Photograph by Douglas Rider
Saratoga first baseman Drew Bayly pulls in a pickoff attempt at first base as Alex Anderson of Los Gatos dives back safely. Saratoga knocked off Gatos 2-0 in the league opener last week.
Warriors should be contenders
Saratoga opens league season with a 2-0 win over Gatos
By Dick Sparrer
There's no day off playing baseball in the rugged Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Jason Miller knows it. That's why, despite the fact that his Westmont baseball team looks pretty good this spring, he's figuring on a fourth-place finish in the tough division.
And that wouldn't be bad, either, considering the top four finishers in the division win automatic entrance in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Miller, whose club posted a 12-12 record in the division a year ago, picks Valley Christian as the team to beat in the division but thinks his own Warriors are certainly strong enough to win a playoff berth.
"We have three outstanding pitchers--Reed Dickert, Henry Perez and Mike Haynes," said the coach. "We should be able to swing the bats and play great defense."
Throw in returning second-team all-leaguer Bill Stouffer, and the Warriors seem to have the ingredients of a playoff team.
Westmont is already off to a solid start in 2001, despite suffering losses in the first two games of the Wilcox Tournament. The Warriors lost to Los Altos and Wilcox on the first day of the season, but they've won three of their last four games, including a 9-0 win over Santa Clara in the third-place game.
Haynes and Perez combined to toss a three-hit shutout at Santa Clara to help the Warriors clinch third place in the tournament. Haynes was the winning pitcher and Perez came on to get the save.
A seven-run rally in the sixth inning turned a tight 1-0 game into a runaway for Westmont.
Chris Snyder doubled twice, and Colin McAvoy and Mike Gorski each doubled in two runs apiece to lead the Warriors to the victory.
Liem Hinh had two hits for Westmont and Jacob Goytia doubled.
Westmont's biggest win of the tournament, though, was a 5-0 victory over Valley Christian, the club Miller considers the favorite in the Mount Hamilton Division this spring.
Perez tossed a three-hit shutout for the win, and Ben Peterson ripped a clutch home run for the Warriors.
Travis Cheney doubled twice to knock in a couple of runs and Snyder doubled in two runs.
Westmont dropped a tight 7-6 nod to Mitty in the tourney semifinals. Stouffer had two hits to knock in three runs. Joshua Herzbrun had two hits and Peterson doubled.
Westmont opened the year with a 12-8 loss to Los Altos in the first round of the Wilcox Tournament.
The Chargers broke open a close 4-2 game with a five-run rally in the top of the sixth. The big blow of the inning was a grand slam that put Los Altos up 9-2.
But the Warriors answered back with six runs in the bottom of the inning, including a grand slam of their own by Cheney, to cut the lead to 9-8. The Eagles picked up three in the seventh, though, and ended up winning 12-8.
Cheney had two hits and drove in five runs for the Warriors, and Peterson also had two hits in the game.
Westmont lost 3-0 to Wilcox the same day to open the tournament with an 0-2 record.
Westmont beat Independence 14-1 in a nonleague game last week. Dickert was the winning pitcher as the Warriors allowed the 76ers just three hits.
McAvoy singled and tripled to knock in four runs in the win and Snyder singled, doubled and tripled to drive in three runs.
Falcons top Cats
Justin Oliver proved too much for Los Gatos hitters to figure out, and the result was an impressive 2-0 win for the Saratoga Falcons in their first game of the year in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Oliver tossed a two-hit shutout at the Cats to lift the Falcons to the victory.
"The guy pitched a really good game," said Los Gatos coach Don Ardissone of Oliver.
The win helped the Falcons even their season record at 3-3.
Saratoga opened the season with an 8-4 win over Salinas in the St. Francis Invitational, but lost 2-0 to Soquel the same day. The Falcons lost 1-0 to Cupertino in their next game of the tournament, but came back to beat Fremont 9-6.
Caleb Mosley, Drew Bayly and Jeffrey Anderson ripped two hits each to lead the Falcons to the win over the Firebirds.
Brett Behnke was the winning pitcher against Fremont.
Panthers beat Saints
Prospect opened the season with a 16-1 loss to Oak Grove in the Blossom Hill Tournament, but the Panthers came back last week with a 6-3 win over Santa Teresa.
Scott Gordon doubled and singled to drive in two runs and Kevin McPeck and J.D. Mazzuca had two hits apiece for the Panthers. Curtis Wills was the winning pitcher for Prospect.
McPeck homered and Gordon had two hits, but the Panthers lost 9-7 to Bellarmine later in the tournament.
Mazzuca had two of Prospect's three hits in the season-opening loss to Oak Grove.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
