Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Saratoga hurler David Goni lets one fly against Homestead in league play last week. The Falcons lost to the Mustangs to slip two games off the pace in the division.

Saratoga nails a big win

But Falcons suffer a big loss

By Dick Sparrer

The Saratoga baseball team needed a win against Homestead last week.

Then the Falcons needed a win against Lynbrook.

And they needed the two victories for two very different reasons.

Saratoga opened the week against league-leading Homestead, and the Falcons needed a win to move into a first-place tie with the Mustangs in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

But the Falcons lost 16-5 to the unbeaten Mustangs, so they really needed a win against Lynbrook later in the week--just to be sure to hold on to second place in the division standings.

That one they got, though. Saratoga ripped Lynbrook 9-5 to jump to 5-2 in the division and to 7-3 for the year.

The split left the Falcons two games off the pace set by Homestead in the division. But thanks to two losses by Cupertino last week, the Falcons are still two up in the loss column and alone in second place in the division standings.

Trent Frisina doubled and singled twice to drive in two runs to lead the Falcons to the important win over the Vikings.

Sophomore hurler David Schneider ran his season record to 3-1 when he picked up the mound win for the Falcons.

Kota Takamoto and Stephen Oberhauser each had two hits to drive in two runs apiece for the winners and Joel Reikes blasted a triple.

Saratoga fell behind 3-0 in the first but rallied for seven runs in the home half of the second to take control of the game.

Sean McCarthy singled and homered to drive in three runs in the loss for the Vikings.

Lynbrook, 1-7 for the year and 1-6 in the division, had lost 6-3 to Mountain View to open the week, and the Vikes lost their opener in the Cupertino Host Lions Tournament last weekend, falling 7-3 to Mitty. Dennis Horvath singled and doubled to lead the four-hit Lynbrook attack.

Saratoga had opened the week by losing 16-5 to first-place Homestead.

Freshman catcher Ryan Bernard blasted a home run, but it wasn't enough for the Falcons. Frisina tripled for Saratoga and Takamoto doubled.

Saratoga had opened the week with a 6-4 nonleague win over Lincoln. Matt Riordan was the winning pitcher, and Oberhauser came on to pick up his second save of the season.

Robert Peck singled and doubled to drive in three runs for the winners. Kyle Cardin singled and double and Michael Black had two hits. Frisina tripled in the win.

Saratoga returns to league action this week, visiting Mountain View on April 2 and hosting Cupertino on April 4 in a key game. Each game begins at 3:30 p.m.