Padres survive emotional battle

SAN MATEO – Not even two bat flips and one ill-time toss of the glove could overshadow the baseball on Saturday at Dan Frisella Field.

Serra's 9-6 victory over St. Ignatius Prep might be remembered for a pair of long third-inning home runs, each accompanied with bat flips from Archer Horn and DJ Delaney, but the game itself – loaded with timely hitting, big-time defensive plays and emotion that usually doesn't come out until late May – will be considered an instant classic because of its overall quality of play.

"It was an emotional back-and-forth game," said St. Ignatius Prep coach Brian Pollzzie. "We're fortunate to be able to play in these kinds of games. We're built for games like this."

But in the end, it was Serra that overcame the Wildcats' five-run third inning that gave them a 5-3 lead by scoring six unanswered runs.

And in the seventh, St. Ignatius loaded the bases against Serra closer Nate Hui and had a run on the board after the right-handed junior struck out Horn for the first out of the inning and then tossed his glove into the air in celebration.

"That's something we're going to have a talk about," said Serra coach Mat Keplinger. "He's a young, emotional player, but there's no place in the game for that, either."

Hui escaped further damage when Beau Shaffer's sharp one-hopper to Ian Josephson was turned into a game-ending double play where Evan Bradshaw's throw to first base just beat Shaffer, who dived head-first into first base. It was that kind of game for both teams. Big plays on offense. And defensive heroics, too. Along with plenty of chatter and chirping.

After Tyler Harrison's three-run homer gave the Padres (13-2) a 3-0 lead in the second inning, Horn drilled a long home run down the right field line – his Peninsula-leading sixth of the season – and flipped the bat into the air, drawing the ire of the Serra bench and Keplinger.

Emmett Johnson was grazed on the arm by a Riley Lim pitch – nothing close to being intentional – bringing Delaney to the plate. When Delaney launched a Lim fastball over the scoreboard, he, too, tossed the bat into the air, Keplinger said.

"His bat flip was a lot higher," Keplinger said. "He walked down the line. Delaney was talking the entire way around the bases. And that's when the umpires stepped in. ... There's no place in the game for that at this level."

Pollzzie said he was watching the ball and didn't see the bat flips but plans to watch the tape and see for himself what happened.

"We want to play the game the right way," he said. "We want our kids to be into the game, but there's a teaching moment there."

It was an emotional moment, Delaney said.

"I was a little in the heat of the moment, " he said. "Whenever we play Serra, it's just like a constant mental battle. ... Baseball is a game where everything's moving at a thousand miles an hour, and if your emotions are going high, it's only going to speed that up. Yes, you need to have a little emotion for your teammates, for your boys and for yourself to want to go win the game, but you have to be able to keep (it) in check, to slow the game down a little bit and to ultimately be successful."

With the score tied at 3, AJ Wineinger and Chase Gordon walked – Gordon actually hit a foul ball that was three feet to the right of the foul pole in right field that would have been St. Ignatius' third homer of the inning – and Ryan Rosenthal doubled in both runners with a drive down the left-field line that gave the Wildcats a 5-3 lead.

The Padres struck for four runs in the fourth. Davis Minton had a game-tying two-run single. That was followed by RBI hits from Jack Armstrong and Aaron Maier. They added two more in the fifth on run-scoring hits off Horn by Bradshaw and Minton.

Three Things We Liked

• The first inning. Both teams came away empty after loading the bases. Rescue came in the form of inning-ending double plays. AJ Wineinger's snag of a one-hopper of a Jack Armstrong liner to the hot corner, which he fielder cleanly and turned into an around-the-hour double play, was a big boost for the Wildcats, he said. "When they had the bases loaded, they had all the momentum, because they just made their own double play," Wineinger said. "I knew my pitcher was struggling a little bit, so I had to help him out. And that was just a huge shift in the game."
• Tyler Harrison. On Friday, the slumping centerfielder started the game on the bench against Valley Christian's Brock Ketelsen. He made a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh and unloaded his first home run of the season. On Saturday, everything he hit was off the wall. A three-run home to right-center in the third. A single high off the screen in left-center field in the fourth. And a double off the bottom of the right-center field in the fifth. "Baseball is a game of confidence," he said. "To get those little boosts are good. There are so many ups and downs to the season. You have to keep pushing."
• Aaron Maier. Keplinger continues to tinker with the Padres' lineup, particularly in the outfield, but may have found a long-term solution in left field with Maier, who doubled, walked and scored a run Saturday. He also made great defensive play when he fielded Ryan Rosenthal's line drive off the net in left field and threw to second to nail the St. Ignatius Prep designated hitter trying to stretch the base hit into a double.

He Said It

"We're running the gauntlet of the schedule right now. And there's no choice but to have a short memory and bounce back. Up to this point, this was the biggest game of the year for us." – Mat Keplinger, Serra coach, after the Padres bounced back from a loss to Valley Christian on Friday with an emotional win of St. Ignatius Prep on Saturday.

W: Watters. L: Gordon. 3 hits- Harrison (S). 2 hits- Horn (SI), Rosenthan (SI), Josephson (S), Bradshaw (S), D. Minton (S). 3 RBI- D. Monton (S), Harrison (S). 2 RBI- Delaney (SI), Rosenthal (SI). HR- Horn-6 (SI), Delaney-3 (SI), Harrison-2 (S). 2B- Johnson (SI), Rosenthal (SI), Maier (S), Harrison (S).

Palo Alto 15, Carlmont 13

Palo Alto rallied from a 13-7 deficit by scoring eight runs in the fourth inning to defeat the Scots, who have now lost four straight games.

Isaiah Walker and Jonathan Nguyen had three hits each, while Dexter Cleveringa, Justin Fung and Michael Wu had two hits each.

