By Craig Wentz
Town Crier Correspondent
Prep Baseball Wrap Up
ith four league games remaining, the Los Altos High baseball team knows it has to finish strong to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“We have to win out and end league at 14-4 to make CCS,” Los Altos coach Sandy Wihtol said. “Our pitching has kept us in there and it has been a nice surprise.”
The Eagles (10-4, 12-12) are coming of a big week in which they won all three of their SCVAL El Camino Division games. Los Altos edged Lynbrook, 2-1, then routed rival Mountain View twice: 11-1 and 11-3.
Starting pitcher Wes Slotnick picked up the victory over Lynbrook on April 24. Offensively, Eagles Thomas Roux and Brian Johnson each notched a pair of hits.
Los Altos buried Mountain View (2-12) early in both games by leaping out to big leads.
In the 11-1 triumph on April 25, Los Altos posted eight runs in the third inning to take a commanding 10-0 advantage. Greg Page (5-2) was brilliant from the mound and was helped out by 10 hits.
Raul Ontiveros belted a homer and had two RBIs in two hits for the Eagles, while Cam Matthews drilled a triple and a had pair of RBIs. Wes Battle and Roux added a double and two hits, respectively for Los Altos.
The next day, Los Altos jumped out to a 7-2 lead after three innings. Battle (7-4) picked up the win and Matt Kramer blasted a homer and had five RBIs in three hits. Ronnie Remmel and Kevin Buurma each added two hits.
Jordan Nelson paced Mountain View with a triple in two hits and Brian Simoni chipped in a pair of hits.
Los Altos played Homestead on Tuesday, hosts league-leading Fremont (13-0) on Thursday, plays Santa Clara on Saturday, then finishes against Palo Alto next Tuesday.
Mustangs stumble
Homestead (6-8, 8-12 ) fell 12-1 to league-leading Fremont and lost 10-6 in El Camino Division play last week.
Against Fremont (13-0), the Mustangs tallied only two hits and trailed 12-0 after three innings in the mercy-rule loss. Brian Maihack produced a double for Homestead.
The Mustangs blew a 3-0 first-inning lead over Paly, then tied the game at 6 before giving up two runs in the fifth and sixth innings en route to defeat.
Lancers in the hunt
St. Francis (6-3-1, 18-6-1) remained 1 1/2 games behind league-leading Serra in the West Catholic Athletic League race after whipping Riordan 13-8 in San Francisco on Thursday.
The Lancers accumulated 17 hits and six extra-base hits in the contest, as starter John Daul (3-1) earned the win. Josh Lansford led St. Francis’ potent offensive attack with two doubles and six RBIs in four hits.
Dan Nava homered and drove home three runs in three hits and Mike Ribero added a pair of doubles for St. Francis, which led 10-2 after three innings.
Titans slip
Gunn beat Monta Vista 14-3 and 7-4 last week before losing 7-5 to Los Gatos in SCVAL De Anza Division competition.
The Titans (9-3, 13-3) slipped 3 1/2 games behind league-leading Wilcox (13-0), but are in great shape to at least earn an at-large berth in the playoffs.
Starter Ray Hunter (4-1) got the win in the 14-3 pounding of Monta Vista (2-11). The Titans garnered 15 hits, with Hunter, Greg Matson and Nick Tanaka all hitting homers. Matson collected three hits and three RBIs.
In the other win over the Matadors, Matson (6-1) picked up the victory. Tanaka and Chris Backer delivered a triple and double, respectively.
