Menlo plays for first CCS title since 1989 Menlo plays for first CCS title since 1989 (May 28, 2004)

by Keith Peters

The one-two punch has worked for every heavyweight boxing champion in history. Now it's working for the Menlo School baseball team.

One. Andy Suiter. Two. Chuck Huggins. Knockout.

That lethal combination has floored 23 opponents in Menlo's 28 games thus far, and there's no reason to believe it won't continue for one more outing.

That arrives Saturday night when the No. 6-seeded Knights (23-5) take on No. 5 Scotts Valley (15-12) in the Central Coast Section Division III championship game at San Jose Municipal Stadium at 7 p.m.

Menlo advanced to its first CCS finale since 1989 with a 13-1 routing of No. 7 King's Academy on Tuesday night. In the first game at San Jose Muni, Scotts Valley upset top-seeded Carmel, 5-4.

On the mound for Menlo on Saturday will be Suiter, a junior left-hander who is 12-0 this season and was named Player of the Year in the PAL Lake Division while helping the Knights capture the division title with a 15-0 record.

Suiter fired a complete-game three-hitter with 11 strikeouts last Friday in Menlo's 5-0 win over Pacific Grove in a CCS opener. He has a school-record 137 strikeouts in 82 innings and 285 career K's. only 24 strikeouts shy of tying the school's career strikeout mark of 309 set by Jimmy Noriega. And Suiter has one more season to accomplish that.

Huggins (11-1), the Pitcher of the Year in the Lake Division, went only five innings against King's Academy in a game shortened by the 10-run rule. He allowed only two hits and struck out the side in the fifth. Huggins has 107 strikeouts in 73 innings.

"Early in the year we called them 1-A and 1-B," said Menlo's Craig Schoof, this season's Coach of the Year in the PAL Lake Division. "Now we've got two 1-A's. Both his 90 on the gun and both have great control."

Both left-handers will be available Saturday, even though Suiter should be enough to get the Knights their third section crown to go with the ones Schoof guided Menlo to in 1988 and '89.

In addition to that one-two punch, Menlo has another knockout blow with its offense. The Knights had nine hits in just four innings Tuesday, following the 11 they had against Pacific Grove.

"Hitting was our main concern heading into the season," Schoof said. "We improved offensively during the season, but we really started hitting the ball well last week."

That continued against The King's Academy (18-9) as Ryan Cavan, Matt Lapolla and Jesse Sweet all had two hits. Cavan drove in four runs. Cavan bounced a two-run single over the shortstop's head during a three-run second inning. Menlo blew the game open with a 10-run fourth inning. Tommy Whitfield and Sweet had RBI singles and Cavan added a two-run double to spark the outburst.

This is Menlo's first trip to the postseason since 2002, when the Knights played in the Private Schools Athletic League. Menlo moved to the Peninsula Athletic League in 2003 and failed to make the playoffs. The improved competition, however, allowed the Knights to improve to accomplish what they have this season.

"The PAL has helped us tremendously," Schoof said.

Being in the CCS championship game is proof enough.

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