The playoff races are shaping up The playoff races are shaping up (April 27, 2005)

Paly, Gunn challenging for CCS berths along with M-A, Menlo, SHP

by Keith Peters

With seven games remaining in their respective division races, the Palo Alto and Gunn baseball teams know this: they control their playoff hopes.

Both are in position to challenge for Central Coast Section berths. Palo Alto (7-4, 11-8) is solidly in third place in the SCVAL De Anza Division, just a game back of second-place Wilcox (8-3). Gunn (8-3, 10-5) is entrenched in second in the El Camino Division, 1 1/2 games behind pace-setting Santa Clara (10-2).

Paly can move ahead of Wilcox by beating host Mountain View on Wednesday and then the visiting Chargers on May. It will take help from other teams, however, for the Vikings to overtake first-place Los Gatos.

Paly evened its season series with Wilcox with a 4-2 triumph last Friday in Santa Clara. Senior Joe Cote broke a 2-2 deadlock in the third with a single down the third-base line to drive in senior Kevin Briggs with what proved to be the winning run.

The Vikings added an insurance run in the seventh when senior Matt Wismann was hit by a pitch, stole both second and third and came home on a sacrifice fly by senior Nathan Ford.

Junior Andrew White improved to 6-0 with a complete-game six-hitter. He stroked a double while senior John Ginanni added two hits to spark the Vikings to their sixth win in the past eight games.

Gunn had an chance to tighten the El Camino Division race, but got one bad break and failed to take advantage of a potential game-winning situation while dropping a 2-1 decision to host Saratoga last week.

The Falcons scored twice in the fourth when, with the bases loaded, Gunn left fielder Geoff Holman made a diving catch - only to have it ruled a trap by an umpire. That allowed two runs to score.

"There is no way that a ball can be trapped with the glove at that angle," said Gunn coach Tim Thompson. "That was half the story. The other half is we didn't hit as well as we should have - probably our worst effort of the season - and we left runners on base, which has been the Achilles' heel in all our losses. Case in point, we left the bases loaded with one down in the top of the seventh with the heart of the lineup coming up."

In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton (4-4, 8-13) won its fourth straight and climbed from last to third place by completing a two-game sweep of Carlmont with an 11-5 romp at Flood Park on Friday.

The Bears helped celebrate Domenic Di Ricco's 18th birthday (a day late) by jumping to a 7-1 lead after three innings. M-A got all the runs it needed in the first when Michael Jorgenson tripled, David Klein and Di Ricco doubled and Tyler Finley lofted a sacrifice fly.

Jorgenson finished with three hits while Klein added two. Di Ricco, the state's leading hitter a week ago with a .667 average, saw that dip to .644. Still, he picked up the pitching win with five solid innings of two-hit ball.

The Bears visit fourth-place El Camino (4-5) on Wednesday before hosting the Colts Friday (3:15 p.m.) at Flood Park.

Menlo hopes to rally this week in the PAL Ocean Division after suffering two tough losses last weekend. The Knights dropped a 4-3 decision in 12 innings to division-leading Capuchino on Friday, then fell to Bay Division leader Half Moon Bay on Saturday, 3-0.

The Knights (4-3, 11-12), who visit second-place Aragon (5-3) on Wednesday, stretched their scoreless streak to 16 innings after the loss to Half Moon Bay. Menlo had an opportunity to snap that streak when Anthony Bouvier walked in the fourth, stole second and went to third on a passed ball with one out. There, however, he was stranded.

In the loss to Capuchino, Menlo senior Andy Suiter went nine innings and struck out 12 while walking none. He squandered a 3-1 lead, however, after Ryan Cavan's two-run homer in the third. Cap scored the winner in the 12th on an infield error.

In the Private Schools Athletic League, Sacred Heart Prep (4-1, 7-9) maintained a share of first place with the King's Academy with a 13-1 romp over visiting Harker last week. Kevin Dos Remedios and Matt Connor combined to one-hit the visitors. Connor helped the cause with three RBI while Tommy Pierson and Pat Coffey added two each.

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