By Pete Borello

Joe Hu/Town Crier Mike Taylor saved Thursday’s game for the Palo Alto Oaks, a 9-7 win over the Maxim Yankees.

The Best of the West Invitational couldn’t have started much better for the Palo Alto Oaks last week. The area’s semipro baseball team went 4-0 to win its pool at Santa Clara University’s Stephen Schott Stadium.

That’s as good as it would get for the Oaks, though. Sunday morning they fell to the Salinas Packers in the semifinals at Stanford University’s Sunken Diamond, then fell apart in the consolation final that afternoon at Santa Clara. The Oaks led 8-0 after two innings, only to see the San Diego Stars rally for a 12-9 victory.

Playing six games over four days, requiring 71 innings of pitching, proved too much for the Oaks’ staff. The pitchers’ arms started to tire, according to Oaks general manager Steve Espinoza.

“That is an enormous amount of innings for any team,” he said.

The Stars tied the game by the fifth inning and scored three in the seventh to take the lead. St. Francis High product Brian Biniek took the loss for the Oaks.

By placing third in the 20-team tournament, the Stars collected a check for $5,000.

Earlier in the day, an error by the Oaks led to Salinas’ 7-3 win in the semis. A missed chance at getting a double play led to the Packers scoring three unearned runs in the fourth. Had the defense made the play, “the outcome could have been different,” Espinoza said. It was one of three Palo Alto errors.

Sean Scott, who didn’t surrender a run in the initial three innings, was charged with the loss.

Offensively, the Oaks managed seven hits off Salinas ace Chris Henry, who pitches for the University of Oklahoma. Mike Taylor had two hits, including a double, to lead the Oaks. Chris Armanino and Mike Rivera each hit a double and scored a run.

In the consolation final, Armanino and Rivera had two hits each and Taylor homered. Gabe Duran added two hits and three RBIs.

In pool play, which began Thursday, the Oaks outscored their four opponents 29-19. It started with a 9-7 come-from-behind win over the host Maxim Yankees. After yielding four runs in the first two innings, the Oaks batted around in the bottom of the sixth. This resulted in six runs, with Shane Parsons and Gabe Duran each driving in two with hits. The Oaks added three runs in the fourth, the first on a single by Nathan Ford (three hits).

Starter Matt Campbell earned the win; the save went to Taylor, who struck out the side in the eighth.

The Oaks won two games Friday - 11-8 over the Redding Colt 45s and 5-2 over the East Bay White Sox - then edged the Delta Toros 4-2 Saturday.