Padres complete the sweep

PACIFICA – Finn Demuth's first offering – a letter-high changeup – was his only bad pitch on Tuesday. As it turned out, that one mistake was fatal for St. Ignatius Prep.

Serra senior Ian Josephson, hobbled with a hamstring that is limiting his mobility, made sure he didn't have to run hard on the bases by driving the pitch over the fence in centerfield for a home run that turned out to be all the Padres would need.

The Padres' 1-0 win at Fairmont Park reestablished Serra as the team to beat in the West Catholic Athletic League chase. The sweep of the Wildcats came on the heels of perhaps Serra's low point of the season – a 10-4 loss to visiting Valley Center on Friday.

Brushing aside the loss to the Warriors was the first step.

"There's no back-to-back losses," said senior Davis Minton, who picked up the save by tossing three scoreless innings. "That's the goal for the season. So, we came out the next day. We had to flush it right away and come back and take care of business on Saturday. It's always high energy and emotions against SI and especially on Saturday."

If Saturday's 9-6 victory over the Wildcats was chocked full of excitement – an emotional marathon, so to speak – Tuesday's contest was a sprint, a 1 hour, 50-minute affair where pitching and defense took centerstage.

Richie Calderon and Minton combined for seven shutout innings by inducing 13 fly balls and just three hits – all of them on the infield.

The only real drama came in the seventh inning when Serra centerfielder Tyler Harrison laid out to make a diving catch in left-center field on a line drive hit by Chase Gordon. Beau Shaffer followed by launching a fly ball to deep left field that Aaron Maier caught at the fence for the second out.

"His back was against the fence," said St. Ignatius coach Brian Pollzzie. "(Harrison} made a great play, too, to start the inning. This is just one of those games. We just didn't get the big hit. Bottom line, yeah, we're close."

Minton struck out Ryan Rosenthal for the third out.

"This win speaks to our resilience as a group," Josephson said. "We're just not overcomplicating things. We're keeping it simple, going pitch by pitch, game by game."

Three Things We Like

• Aaron Maier (again). He is turning into Serra's best defensive option in left field. On Saturday he took a line drive off the netting at Dan Frisella Field and fired a strike to second base to nail Ryan Rosenthal. On Tuesday, he caught a seventh-inning fly ball he snagged Beau Shaffer fly ball against the fence to help Serra maintain its one-run lead.
• Archer Horn. Lost in all the talk of his home run power and ability to hit 90 mph consistently from the mound is his defensive skills. On Tuesday, he made two plays that saved runs. The first when Serra tried to steal a run in the second inning. With runners on first and third and two out, Minton tried to steal second. Horn took the throw, ran Minton back to first and pivoted to his right and fired a strike to third baseman Beau Schaffer to nail Maier at third. In the fifth, he dived to his left and knocked down Nate Hui's ground ball up the middle with a runner on second and two out. He got to his feet and fired a short hop seed to first baseman Chase Gordon who picked it to get Hui.
• Clickers. We like them. They help umpires keep track of balls and strikes. They used to be mandatory equipment for the men and women in blue. Not anymore, apparently. Emmett Johnson's first inning walk – originally called back because the umpire counted only three balls – is an example of why all umpires should carry them.

He Said It

"Sweeps in league are huge. It doesn't necessarily matter the opponent. If you have an opportunity to sweep in league, you're able to separate yourself a little bit. But obviously, SI is a very good ball club that is going to make a lot of noise throughout the rest of the spring. So, getting it done in a tight game on the road just speaks to the toughness of our group." – Mat Keplinger, Serra coach

W: Calderon. L: Demuth. S: Minton. HR- Josephson.

Menlo School 2, El Camino 0

Ben Salama won his second straight start and Menlo School moved back to .500 for the first time this season with a 2-0 PAL Ocean Division victory over El Camino.

Salama pitched five innings, allowed three hits and walked five, but kept the Colts off the scoreboard by striking out four.

Jack Freehill drove in Menlo's run. He had two hits, including a double.

