by the 10-run rule after five. Everybody in attendance wished that would have been the case on Wednesday, too.

He Said It

"We've given away a lot a lot of games this year. We control our own destiny. We just have to take care of business, and that's been something that we haven't been consistent about this entire year." – Greg Mugg, coach, The King's Academy

W: Trotter. L: Belloni. 2 hits- Myung (TKA), Trotter (TKA). 3 RBI- Johnson (TKA). 2 RBI- Plata (TKA). 2B- Jessup (H), Lindquist (TKA).

Menlo-Atherton 4, Burlingame 3

The Bears (17-7) scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Jimmy Zaharias double to take a step closer toward a PAL Bay Division crown.

MJ Ellazar led off with a bunt. Merrick Lee bunted him to second. A dropped popup on the infield put two runners on for Zaharias, whose double gave Menlo-Atherton the come-from-behind win.

Burlingame took a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth when Drew Gall walked and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Roberto Beltranena.

Anthony Kabrich went the first four innings, allowing just two runs, but Zaharias pitched the final two innings, striking out four, to pick up the victory.

W: Zaharias. L: 2 RBI- Gall (B), Zaharias (MA). 2B- Gall (B), Zaharias (MA), Kelly (MA), Lee (MA).

Carlmont 6, Sacred Heart Prep 5, 8 innings

Aidan O'Driscoll single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Jason Tofigh and gave the Scots the walkoff win.

Tofigh led off the inning with a walk and went all the way to third on Grant Goetz single to right.

Sacred Heart Prep forced extra innings by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning. The big hit was a two-run double by Connor Schmalzle. Nico Pollioni had an RBI single in the inning as well.

Carlmont loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh but came away empty. The Gators had their chance at taking the lead in the eighth, but a big double play grounder ended their scoring threat.

Goetz went the final 1 2/3 innings to take the decision. He came on in relief of Jonathan Fong, who was charged with five runs and 12 hits, but was much better than his pitching line might indicate. Most of the damage was done in the top of the seventh.

W: Goetz. L: Maguire. 3 hits- Pollioni (SHP). 2 hits- Parker (SHP), Gee (SHP), Schmalzle (SHP), Massy (C), L.Tofigh (C), Goetz (C). 3 RBI- Schmalzle (SHP). 2B- Schmalzle (SHP), Pollioni (SHP), Goetz (C), J.Tofigh (C).

Capuchino 9, Sequoia 4, 10 innings

Lucas Zayac broke a 4-4 tie with a two-run bases-loaded single in the top of the 10th inning and Anakin Manuel followed with a three-run homer that ended any doubts for the Mustangs, who recorded the come-from behind victory.

Sequoia forced extra innings by scoring two runs in the seventh. Trailing 4-2, Morgan Winfield was hit by a pitch. A Drew Ostrander double put runners on second and third.

Vince Olinger Giani plated one of them with a sacrifice fly and the other scored on a Cameron Abrams base hit.

John Ferreira pitched four innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory. He allowed three hits and a walk, while striking out two.

For Sequoia (13-10), brothers Luke and Drew Ostrander each had two hits, The second time the brother combination accomplished this in a game this year. The sibling antics comes a day after Aaron and Davis Minton combined for seven hits in Serra's 13-0 dismantling of Riordan.

W: J.Fereira. L: Hymer. 3 hits- Manuel (C). 2 hits- Zayac (C), L.Ostrander, D.Ostrander. 4 RBI- Manuel (C). 2 RBI- Zayac (C), Olinger-Giani (S). HR- Manuel (C). 2B- Karmin (S), D.Ostrander (S), Hafer (C), Chin (C).