Photograph by Douglas Rider

A Fremont player dives safely back into first despite a pick off attempt by the Cupertino pitcher in a recent league game.

Mustangs roll to three straight wins

Verstegen, Capizzi star on the track

By DICK SPARRER

It was a slow start for the Homestead baseball team. But it looks like the Mustangs are starting to get hot.

Homestead rolled to three wins last week--beating Lynbrook 12-4, Mountain View 4-3 and Monta Vista 9-3--to improve to 6-4 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The Mustangs, now 11-7 for the season, wrapped up the week with the convincing 9-3 win over the Matadors on Saturday.

Senior Bryan Beres belted four hits and Brandon Dougherty ripped a triple to lead a 13-hit assault for the Mustangs in the win over the Mats.

Chris McKim came on in relief of starter Brian McLaughlin to pick up his fourth save of the season. The two hurlers combined for a six-hitter, and the win helped even McLaughlin's mound record to 2-2.

The Mustangs scored a run in the first to take the early lead, then took command of the game with four runs in the third and three more in the fourth.

Monta Vista slipped to 0-8 in the division with the loss.

Brian McGee and McKim teamed for an eight-hitter in the 4-3 win over Mountain View a couple of days earlier.

McGee started on the hill for the Mustangs and claimed the win, running his record to 3-1. McKim got his third save in that one.

Bryan Silverman was the hitting star for Homestead with a single and a double to drive in a pair of runs.

Homestead jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings and led 4-1 heading into the last of the sixth before the Spartans made things interesting with two runs to cut the lead to 4-3. But McKim put down the side in the seventh to help secure the victory for Homestead.

The Mustangs had started the week with a 12-4 win over Lynbrook, and McKim was the winning pitcher in this one for Homestead. His mound record is now 1-2.

Gavin Hayes led the offensive attack for the Mustangs with a double and a triple to drive in three runs.

McKim, Brian Maihack and Silverman had two hits each for the Mustangs, and Matt Whiteman ripped a double. Homestead belted 11 hits in the win.

Lynbrook countered with four hits. James White and Jeff Seip each singled and doubled.

The Vikings came back with an 8-4 win over Monta Vista later in the week to push their El Camino record to 2-7 and their overall mark to 4-9.

Amir Tahsini tossed a four-hitter for the Lynbrook win. Seip had three hits and White doubled home three runs.

Volleyball

Josh Cadin knocked a dozen kills to lift the Homestead boys volleyball team to an easy win over Saratoga. The Mustangs rolled past the Falcons 15-1, 15-4, 15-10 to push their league record to 6-1 and their season mark to 13-3.

The Mustangs will host Fremont for a 7 p.m. match on April 10.

Track

Seniors Ben Verstegen and Anthony Capizzi led the Homestead boys track team to a tight 65-62 win over Cupertino in El Camino Division action last week.

Verstegan ran a season best 40.3 to win the 300 intermediate hurdles, and Capizzi hurled the discus 132-8 and heaved the shot put 43-0 for a double victory. Capizzi is unbeaten this year in the shot.

Pat Rugo was another double winner for the Mustangs, taking the 100 in 11.31 and the 200 in 23.84. He also helped Homestead to a win in the 4x100 relay in 45.5.

William Faules raced to a first in the 110-meter high hurdles and Steven Nichols flew to a first in the long jump at 19-2.

Brian McDonough and Joe Lordan were each twin winners for the Pioneers. McDonough was first in both the 1,600 meters in 4:51 and the 800 in 2:12, and Lordan won the 400 in 54.88 and the triple jump at 38-7.5.

Steve Orton raced to a victory in the 3,200 meters in 10:51 and Robert McCoy soared to a first in the high jump at 6-4.

The Homestead girls also pulled out a 67-54 win over Cupertino, with freshman Jennifer Hiramoto and junior Britteney Reynolds leading the effort.

Hiramoto was a double winner, taking the 100 hurdles in 18.35 and the 100 in 14.28, and Reynolds also took two events, winning the 200 in 29.9 and the long jump at 15-3.

Sandra Kiel, another frosh, was first in the shot put at 34-3.5 and second in the discus. Rebecca Boyle was first in the 800 in 2:44 and Mariko Caster took the 400 in 1:06. Homestead also won the 4x100 relay in 55.75.

Freshmen Emily Linkin (second in the high jump), Megan Brady (second in the 300 hurdles) (34-3 ¹/2) and Jillian Luu (second in the 400) also performed well in the meet along with senior Amy Stoddard (third in the 1600).

Amy Wong and Jennifer Huang each won a pair of events for Cupertino in the losing cause.

Wong took the 1,600 in 6:12 and the 3,200 in 13:27.4, and Huang won the high jump at 4-4 and the triple jump.

Faules helped Homestead to a pair of places at the Stanford Invitational the previous weekend. Faules was sixth in the 110 high hurdles in 14.91, and he teamed with Nichols, Rugo and Eddie Sumpter for a sixth in the 4x100 relay in 43.18.

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