Photograph by George Sakkestad
Fremont catcher Luke Donigian makes a diving effort, but Wilcox scores another run in a 14-3 win over the Indians. Fremont also dropped a tough 4-3 nod to Monta Vista last week.
By DICK SPARRER
The Homestead baseball punctuated its league championship with a great big exclamation point last week--42 of them, in fact!
The Mustangs won three games last week and scored 42 runs in the process to wrap up the championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Homestead pounded rival Cupertino 16-2 and whipped Los Altos 17-4 before outslugging Mountain View 9-8.
The three wins pushed Homestead's league record to 16-1 with just one game left to play in the El Camino Division season. The Mustangs wrap up the division season on May 9 at Lynbrook.
Homestead is now 19-5 for the year and looking forward to a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs as the El Camino champ.
The Mustangs blasted 50 hits in the three games last week, destroying any outside hopes Saratoga may have had of overtaking them in the standings.
Homestead entered the week with a three-game lead over the Falcons in the El Camino race.
Gabe Interiano ripped seven hits and Matt Hall and Sal Kirmes cracked six apiece to lead the Mustangs to the easy wins.
Hall doubled and singled twice to drive in a couple of runs in Homestead's 16-2 win over Cupertino to open the week.
Bret Erickson doubled and singled twice in the win and Kirmes singled and doubled to drive in four runs.
Interiano had two hits to plate a pair of runs and Kayzell Milton ripped a double. Cameron Watts also drove home two runs in the win.
Senior righthander Alex Turlea was the happy recipient of all the offensive support. Turlea was the winning pitcher for Homestead, pushing his season record to 4-0 with the victory.
Senior Shawn Ardaiz homered to lead a four-hit attack for Cupertino in the loss.
Sophomore righthander Tony Plant was happy to see the Mustangs explode for 19 hits a couple of days later in a 17-4 win over Los Altos.
Plant went the distance to scatter nine hits in the game, striking out seven along the way. Plant upped his mound record to 3-0.
Hall and Erickson each homered for the Mustangs and Mike Jones and Mitch Ignaitis each tripled and had three hits apiece. Hall drove in three runs and Jones and Erickson plated two each.
Interiano and Kirmes had two hits apiece and Watts tripled and drove in four runs. Geoff Bonham and Jerell Taylor added doubles.
The Mustangs had their hands full against Mountain View, but pulled out a 9-8 victory with five runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Interiano doubled and singled twice to knock in three runs for the winners and Jones had two hits to drive in two. Hall and Kirmes also had two hits apiece.
Ben Amiwero went the distance to pick up the mound win, pushing his record to 6-1 for the year.
Indians drop a pair
The Fremont baseball team lost a pair of De Anza Division games last week, falling 14-3 to first-place Wilcox and 4-3 to second-place Monta Vista.
The Indians were in trouble in a hurry against the Chargers. Wilcox rallied for nine runs in the first inning and rolled from there to the 14-3 win.
Tom Jimenez ripped a pair of hits for Fremont in the loss. The Indians had just five hits in the game.
Fremont gave Monta Vista all it could handle, but the Indians lost a tough one-run decision to the Matadors.
The Mats touched started Brent McCann for a run in the first, but the Indians rallied for two in the third and one in the fifth to lead 3-1.
Monta Vista fought back with three in the home half of the fifth, though, that was all the Matadors needed to clinch the 4-3 win.
Nick Duran singled and doubled to lead a seven-hit attack for Fremont.
The two losses left the Indians 6-9 in the division and 9-10 for the year heading into the final week of the regular season.
King's Academy nails win
Micah Bariteau belted three hits and Danny Carter knocked in a pair of runs to lead The King's Academy baseball team to a 5-2 win over North Valley Baptist.
Carter also picked up the mound win for the Knights, pushing his season record to 5-3. King's is now 9-7 for the year and 7-0 in the Christian Private Schools League.
Earlier in the week, King's had dropped a 6-2 decision to Sacred Heart Prep in a nonleague game.
In girls' softball action, King's lost 13-3 to Sacred Heart Prep in nonleague play. The Knights are now 5-8 for the year.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.