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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Los Gatos senior Markus Willard, just out on this play against Saratoga in a nonleague game earlier this year, homered last week to help the Wildcats to a 10-8 win over Burlingame and third place in the Knights of Columbus tournament at Serra.
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Los Gatos third at Serra tourney
Wildcats get ready for stretch run
By Dick Sparrer
If the old theory "timing is everything" is true, then Los Gatos baseball coach Don Ardissone has to be pretty happy with where his Wildcats are right now.
After a rocky start in the 2001 season, the Cats are starting to come alive and, from a won-loss standpoint, they're playing their best baseball of the year right now.
The Wildcats have won five of their last seven games, two of the wins coming in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and three more in the Serra Knights of Columbus tournament.
The timing couldn't be better for Los Gatos. The Wildcats wrapped up spring break with a third-place finish in the Serra tournament, and now are heading into the final round of the league season with their sights set on a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Wilcox is running away in the De Anza Division with a 9-0 record and Gunn is firmly planted in second place at 7-2. But the race is on for third place with Cupertino (4-5), Los Gatos (4-6) and Milpitas (4-6) running almost a dead heat.
The Wildcats face a tough test this week in their fight for third place. The Cats will head to Palo Alto to visit Gunn on April 20, 3:30 p.m. The game is actually the last notch of the schedule's second round, and a Gatos win could actually keep the Wildcats' second-place hopes alive.
Ardissone and his Cats have to be encouraged heading into the final round of the league season after a solid showing in the Knights of Columbus tournament at Serra.
Gatos opened the tourney with a 9-0 win over Half Moon Bay, then beat El Camino 6-2. The Cats lost 4-1 to Serra and 6-1 to Bellarmine, a couple of powers from the West Catholic Athletic League, but came back to beat Burlingame 10-8 in the third-place game.
Senior slugger Markus Willard homered and singled to knock in two runs, and Ben Shanker doubled twice to plate a pair of runs for the Wildcats in the win over Burlingame.
Junior right hander Matt Cooke was the winning pitcher for the Cats, and big 6-foot-7 senior right hander Matt Sawnson came on in relief to get his second save of the year.
Joey Warren belted a couple of doubles in the Gatos win, and Chris Willard singled and doubled. Chris Eagen also had two hits for Los Gatos.
The Wildcats staked Cooke to an early lead with two runs in the first and three each in the second and third.
Burlingame rallied for two in the fourth and three in the fifth to cut the lead to 8-5, but the Cats picked up single runs in the sixth and seventh to lead 10-5.
Burlingame fought back with three in the seventh to get close, but Swanson shut the door and the Cats nailed down the win and third place in the tournament.
The Wildcats improved to 10-11 for the year with the win and Burlingame slipped to 10-6.
Los Gatos had opened the tourney with a lopsided 9-0 win over Half Moon Bay. Sophomore right hander Alex Rollin went the distance to pick up the mound win. Rollin tossed a three-hit shutout, fanning seven along the way, as he evened his record at 3-3.
Alex Anderson singled and doubled to drive in two runs for the Cats. Travis Howell had two hits, Shanker doubled and Steve Sweeney drove in a couple of runs.
The Cats took a slim lead with a run in the third, but then broke the game open with three runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth.
Things were closer in the second round game against El Camino. The Cats took the early lead with single runs in the first and third, but El Camino scored in the fourth to make it 2-1. That's how it remained until the sixth when the Wildcats unloaded for four runs.
Swanson was the winning pitcher, pushing his record to 4-3.
Eagen and Howell each singled and doubled to lead the offensive attack for the Wildcats.
C. Willard ripped a double, but the Wildcats could manage just three hits in the 4-1 third-round loss to Serra.
The Padres jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two in the first and single runs in the second and fourth. Gatos broke up the shutout with a run in the sixth, but that's all the Wildcats could manage.
Los Gatos played Bellarmine tough before losing 6-1 in the semifinals.
The Bells went up 1-0 in the first, but that's how things remained until the Cats tied it with a run in the top of the sixth. Bellarmine rallied for five in the bottom of the sixth, though, and the game ended 6-1.
Anderson doubled for the Cats.
Bellarmine went on to beat Serra 9-4 in the tournament championship game.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
