Chow goes the distance for Lancers

ATHERTON – Nick Chow, bloody right toe and all, tossed his first career complete game – a three-hitter that gave Saint Francis its four straight win, a 3-1 victory over Menlo-Atherton.

The bloody sock – perhaps an homage to Curt Schilling and World Series pitching heroics in Boston – is a common postgame occurrence caused by continuously pushing off the mound.

On Saturday, he pushed off a career-high 95 times, not counting his pregame warmup pitches. That's a lot of wear and tear, but he can handle a little blood.

"It's just a little scrape," he said after going the distance and allowing just a run and three hits, while striking out five.

Chow outdueled Menlo-Atherton's Wes Peterson in a battle of two of the Peninsula's best power arms. Both pitchers were impressive on Saturday. Peterson hit 91 mph on the radar gun while Chow was living in the mid to high 80s.

The Lancers (5-1) scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Each run came courtesy of a leadoff walk or hit batter. Bobby Hill had an RBI groundout in the fourth, Gino Cappellazzo lined a run-scoring single up the middle in the fifth, and on an RBI groundout by Kyle McMillan in the sixth.

Not flashy, but they're executing.

Play of the Game

The Bears missed on their best chance for a big inning in the third when they put runners on second and third with one out. With the infield in, catcher JT Anderson hit a one-hopper to freshman third baseman Sione Tulua, who fired home and nailed David Lopez at the plate by 60 feet.

Three Things We Liked

• Power Pitchers. Watching Nick Chow and Wes Peterson throw with relative ease in the high 80s is a good indicator of how far offseason weight training and specialized pitching techniques have raised the bar.
• Menlo-Atherton senior shortstop Will Roberts might be the best middle infielder no one is talking about. His glove is legit. He made a play few others could when he charged an early inning ball on Saturday and short-hopped the grounder before throwing off balance for the out.
• Junior catcher Gino Cappellazzo was on base all day. He was hit by a pitch in the first – one of five (yes, five) Lancers to wear one on Saturday – singled in a run in the fifth and walked in the sixth. He also stole a base. Not bad for a catcher.

They Said It

"I'm happy with where we are. We're doing the things that we need to do to keep games close – pitch and play defense – and we're going to hit. ... We're not hitting yet as a team, but I know we will. So, if we can play the style of baseball and then add in the hitting as we go, we're going to be fine." – Erik Wagle, Saint Francis coach.

W: Chow. L: Peterson.

San Mateo 5, Sacred Heart Prep 1

The Bearcats, who have been feasting off San Francisco teams in the early going, got their first quality win of the season, thanks to pitcher Christian Louie.

Louie went six innings and allowed just a run and two hits, while striking out eight.

Junior middle infielder Tyce Copus had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for the Bearcats (4-1).

Nico Pollioni and Jackson Selcher had two hits each for the Gators, who fell to 2-4.

W: Louie. L: Schmalzle. 2 hits- Copus (SM), Pollioni (SHP), Selcher (SHP). 2 RBI- Copus (SM). 2B- Copus (SM).

The King’s Academy 7, Los Altos 2

The Knights snapped a two-game losing streak, thanks to a handful of players who don't often get noticed.

Dominic Myung came on in relief of Toby Trotter and pitched three shutout innings to pick up the victory. He struck out four and allowed just four hits in three innings of work and added a two-run single.

Trotter had two hits, while Justin Cho had two hits, including a double, and drove in two.

W: Myung. L: Wesley. 2 hits- Trotter (TKA), Cho (TKA). 2 RBI- Cho (TKA), Myung (TKA). 2B- Cho (TKA).

Aragon 10, Live Oak 3

Keith Mayte had his second straight multiple-hit game for the Dons, who made short work of the Acorns (yes, the Acorns).

Matye had three hits and scored three runs, while Charlie Henderson drove in three runs with a double.

W: Miller. L: Guenett. 3 hits- Matye (A). 3 RBI- Henderson (A). 2B- Matye (A).

