By Craig Wentz
Town Crier Correspondent
Prep Baseball Wrap Up
he seeding meeting for the Central Coast Section playoffs is set for this weekend, and the Los Altos High baseball team will need some good fortune to make the postseason field.
That’s because the Eagles’ playoff chances took a big hit on Saturday.
After handing SCVAL El Camino Division champion Fremont its first league loss of the season last Thursday, Los Altos lost 9-8 to visiting Santa Clara on Saturday.
Los Altos coach Sandy Wihtol said last week that his team would need to win its final four games to have a shot at the postseason.
Although the Santa Clara setback hurt, the Eagles (12-5, 14-13) could still sneak into the playoffs if they beat red hot Palo Alto Tuesday in their regular-season finale. Paly, which hosted Tuesday’s game, had captured seven of its last eight games after starting the league season 0-8.
Los Altos appeared in great shape against Santa Clara by scoring four runs in the opening inning on its way to a 5-3 lead after three innings. But the Eagles surrendered six runs in the fourth, which gave the Bruins a 9-5 advantage they would never relinquish.
The two schools combined for 25 hits and seven errors, with Los Altos garnering 13 hits and committing four errors. Kevin Buurma paced Los Altos with a homer, double and two RBIs. Teammate Raul Ontiveros collected a double and two RBIs in two hits.
On Thursday, Los Altos routed visiting Fremont 15-5. The Eagles didn’t waste any time getting a jump on the Firebirds (15-1, 18-8), racing to a 12-3 lead after one inning. Los Altos extended the margin to 15-3 after three innings en route to the mercy-rule triumph. Starter Wes Battle was brilliant from the mound, raising his record to 8-4.
Seven of the Eagles’ 11 hits went for extra bases. Cam Matthews drilled a triple and a double for the Eagles with teammate Matt Kramer adding a double and a pair of RBIs. Shea Chafey also had two RBIs for Los Altos, with Thomas Roux and Ontiveros chipping in a pair of hits.
Titans qualify for CCS
By whipping Cupertino 6-1 on Thursday, Gunn (11-4, 15-4) clinched second place in the SCVAL De Anza Division and an automatic at-large berth in the CCS playoffs.
Kyle Jaros (1-1) picked up his initial win of the season and was backed by eight hits. Greg Matson belted a homer for Gunn, with teammates Nick Tanaka and Jeff Zweig each collecting a pair of hits.
Pinewood (0-9, 0-12) fell 18-0 to visiting Menlo last week in a Private Schools Athletic League contest.
Lancers lose two
St. Francis (6-5-1, 18-8-1) shouldn’t have any trouble reaching the CCS playoffs, despite losing its last two West Catholic Athletic League games heading into this week’s league tournament. St. Francis fell 4-3 to Mitty in eight innings on May 1, then lost at Serra 3-2 on Friday.
Dan Graviano launched a homer and had two RBIs against Mitty, which tallied three runs in its last at-bat to ice the win. The Lancers could muster just two hits in the setback to Serra as a seventh-inning comeback fell short.
Spartans fall to Firebirds
Mountain View (4-12) hung tough with Fremont for five innings before falling 5-1 in an El Camino Division matchup on Saturday in Sunnyvale.
Leading 2-1, the Firebirds put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth-inning to claim the victory.
Brian Simoni and Gordon Pendergrass each roped a double to lead the Spartans.
The Spartans defeated Lynbrook, 3-2 on Thursday to conclude a suspended game from April.
Starter Tristan Shuman (1-0) earned the win for Mountain View and teammate Matt Turnbull belted a double.