W: Salama. L: Iniguez. S: Plamondon. 2 hits- Freehill (MS). 2 RBI- Freehill (MS). 2B- Freehill (MS).

Half Moon Bay 14, San Mateo 8

Jason Couto had three hits, while Brady Miller had four RBI and Lane Giannini and Connor Heath drove in three runs each for the Cougars, who snapped a five-game losing streak with a slugfest victory over San Mateo.

Half Moon Bay (5-10) scored all of its runs in the first four innings, putting up a crooked number in each frame.

The Bearcats (5-6) got another big game from Jesus Olivas. He had four hits, while driving in three runs. Christian Louie had three hits for San Mateo.

Maverick Johnson pitched five innings out of the bullpen to pick up the victory.

W: Johnson, L: Olivas. 4 hits- Olivas (SM). 3 hits- Couto (HMB), Louie (SM). 2 hits- Lemen (HMB). 4 RBI- Miller (HMB). 3 RBI- Olivas (SM), Gianinni (HMB), Heath (HMB). 2 RBI- Louie (SM), Lemen (HMB). 3B- Miller (HMB). 2B- Heath (HMB), Lemen (HMB), Couto (HMB), Louie (SM), Olivas (SM), Nishayama (SM), Brandt (SM).

Valley Christian 3, Mitty 0

Rohan Kasanagottu threw his first complete-game shutout of the season – a two-hitter as the Warriors won their third straight game.

Kasanagottu needed just 76 pitches. He struck out two.

The Warriors (11-4) got all the runs they would need in the third inning when Brock Ketelsen and Hunter Fujimoto walked with one out. Quinten Marsh followed with a two-run triple to put Valley Christian ahead for good.

Marsh added a double, while Nathan Choi and Fujimoto had two hits each.

Justin Humbert was effective, but took the loss for the injury-riddled Monarchs (8-7)

W: Kasangottu. L: Humbert. 2 hits- Fujimoto (VC), Marsh (VC), Choi (VC). 2 RBI- Marsh. 3B- Marsh 2B- Marsh, Choi.

Saint Francis 8, Riordan 2

Landon Kim won his Peninsula-leading fifth game of the season as the Lancers completed the sweep of the Crusaders.

Kim blanked Riordan over five innings, throwing 72 pitches and allowing two hits. He struck out just one.

The Lancers (12-4) would score the only runs Kim would need in the third on a Tanner Wall leadoff home run. Matteo Pignati singled and Gino Cappellazzo walked. An Aaron Bonini base hit loaded the bases and Henry Doomer singled to drive in another. Another run scored on an error on the play.

Chris Verceles had his first three-hit game of the season for Saint Francis.

W: Kim. L: Cohn. 3 hits- Verceles. 2 hits- Oliver (R), Pignati. HR- Wall (SF), Ordonez (R). 2B- Pignati (SF), Cappellazzo (SF).

Bellarmine 4, Sacred Heart Cathedral 3

The Bellls completed the sweep of Sacred Heart by scoring a run in the top of the sixth to break a 3-3 tie.

With Derek Bray on the mound, Ollie McNamara singled and stole second. He scored on Dash Knight's base hit.

McNamara and Knight had two hits each for Bellarmine (8-7), while Santino Baisman had two hits for the Irish. Tedford Lewis had his first home run for Sacred Heart Cathedral.

W: Stout. L: Bray. 2 hits- Mcnamara (B), Baisman (SHC), Knight (B). 2 RBI- Baisman (SHC). HR- Lewis (SHC). 2B- McNeil (B).

Mills 5, Aragon 1

Nate Lafon struck out 11 and came within an out of pitching a complete game as the senior won for the second straight time.

The Menlo College signee allowed just two hits and walked two in throwing a season-high 112 pitches.

The Vikings (4-7) scored three runs in the first inning to give Lafon all the support he would need.

Nick Lafon, Nate's brother, had two hits and drove in two runs for Mills.

Josh Jacobs had Aragon's only two hits.

W: Nate Lafon. L: Shanker. 2 hits- Jacobs (A), Nick Lafon. 2 RBI- Nick Lafon. 2B- Nick Lafon.