Almaden Resident
Sports
Photograph by Daniel Soto
Power Display: Leland's Kevin Battipede (left), greeted by teammate Jimmy Kogura after belting a home run earlier this year, cracked another round tripper last week in the Chargers' 10-7 win over Oak Grove.
Back-to-back wins put Leland in driver's seat in baseball race
By Dick Sparrer
Scot Gillis' Leland baseball team couldn't have picked a better time to put together a couple of consecutive victories.
The Chargers had dropped three straight in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League to put their first-place standings in jeopardy. But Leland fought back last week to outlast Oak Grove 10-7 and blank Westmont 9-0 to enter the final week of league play in the driver's seat.
Leland sat atop the division pack with two games to play, but just by the slimmest of margins. The Chargers, 17-5-1 overall this year, were 15-4 in league play heading into Wednesday clash with Branham (3-15), and they close out the regular season at Willow Glen (5-15).
Leigh (14-5) and Pioneer (13-5) were each just a game back in the loss column. The Longhorns still had Santa Teresa (14-6) and Westmont left to play, and the Mustangs had to play Oak Grove (9-10) and Branham twice. (Pioneer beat Leigh 21-8 in a big game on Monday, but further details weren't available at press time.)
Still, despite what either Leigh or Pioneer does this week, the Chargers hold their fate in their own hands. If Leland can close out the regular season with two wins, the Chargers will clinch the division championship. They've already beaten both the Bruins and Rams twice this season, taking Branham 5-2 and 7-6 and Willow Glen 7-2 and 15-4.
Gillis has be breathing a little easier after his club snapped a losing streak with two wins last week--and after Pioneer's win over Leigh on Monday.
The week began with a tough 6-1 loss to Santa Teresa. That defeat followed losses to Pioneer (10-8) and Leigh (14-6) and dropped the Chargers into a first-place tie with the Longhorns.
But Leland got back on the winning track with the clutch 10-7 victory over the Eagles.
Danny Dyer battled on the hill for the Chargers, tossing five and two-thirds innings to get the win. He's now 7-1 for the year. Dyer struck out 10, but walked two, hit two and was tagged for 11 hits and six runs, five of them earned. Matt Slaton came on to toss the final inning and a third to get the save.
But while the Saints were rattling the Leland pitchers for 12 hits, the Chargers were pounded the baseball for 19 hits of their own, including home runs by Dyer, Kevin Battipede and Andy Micko.
Micko had a big day for the Chargers with a homer and two singles to knock in three runs. He also scored three times. Dyer was equally as impressive with two singles to go with his circuit blast. He knocked in two runs and scored twice.
Battipede homered and singled to knock in two and score two, and Steve Henry, Slaton and Alex Todd each had two hits.
In fact, every player in the Leland line-up had a hit in the win. Garrett Avilla, Lance Gemette, Nate Jones, Abel Lara and Adam Munoz all added singles for the Chargers. Todd, Lara and Munoz each drove in runs in the win.
The Chargers and Eagles matched runs in the first, but Leland took charge of the game with three in the third and three more in the fourth. Oak Grove made a game of it with two in the fifth and three in the sixth, but Leland answered with three in the home half of the sixth. The Eagles scored one more in the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
Leland had an easier time of it later in the week, crushing the Warriors 9-0 on a combined 6-hit shutout by Micko and Malte Reinschmidt. Micko went six innings to get the win, pushing his mound mark to 1-2. He struck out four, walked one and gave up five hits. Reinschmidt closed out the win with an inning of shutout relief.
Micko and Todd led the offense with two hits apiece. Micko singled and doubled to drive in two runs and also scored twice, and Todd singled and doubled and scored a run.
Slaton singled home a couple of runs for the Chargers, Gemette singled and walked to drive in a run and score two, Jones singled and scored twice and Dyer knocked in one run and scored another.
Leland gave Micko the only run he'd need with a single marker in the first, but the Chargers broke the game open with five runs in the second. They added three insurance runs in the fourth.
The week didn't start out all that well with Leland dropping a 6-1 nod to Santa Teresa. Battipede went five and a third innings, but was tagged with his first loss of the season. He's now 5-1.
The Saints scored a run in the first and three more in the second to take a quick 4-0 lead. Leland scored its only run in the fourth, but Santa Teresa answered that with a run in the sixth and added one more in the seventh.
Gemette and Jones each singled to account for the only Leland hits in the game. Battipede and Todd each walked twice.