Sacred Heart Cathedral 4, El Camino 0

Jacob Vines allowed three hits, while striking out 14 over six innings of work to earn his second victory of the year.

The Irish, one of the season's biggest surprises, pounded out 12 hits against an El Camino squad that picked up its first victory on Friday.

Max Matthews, Quinn Middleton, Tommy Do and Rohan Kahns had two hits each. Do drove in a pair of runs.

Sacred Heart Cathedral will travel to unbeaten Burlingame Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a game that will match two ranked teams.

W: Vines. L: Iniguez. 2 hits- Kahns (SHC), Matthews (SHC), Middleton (SHC), 2 RBI- Do (SHC). 2B- Matthews (SHC), Kahns (SHC), Do (SHC).

Willow Glen 9 Half Moon Bay 6

The Cougars lost to fall to 1-4, but sophomore shortstop Riley Jackson was what everyone was talking about after the game.

He hit two long home runs in the loss. That's an achievement, says coach Brian Anderson, who has only seen four home runs on Half Moon Bay's field in his 14 years as the coach there.

"I've never seen that in my 14 years here," he said.

The two bombs were Jackson's first of the season.

W: Pini. L: Hipkins. 2 hits- Madsen (WG), Lemon (HMB), Jackson (HMB). HR- Jackson (HMB) 2. 3 RBI- Jackson. 2 RBI- Madsen (WG). 3B- Korba (WG). 2B- Lemon ((HMB).

Terra Nova 2, Lowell 1

The Tigers won their second straight game to improve to 2-2-1.

Luke Ornales picked up the victory in relief of Aiden James, who had another solid outing.

The Tigers snapped a 1-1 tie in the final at bat after Cooper Santamato walked, James was hit by a pitch and Joseph Donati singled to load the bases.

A wild pitch chased home Santamato with the winning run.

John Snead led the Tigers with two hits, while Donati had a run-scoring single.

Terra Nova next travels to Hillsdale on Wednesday.

W: Ornales. L: Reed. 2 hits- Snead (TN). 2B- Derby (TN).

Leigh 7, Riordan 1

The Crusaders came off Friday's sugar-high victory over Sacred Heart Prep with a crash by scoring just one run in a loss to Leigh (4-1).

Chase Oliver had three hits for Riordan (3-2-1), while Santino Williams, the losing pitcher, had a double.

W: Takamura. L: Williams. 3 hits- Oliver (R). 2B- Williams (R), Kim (L), Christian (L), Miller (L).

Bellarmine 10, Oak Ridge 3

Vincent Kim had two hits, while DJ Dunne drove in two for the Bells, who snapped a two-game losing streak with a win in El Dorado Hills.

Dunne, Evan Tavarez, Nathan Chew and Nate Bateman had doubles for Bellarmine (3-2), which will return to the diamond Tuesday when it travels to San Lorenzo Valley.

W: Stout. L: Lamb. 2 hits- Kim. 2 RBI- Dunne (B). 2B- Tavarez (B), Bateman (B), Chew (B), Dunne (B).

Serra 6, St. Mary's 2

Trailing 1-0, the Padres erupted for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take control of the game and remain unbeaten.

The big hit was a three-run homer by catcher Jack Armstrong.

Davis Minton walked to lead off. The next two hitters struck out, but Minton stole second and third bases, bringing up Ian Josephson, who was hit by a pitch. Tyler Harrison was hit, too, loading the bases.

An Aaron Minton walk forced home his brother and tied the game. Evan Bradshaw then broke the tie with a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-1. And Armstrong put an exclamation point on the big inning with a home run over the net in left field.

Riley Lim went the first four innings before giving way to Nate Hui, who picked up the win in relief. Josephson allowed a run in the seventh but closed out the Rams.

W: Hui. L: Kobrin. 2 hits- Bedford (SM), Bradshaw (S), Armstrong (S). 3 RBI- Armstrong (S). 2 RBI- Bradshaw (S). HR- Armstrong (S). 2B- Mickle (SM) Grove (SM).