Baseball: Menlo is getting hot at the right time

Menlo School is the hottest baseball team in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division and senior Justin Nam made a big deal out of it Wednesday night.

Nam hit a grand slam as the Knights won their sixth straight, a 15-8 victory over Carlmont in Belmont, and are suddenly in the thick of the league race with plenty of time for upward mobility.

Menlo (9-4, 3-2) hasn’t lost since getting swept by Sacred Heart Prep in its league opening series. The Knights are two games out of the PAL lead with nine games remaining. Carlmont (9-7, 4-2) is in second place, a half-game in front of Menlo. Burlingame (8-2, 6-1) has taken residence in first place and has seven games remaining.

Julien Hernandez (4-2) earned the win, allowing seven hits, striking out four and walking one in 3 2/3 innings. Fellow junior Kiefer Lord came in for the save, his third of the season.

Juniors Max Chou and Ian Collins each collected four hits. Nam and junior Luca Espinosa each added a pair.

The third inning proved to be the turning point for the Knights. Espinosa led off with a single and JC Ng and Charlie Giesler both walked to load the bases with none out. Nam followed by blasting a shot to deep left, giving Menlo a 5-0 lead.

Carlmont scored five times in the bottom of the fourth, but Menlo had already took a 7-0 lead with two runs when Max Chou and Nam came around on a balk and wild pitch in the top half of the inning.

Menlo host Carlmont in Atherton on Friday at 4 p.m.

Reece Lindquist hit a home run and drove in four runs as Sacred Heart Prep topped Santa Teresa 11-8 in a nonleague slugfest Wednesday in San Jose.

Lindquist’s home run was a solo shot and inside the park to finish the scoring. He did drive in the first run with fielder’s choice in the first inning and then added two RBIs in the fourth.

Yianni Gardner doubled and drove in two runs. Ronan Donnelly added three hits, including a double, and drove in a run. Aidan Macaluso also had two hits and drove in a run.

Ryan Mo, Will Moldow and Teddy Purcell also drove in runs for the Gators (9-8-1), who welcome San Ramon Valley to Atherton for a 3 p.m. nonleague game Saturday.

Palo Alto struggled in its 8-1 loss to visiting Wilcox in a SCVAL De Anza Division game Wednesday.

Three pitchers combined to toss a one-hitter at the Vikings (11-5, 6-3), who lost their second straight and three of four overall.

Palo Alto fell into third place, three games back of league-leader Los Altos and a half-game behind Los Gatos. Wilcox can overtake the Vikings with a win Friday ( 4 p.m.) in Santa Clara.

Aidan Berger ended the Chargers’ no-hit bid with a one-out single in the fourth. Matthew Caren followed with a walk and eventually scored the only run on an error.

Paly, which drew six walks, had runners on in all but the second and fifth innings and could not take advantage.

By Palo Alto Online Sports

By Palo Alto Online Sports

By Palo Alto Online Sports