Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Saratoga's Robin Gill dives safely back into first base to avoid a pick-off try against Los Altos. The Falcons went on to beat the Eagles 11-8, their first of two wins last week.

Falcons claim two big wins

Blue, Sorba, Gill lead bat attack

By Dick Sparrer

Nick Blue had a pretty big week for the Saratoga baseball team.

So did Andre Sorba, and so did Robin Gill.

And because of the efforts of the three Saratoga juniors, the Falcons had a pretty big week, too, as they battle to remain alive in the race for the title in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Blue cracked four hits, two of them home runs, and Sorba and Gill had five hits apiece to lead the Falcons to back-to-back wins over Los Altos and Santa Clara in league play.

The two wins helped the young Falcons improve to 7-5 in the division and to 12-10 for the year.

The Falcons find themselves in a virtual tie for third place in the circuit with Lynbrook. The Vikings are a half game up at 8-5, but the clubs are even in the all-important loss column.

Gunn tops the pack with an 8-3 record after beating Monta Vista last week. The Matadors are in second place at 7-3.

That leaves Saratoga just a game and a half out of first place in the El Camino Division with six games remaining. The Falcons play three of those games this week; they visited Lynbrook on April 28 and will host Mountain View on April 30 before heading to Monta Vista on May 2. All three games begin at 3:30 p.m.

Blue, Sorba and Gill combined for 14 of their club's 27 hits in the two victories last week.

Blue hammered two homers to drive in four runs in Tuesday's 11-8 win over Los Altos.

Sorba singled and doubled to knock in three runs for the Falcons, and Gill singled and doubled. Brady Moran also had two hits in the win.

Saratoga held a 4-1 lead after two innings, but the Eagles ralllied for six in the third to take a 7-4 lead. The Falcons fought back to tie it with three in the home half of the third, but Los Altos scored again in the fourth.

Saratoga put together back-to-back two run rallies in the fourth and fifth, though, to pull out the win.

Junior right-hander Brett Miller came on in relief of Brian Cavanaugh to get the mound win. Miller is now 2-1 this spring.

Gill and Sorba came right back with three hits apiece to lead the Falcons to a lopsided 16-4 win over Santa Clara two days later at the West Valley Community College field.

Gill and Sorba knocked in two runs apiece for the Falcons, and Blue singled and doubled in the win.

Mike Drew singled and tripled to knock home a pair of runs, and he was also the winning pitcher. He pushed his mound record to 5-2 with the win.

Sophomores Derek Cartmell and Erick Raich each singled and doubled for the Falcons. Cartmell drove in three runs for the Falcons, and Raich plated a pair.

Ryan Bernard had two hits in the game, and Moran knocked home two runs.

The Falcons jumped right on Santa Clara for five runs in the first. After the Bruins battled back with three in the second, Saratoga pushed home six more runs in the bottom of the second to all but wrap up the win.

Big win for Warriors

Westmont nailed a pair of big wins last week, but the second victory was much bigger than the first.

The Warriors opened the week with a tight 2-1 nine-inning win over Piedmont Hills, then they came back to knock off second place Leigh 5-4 in a key game on Friday.

The clubs went into the Friday game with first place on the line. But Westmont jumped right on Leigh for five runs in the top of the first and never trailed.

The win, coupled with that extra-inning victory over the Pirates earlier in the week, left the Warriors with a 10-2 record in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Leigh slipped to 9-4 in the division.

Junior Gabe Thomas slapped three singles to lead the 11-hit attack for the Warriors in the win over Leigh. Seth Zajac and Kyle Collins had two hits apiece, and Schyler Nolan ripped a double.

Sophomore right-hander Mike Malott picked up the mound win for the Warriors, pushing his record to 3-1 for the year.

Westmont, now 11-8 overall, opened the week with the thrilling 2-1 win over Piedmont Hills. The Warriors scored a run in the third, but the Bucs tied it in the sixth. Westmont eventually snapped the tie with a run in the top of the ninth, and senior right-hander Ryan Hanson blanked Piedmont in the bottom of the inning to nail down the win. Hanson ran his mound mark to 6-1 with the win.

Panthers split

Prospect made it a miserable week for Piedmont Hills. Two days after the Pirates lost in extra innings to Westmont, Piedmont dropped an extra inning decision to the Panthers.

Prospect scored a run in the last of the eighth to pull out a 6-5 win over the Pirates.

Dave Hildreth singled and doubled, and Frank Bonvechio ripped a two-run homer to lead the Panthers to the victory. Garrett Langworthy, Karl Becker, Darrell Jacks, Dave Tolbert and Carlos Velasques had two hits each in the win.

The Panthers, 5-8 in the division and 6-12 for the year, had opened the week by dropping a 15-9 decision to Del Mar. Hildreth tripled and singled twice to drive in three runs for Prospect. Tolbert had three hits, and Langworthy singled and doubled for the Panthers.

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