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Cupertino tops baseball pack
Monta Vista opens with back-to-back victories
By DICK SPARRER
Not many baseball coaches were picking Cupertino among the title favorites in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this spring.
OK, so none of them were.
Most coaches in the division were picking Wilcox to win it all. Some said Monta Vista. Still others were saying Los Gatos or Milpitas.
But no one said Cupertino would finish among the leaders.
First-year varsity head coach Alex Byer wasn't about to say it, either. He'd much rather let his club's performance do his talking for him.
And Cupertino has certainly been performing in the early stages of the De Anza Division campaign. Through the first three weeks of the league season, the Pioneers find themselves on top of the pack with a 5-0 record.
Cupertino ran its league win string to five straight last week with victories over a couple of division favorites, Monta Vista (7-5) and Los Gatos (8-7). The Pioneers had already knocked the favorite--Wilcox (8-6).
Josh Lockard singled and doubled to drive in two runs and Dan Barczi drove in a couple of runs to lead the Pioneers to the tight 8-7 win over the Wildcats last week.
Cupertino opened up a 4-0 lead in the first, but Gatos responded with five in the second. The Pioneers tied it with a run in the home half of the second, but Gatos went up 7-5 with two in the fourth.
Cupertino answered back with a run in the bottom of the fourth, then scored two in the sixth to pull out the win. Jason Roache nailed the mound win for 'Tino.
The Pioneers, now 6-3 for the year, had opened the week with an impressive 7-5 win over Monta Vista. Senior Chris McManus was the winning pitcher and Roache came on to get the save.
Travis Dillon had three hits to lead a 12-hit assault for the Pioneers. Andres Gooding belted a pair of singles and Barczi and Mike Runfola each doubled.
Ajay Nagdev had three hits for Monta Vista in the game and Marty Zankich added a pair of singles.
Cupertino opened league play with a convincing 8-2 win over Fremont. McManus was the winning pitcher for the Pioneers and Barczi had two hits.
Barczi blasted a home run and drove in three runs and McManus doubled and singled twice to lead Cupertino to a tight 9-8 win over Homestead.
A three-run homer by Greg Scott powered the Pioneers to an important 8-6 win over Wilcox a game later.
Mats win a pair
Monta Vista opened the league season with two straight wins, beating Milpitas 6-2 and Fremont 7-1.
Ryan Mitchell cracked a two-run homer and Brian Laatsch was four-for-four and knocked in a pair of runs to lead the Matadors to the win over the Trojans. Zankich added two hits in the win.
Nagdev and Eric Stocklmeir each singled and doubled and Mitchell had two hits for the Mats in the win over Fremont. Chris Chalfant tossed a four-hitter for the mound victory.
Monta Vista lost 7-3 to powerful Wilcox a game later, despite a single and double by Zankich and a couple of hits by Nagdev.
The Matadors handled Homestead to push their record to 3-1, but then lost to first-place Cupertino last week. The Mats now share third place with Fremont, both clubs trailing Cupertino by two games and Wilcox by a game.
Mustangs win
Homestead had opened league play last week with a 3-2 win over Milpitas, but then lost 10-3 to Fremont.
The Mustangs fell behind 1-0 in the first inning against Milpitas, but a two-run single by Wilson keyed a three-run second-inning rally for Homestead, and that's all starter James Park needed. The right-hander tossed a six-hitter to lead the Mustangs to the victory.
Jon Wilson had two hits and Jason Schroeder doubled to lead Homestead's seven-hit attack in the loss to Fremont.
Homestead, now 3-6 for the year and 1-5 in division play, opened the year with losses to Wilcox, Cupertino, Monta Vista and Los Gatos before beating Milpitas.
Adam Milliken singled and doubled and Gary Mullins and David Kidd each had two hits to knock in two runs apiece, but the Mustangs lost 15-5 to Wilcox. Chris Dreyer had two hits for Homestead and Nick Nelson doubled.
Later that week, Homestead rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh, but came up a run short in a 9-8 loss to Cupertino.
Milliken singled and doubled, Dreyer had two hits, Aaron Hall doubled in a pair of runs and Schroeder knocked in two runs for the Mustangs.
Early in the year, Bryan Skitt was the winning pitcher in Homestead's 5-4 nonleague victory over Overfelt. Nelson singled and tripled to drive in three runs, and Milliken had two hits.
De Anza Division standings: Cupertino 5-0, Wilcox 4-1, Fremont 3-2, Monta Vista 3-2, Los Gatos 1-4, Milpitas 1-4, Homestead 1-5.
Vikes win, lose, draw
It was a strange week for the Lynbrook baseball team in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
The Vikings beat Santa Clara 9-2, lost 11-1 to Saratoga and fought Mountain View to a 5-5 tie in a game halted by darkness.
The even split left the Vikings 2-3-1 in the division and 3-4-1 for the season, a record that doesn't come as a big surprise to Lynbrook head coach Brian Stuckey.
"If we execute, we could be good (this year)," said the coach. "If not, we could struggle."
The Vikings certainly executed against Santa Clara. Lynbrook committed just two errors and belted eight hits on the road to the lopsided win.
But the Vikes made four errors in the tie with Mountain View, and they made five errors and could manage just four hits in the loss to Saratoga.
Colby Smith's triple led the four-hit attack against the Falcons.
"We have 0good team speed, and we'll rely on good pitching and defense to make us competitive," added Stuckey.
Lynbrook used all of the above to roll to the impressive win over Saratoga last Saturday.
Kenny Ewbank blasted a home run and Matt Fratus doubled twice to lead the Vikings to the win over the Bruins.
Richard Shen singled and doubled to knock in a pair of runs for the Vikes. Nick Townzen had two hits and Chris Geren drove in a couple of runs in the win.
Big 6-foot-1 senior Ryan Quadro was the winning pitcher for the Vikings, who allowed just two Santa Clara hits in the game.
The win was the first of the week for the Vikings, who had lost to Saratoga two days earlier and tied Mountain View on Tuesday.
Geren doubled twice and Ewbank singled and doubled to knock in two runs against the Spartans. Robert Lee also doubled for the Vikings.
Ewbank is a top returner for Lynbrook this spring. The senior three-sport star joins the baseball team after successful football and basketball seasons for the Vikings.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
