By Craig Wentz

Town Crier Correspondent

Prep Baseball Wrap Up

Lancers, Bells end in tie

It’s usually entertaining when West Catholic Athletic League rivals St. Francis and Bellarmine lock horns on the diamond and last Thursday’s slugfest in Mountain View added to arguably the best rivalry in the CCS.

The two schools combined for 24 runs, 28 hits and settled nothing in four hours, as the game was called due to darkness after a 12-12 tie through nine innings.

St. Francis (4-2-1, 13-2-1) has the deserved reputation of a program that is never out of a game and proved its resiliency Thursday. The Lancers overcame an 8-1 deficit after 4 1/2 innings by scoring 11 runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 12-8 advantage.

The Lancers had four hits and drew seven walks in the inning and were helped out by a grand-slam from Josh Lansford.

Bellarmine (4-3-1, 13-4-1) tallied a pair of runs in the sixth, then tied the game with two runs on two hits with two-out in its potential final at-bat in the seventh.

St. Francis, outhit 21-7 in the game, was paced by Lansford’s five RBIs. Adam Turrey and Dan Graviano added two hits and two RBIs apiece.

MV-LA game rained out

The second of three meetings this season between neighboring rivals Los Altos (7-3) and Mountain View was canceled on Saturday due to wet grounds.

Los Altos will not play an SCVAL El Camino Division game for two weeks due to participation in this week’s Monterey tournament and then Easter break.

Mustangs rally

Thanks to pitching depth and an explosive offense, the Gunn High baseball team has exceeded expectations in the first half of the SCVAL De Anza Division schedule .

Yet, to capture the division title, the Titans must somehow find a way to beat a unit that has handed them their only two defeats this season.

Gunn (6-2, 8-2) has managed to tame the De Anza Division field, but like every other team, has not found a way to knock off Wilcox (10-0, 14-1), the top-ranked team in the Central Coast Section. Last Thursday, Wilcox downed the Titans for the second time this season, this time 7-3, in a critical league matchup in Palo Alto.

But Gunn is still in good shape to finish as one of the top three teams in the league race, thus earning an automatic at-large berth in the CCS playoffs.

To win league, Gunn will need some help and also beat Wilcox in the teams’ final meeting on May 9.

After Wilcox grabbed a quick 1-0 lead on Thursday, Gunn countered with three runs in the third-inning for a 3-1 advantage. That was the only lead the Titans would enjoy, as the Chargers tallied the game’s final five runs to secure the victory and increase their league lead to two games over Gunn.

Gunn recorded five hits in the contest and were led by Ray Hunter’s pair of RBIs.

Homestead (6-5) tallied three runs in the bottom of the sixth-inning to overcome a 4-2 deficit and edge visiting Mountain View 5-3 Thursday in an El Camino Division contest.

Mountain View (2-7-1) couldn’t hold on to an early 3-1 advantage, as Homestead pitcher Eric Patterson (1-1) kept the Spartans in check to record the victory.

Robbie Hoffman paced the Mustangs at the plate with a double and two RBIs in a pair of hits.

Mountain View was led by Gordon Pendergrass, who belted a homer and had two RBIs. Ryan Wilcox chipped in a double.

Earlier in the week, Homestead ripped host Lynbrook 11-5 by registering 13 hits. Tim Strumbel (3-1) earned the win and was assisted by a double and five RBIs in four hits from Gary Mullins. Brian Maihack and Matt Whiteman added three hits apiece for Homestead.