By Vincent Liu

Photo by Joe Hu, Town Crier

Town Crier Correspondent

Aided by a liberal strike zone and a sensational catch in the outfield, Barrett Lonnquist crafted a complete-game three-hitter to lead host Palo Alto High to a 3-1 baseball victory over Mountain View last Saturday.

The game marked the Vikings’ second win over the Spartans last week - they won 7-3 at Mountain View April 2 - and tightened their grip on first place in the SCVAL El Camino Division (8-0).

The loss dropped the Spartans to 5-5 in league, all but eliminating them for the playoffs.

Palo Alto, which lives by pitching and defense, committed three errors. The first two led to an unearned run and the third put its lead in jeopardy. Then came the catch of the game that saved the win for the Vikings.

In the top of the fifth with one out and two runs down, the Spartans came to life when Kevin Hsu’s grounder was bobbled by the shortstop. The next batter, Brian Simoni, slugged a long drive into the left-center gap that appeared headed for extra bases, which surely would have scored the speedy Hsu and put Simoni in scoring position with the heart of the order due up.

But Simoni’s shot never hit the ground. Racing back at the crack of the bat, Palo Alto center fielder Durell Williams made a fully stretched back-handed catch and doubled up Hsu for an inning-ending double play. Mountain View never seriously threatened again.

“The ball was by me, but I ran like crazy and just stuck my glove out,” Williams said, “and there was the ball.”

Lonnquist kept the Spartans handcuffed, as the senior right-hander struck out seven and didn’t allow an earned run, dropping his ERA well below 1.00.

“I really felt strong at the end, and the ump’s big strike zone didn’t hurt either,” said Lonnquist, who threw 57 strikes among his 75 pitches.

Mountain View sophomore starter Eric Davis also pitched well. With his breaking pitches dipping sharply, he had six strikeouts over five innings, four on curves. Two of the three runs he surrendered were unearned.

Palo Alto pushed across these runs in the bottom of the third inning with three singles, two errors and a run-scoring wild pitch. A second runner tried to score on the wild pitch and was tagged out on a controversial call at the plate.

Simoni relieved Davis in the bottom of the sixth and issued the only walk of the game after snatching a bullet off the bat of Williams in self defense. He and Davis held the Vikings to five singles in a losing cause.