Carlmont (5-9) pounded out 15 hits of its own. Johnny Dunne had three hits, while Tyler Webster, Levi Wellman, Aidan O'Driscoll and Nate Werbinski had two hits each.

Carlmont scored four runs in the first inning, but Paly countered with six runs in the bottom of the first. The Scots had a big inning and seemingly took charge of the game, but they never recovered from the Vikings' big inning.

W: Johnston. L: Giacomini. 3 hits- Dunne (C), Walker (PA), Nguyen (PA), 2 hits- Webster (C), Wellman (C), Werbinski (C), O'Driscoll (C), Wu (PA), Cleveringa (PA), Fung (PA). 5 RBI- Cleveringa (PA). 3 RBI- Wellman (C). 2 RBI- Bader (PA), Vonderhaar (PA), Werbinski (C), J. Tofigh (C). 3B- Vonderhaar (PA), Cleveringa (PA). 2B- O'Driscoll (C), Walker (PA) 2, Wu (PA), Nguyen (PA).

Sacred Heart Prep 3, Woodside 2, 8 innings

Rallin Covey won his first game of the year by throwing four innings of one-hit relief. He struck out seven.

Devin Saltzgaber led off the top of the eighth inning with his second hit of the game. He moved to second on a walk to Nico Pollioni. The go-ahead run eventually scored on a single by Nelson Harris.

Woodside, which lost all three of its games this week and fell to 7-7, got two RBI from Jeremiah Arias Torres.

W: Covey. L: Torres. 2 hits- Saltzgaber (SHP). Catteno (W). 2 RBI- Arias Torres. 2B- Catteneo (W), Saltzgaber (SHP).

Mountain View 4, Aragon 0

Preston Huang tossed a complete-game shutout, which won its 10th game of the year at Aragon.

Luke Orrock had a two-run single for Mountain View, which broke open a 1-0 game by scoring three in the fifth.

Charlie Henderson and Kyle Crawford had two hits each for Aragon (4-6), while Christian Bandy had two hits for Mountain View.

W: Haung. L: Jacobs. 2 hits- Henderson (A), Crawford (A), Bandy (MV). 2 RBI- Orrock (MV).

Santa Cruz 13, Half Moon Bay 10

Santa Cruz pounded out 16 hits to win its seventh game, but it wasn't nearly as simple as some might have expected.

The Cougars got two RBI each from Riley Jackson and Brady Miller.

W: Toohey. L: Kung. 4 hits- Deworken (SC). 3 hits- Fasseri (SC), Decosta (SC), Fasseri (SC). 2 hits- Jin (SC). 5 RBI- Deworkin (SC). 3 RBI- Decosta, Fasseri (SC). 2 RBI- Jackson (HMB). Miller (HMB). 3B- Deworken (SC), Cuoto (HMB). 2B- Miller (HMB), Caltabiano (SC).

Hayward 4, San Mateo 0

Tyce Copus had two hits, including a double and took a loss for the Bearcats, who fell to .500.

W: Duran. L: Copus. 2 hits- Copus. 2B- Copus.

Valley Christian 10, Mitty 1

Don't look now, but the Warriors are coming alive offensively. After scoring a season-high 10 runs on Friday, they came back with another 10-run outing a day later.

Valley won its second straight game by getting two hits each from Brock Ketelsen, Hunter Fujimoto and Nathan Choi had two hits each. Ketelsen, who had a grand-slam home run in Friday's victory over Serra, drove in two more runs on Saturday.

Fujimoto drove in two runs. He had a triple, while Ketelsen had two doubles and Quinten Marsh had one.

Mitty managed just five hits against Kole Laubach, who went four innings to pick up the victory. Chris Buck threw two clean relief innings, striking out four Monarchs.

The Monarchs, playing without injured seniors Grayson Munoz (ankle) and Waylon Walsh (thumb) have now lost four straight games.

W: Laubach. L: Engin. 2 hits- Ketelsen (VC),Fujimoto (VC), Choi (VC). 2 RBI- Ketelsen (VC), Fujimoto (VC), Choi (VC). 3B- Fujimoto (VC). 2B- Ketelsen (VC) 2, Marsh (VC).

Saint Francis 1, Riordan 0

Reid Cole went the distance, allowing just three hits, while striking out four in a nifty 77-pitch effort.

It was the Crusaders' second straight shutout loss.

The Lancers (11-4) walked off the win in the seventh when Aaron Bonini and Henry Dommer led off with walks. Bonini scored on an infield single by Michael Perone.

W: Cole. L: Parenti. 2B- Cappellazzo (SF), Doomer (SF).

Bellarmine 6, Sacred Heart Cathedral 0

The trio of Preston Pera, Noah Liu and Cael Stout held Sacred Heart to one hit, while dealing a Bellarmine shutout victory for the second straight day.

Bellarmine (7-7) pounded out 11 hits, including two each from Drew McClelland, Nate Bateman, Luke McNeil and DJ Dunne and Vincent Kim.

W: Pera. L: Rogers-Lewis. 2 hits- McClelland (B), Kim , Bateman, McNeil, Dunne. 3 RBI- Bateman. 2B- Dunne, Bateman.

Burlingame 3, Lowell 2

Nick Armstrong picked up the victory by scattering six hits and two runs over six innings of work. He struck out four.

The Panthers (7-5) trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the sixth. With two out, Michael Vargas and Preet Mallen reached first base on consecutive infield errors.

Vargas scored on a single by Ben Sakal to tie the game at 2. Mallen scored on a wild pitch.

Mark O'Grady had two hits for Burlingame, while Liam Philibosian had a double.

W: Armstrong. L: Cook. S: O'Grady. 2 hits- Sakai (L), O'Grady (B). 2B- Philibosian (B), Sakai (L), Ornales-Rafael (L).