Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Saratoga catcher Caleb Mosley tags out Travis Howell of Los Gatos as he attempts to score. Saratoga went on to claim a big 5-2 win over the Wildcats and move into third place in the division.
Another Triple Play for Prospect
Saratoga nails two wins
By Dick Sparrer
"It's déjà vu all over again."
Yogi Berra said it, but Sean Sarsfield of the Pioneer baseball team lived it last week when the Mustangs traveled to Prospect for a crucial game in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Triple plays are rare in high school baseball. But two times this year the Prospect infielders have turned triple plays. Both of them were against Pioneer, and both times Sarsfield was the hitter.
It happened first back on April 4 when Sarsfield stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, his club trailing 7-4. A hit would have certainly gotten the Mustangs back in the game, and Sarsfield appeared to come through with a line shot headed up the middle.
But shortstop Steven Vidal speared the liner for an out, stepped on second for another out and flipped to first for the rally snuffing triple play. The Panthers went on to win the game 7-4.
Now, as if that wasn't tough enough for Sarsfield to swallow, it happened to him again last Thursday. The play wasn't quite as clean, but it was a rally-killing triple play nonetheless, and it helped the Panthers to a thrilling 7-6 victory that gave them sole ownership of third place in the division standings.
The clubs were locked in a 4-4 tie through seven innings, but the Mustangs threatened to break the game open when they loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth.
John Fields doubled, Josh Jachimowicz singled him to third and Duane Haakma walked to fill the bases.
That set the stage for Sarsfield. He hit the ball hard again, but third baseman J.D. Mazzuca fielded the ball and threw home to catcher Dustin Hansen to force Fields. The ball was hit hard enough that Hansen had time to gun down Sarsfield at first, and he threw a strike to Nick Graydon at first for what seemed to be a clutch double play.
But Graydon, thinking the inning had ended, rolled the ball toward the middle of the infield. Jachimowicz was waved home, but Graydon recovered in time to retrieve the baseball and fire home, where Hansen applied the tag for the out that completed the triple play.
The big play got the Panthers out of the jam in the eighth, but the Mustangs came up with two runs in the top of the ninth to take the 6-4 lead. That just set the stage for more Prospect heroics.
Curtis Wills, who had sent the game into extra innings with a game-tying sacrifice fly in the seventh, ripped a one-out single in the ninth and swiped second.
Graydon singled Wills home to cut the Pioneer lead to 6-5, and Nick O'Hara singled. After David Lenske walked to load the bases, Kevin McPeck ripped a two-run double that gave the Panthers the victory.
Prospect improved to 9-7 in the division with the win. The Panthers are 11-11 for the year with two games remaining in the regular season. They still have a shot at catching Piedmont Hills (11-6) in the fight for second place in the division and an automatic Central Coast Section playoff berth.
The Panthers took the lead against Pioneer with single runs in the first, second and fifth.
Mazzuca reached on an error, took second on a passed ball and scored on a single to left by Graydon in the first.
Hansen and Brent Maselli each singled to open the second, and Hansen scored when Mazzuca reached on an error.
Mazzuca scored again in the fifth when he walked, stole second, took third on a passed ball and trotted home on a double to left-center by Kyle Bonvechio.
But the Mustangs, who had scored a run in the second, took the lead with a three-run rally in the sixth.
Wills tied it with his sac fly in the seventh, though. Mazzuca reached for the fourth straight time, this time on another error, and romped to third on a single by Bonvechio. Wills then lifted a fly ball to center to knock in the tying run.
That just set the stage for the Prospect extra-inning heroics.
Graydon had three hits for the Panthers and Bonvechio and McPeck each singled and doubled.
Wills came on in relief to pick up the mound win, pushing his record to 5-4.
Earlier in the week, the Panthers had blanked Mount Pleasant 10-0. Myke Gordon was the winning pitcher as the Panthers held the Cardinals to just five hits.
Wills homered and singled twice to drive in five runs in the win and Mazzuca had a double among his four hits. McPeck tripled and Bonvechio ripped a pair of singles.
Westmont wins
Junior Reed Dickert singled and doubled to drive in three runs and was also the winning pitcher for Westmont last week in a 6-2 win over Oak Grove.
The win helped the Warriors improve to 9-7 in the Mount Hamilton Division of the BVAL and to 14-10 for the year.
It was an important victory for the Warriors, who had entered the game even with both Santa Teresa and Oak Grove in the league loss column and in a virtual tie for third place in the division.
Dickert pushed his season mound record to 6-2 with the win and led a nine-hit Westmont attack with his two hits. Mike Gorski also had two hits and Ben Peterson doubled.
The Warriors, who faced a league bye on Friday, finish off the regular season this week when they visit Leland on May 9, 3:30 p.m., and host Del Mar on May 10, 3:30 p.m.
Dons lose two
Del Mar dropped two games last week to slip to 4-12 in league play. The Dons lost 9-5 to Leigh and 15-5 to Valley Christian.
Clayton Sakoda ripped four hits, and Sean Scott belted three hits to knock in three runs, but the Dons lost 9-5 to Leigh. Jason Campbell singled and doubled for Del Mar and Jaemin Caplan had two hits.
Will Spencer ripped a home run and drove home three runs for the Dons in the loss to Valley earlier in the week. Campbell doubled and singled for Del Mar, and Greg Janssen doubled.
The Dons will host Oak Grove on May 9, 3:30 p.m., before wrapping up the year at Westmont on Thursday.
Big Wins for Falcons
The Saratoga baseball team came through with two clutch wins last week, beating Los Gatos 5-2 and Milpitas 6-5 to take over third place in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The Falcons improved to 8-8 in the division with the wins and the Wildcats, who also lost to first-place Wilcox last week, slipped to 7-8.
Junior Justin Oliver and sophomore Brett Behnke combined forces to scatter 10 hits and pitch the Falcons to the win over the Cats. Oliver picked up the win, pushing his league record to 3-4, and Behnke came on in relief to pick up his second save.
Junior shortstop Andy Swanson had a pair of singles to lead an eight-hit attack for the Falcons.
Saratoga took the early lead with a four-run rally in the first and added another run in the second. Gatos cut the lead to 5-2 with a couple of runs in the third, but that was the end of the scoring.
Behnke came back with the win and Oliver came on to get the save later in the week in the 6-5 win over the Trojans. Behnke pushed his mound record to 5-3.
The big hit of the game was a fifth-inning grand slam by junior Marc Muniz. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound slugger also doubled in the game.
Caleb Mosley had two hits for the Falcons and Oliver ripped a double.
The Trojans took the early lead with two runs in the top of the first, but Saratoga tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Milpitas added two more in the fourth to lead 4-2, but Muniz gave the Falcons the lead for good with his slam in the fifth. Milpitas scored again in the seventh, but Oliver shut the door to clinch the win.
The Falcons, now 10-12 for the year, wrap up the regular season this week and still have their sights set on a berth in the CCS playoffs.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
