WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS ...

Valley Christian jumped to a big lead and then hung on in the seventh to win the All Faith Classic in Las Vegas with a 10-7 victory over Archbishop Moeller of Cincinnati, the storied national baseball power that produced Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr.

The Warriors (15-4-1) finished off a week that saw them go 3-0-1 and face teams from San Bernardino, Carmichael, Georgia and Ohio. In their four games in Vegas, they scored 35 runs.

On Thursday, it was sophomore shortstop Colton Hadfield and senior right fielder Hunter Fujimoto that did most of the damage. They combined four hits, two doubles and seven RBIs.

Valley rallied from an early deficit to tie the game at three. The Warriors took a 5-3 lead in the fourth and broke it open with five runs in the fifth inning.

Christian Cabanas and Nathan Choi were hit by pitches. The Fighting Crusaders elected to intentionally walk Brock Ketelsen – who had four hits and six RBI the night before – to load the bases.

Fujimoto made them pay with a double that drove home two and came with a bonus run when Ketelsen scored on a throwing error. Quinten Marsh walked and following a double steal, Hadfield doubled home two more runs.

Rohan Kasanagottu continued his strong month of April, going six innings for the win. He allowed three runs but struck out nine on 101 pitches.

The Warriors struggled to close the door in the seventh. Moeller (8-1-1) rallied for four runs and had the tying run at the plate. But Alex Kim came into the game and ended it with a strikeout that earned him a save.

W: Kasanagottu. L: Pappano. S: Kim. 2 hits- Fujimoto (VC), Hadfield (VC), Mull (VC), Pappano (M), Panatoski (M), Cuozzo (M). 4 RBI- Hadfield (VC). 3 RBI- Fujimoto (VC). 2 RBI- Pappano (M), Valencac (M). 2B- Hadfield (VC), Fujimoto (VC), Cuozzo (M), Ridley (M), Valencic (M).

Menlo School 6, Terra Nova 0

MENLO PARK – Jackson Flanagan doesn't run away from his lack of velocity. Instead, the right-handed junior – listed on the Menlo School roster at 5-foot-9, 140 pounds – embraces it.

"I don't throw hard," he said after shutting down Terra Nova on four hits in 6-0 victory that gave the Knights sole possession of first place in the PAL Ocean Division. "I just let my teammates make the plays behind me."

In a game where radar guns have become all the rage at the high school level and the best pitchers on the Peninsula are hitting 90 mph, Flanagan is the antithesis. His fastest pitch in the second inning was recorded at 66 mph, but he threw just seven or eight pitches in the frame so laugh if you must.

There's more than one way to win in this game.

On Thursday, he struck out four, induced eight grounders and took advantage of his spacious to home field – even on a day when he was on the visiting team – to get 10 flyball outs.

"It's definitely a pitcher's park," he said. "I'm happy with the way we played today. The defense was great behind me."

It makes you wonder how the Tigers would have fared had they been at home. This might have been the first game this year that Terra Nova was hurt by playing another road game. With their field being renovated, every game has been on someone else's diamond.

The Tigers never got the kinds of swings that were the staple of an 11-game winning streak that was snapped by Menlo on Tuesday.

"There are ways to manage it, and we didn't today," said junior catcher Joey Donati. "You have to get your timing down during warmups and just take it from there."

Menlo (10-7 overall and 5-1 in the Ocean Division) got the only run Flanagan would need in first inning when Jack Freehill led off with a single. He moved to second on Chuck Wynn's base hit and was bunted to third by Liam Widner.

Freehill scored on KC Chavinson's fly ball to left field.

The Knights scored an unearned run against Jesse Martinez in the second inning on a booted grounder, a sacrifice bunt, a single by Matthew Majalya and Fletcher Cahill's safety squeeze bunt that pulled the first baseman off the bag for another error – one of five by the Tigers.

Menlo broke it open with four runs in the sixth inning. The big hits were a two-run single by Zach Roeder and a base hit down the right-field line by Ben Salama.

Three Things We Liked

• Wes McDougal's catch in the fifth inning. With a runner on first base and two outs, Chavinson launched on to the wall in left field. McDougal went after it hard and made the catch just before colliding with the fence and knocking the wind out of himself.
• A Luke Ornelas-to-Donati double play to end the second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Wynn flied one to medium-deep right field. Ornelas caught it and threw a one-hop strike to the plate where Donati fielded it cleanly and tagged out a sliding Majalya.
• The difference between Menlo in April and Menlo in February. After the slow start, the Knights have won seven straight and are showing the kind of confidence that helped them win a CCS crown last year.

He Said It

"I think we were just a little young and a little fresh at the start, coming off of a really strong season last year. We've got some young players, and everyone was slowly feeling learning the ropes. We're getting it going now." – Jackson Flanagan, Menlo School junior.

Serra 9, Benicia 4

The Padres wrapped up their Sacramento stay by going 2-2 at the Boras Baseball Classic.

Evan Bradshaw and Ian Josephson had three hits each and were instrumental in Serra's big fourth inning when it took the lead for good.

With one out, Aaron Minton walked an stole second. He scored on a Josephson single that tied the game at 4. After William Walbridge was hit by a pitch, Bradshaw singled to load the bases.

Jack Armstrong followed with a single and the bases were cleared on an error, giving the Padres (17-4) a 7-4 lead.

They added to it with two more runs in the sixth inning.

Aiden Waters worked 1 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the win. Nate Hui and Armstrong pitched the final three innings, allowing just a hit between them to nail down the contest.

W: Waters. L: Thompson. 3 hits- Bradshaw (S), Josephson (S). 2 hits- Raweles (B), Rubens (B). 2 RBI- D. Miinton (S). 3B- Bradshaw (S). 2B- Josephson (S).

Whitney 3, St. Ignatius Prep 1, 8 innings

Whitney scored two runs in the top of the eighth to top St. Ignatius Prep, but the game might be remembered for the Wildcats' ability to come through with the bases loaded an inning earlier.

St. Ignatius loaded the bases on a Jack Callen single and error that moved him to second, an intentional walk to Archer Horn and a single to Emmett Johnson.

However, DJ Delaney's grounder to short was turned into an out at the plate and AJ Wineinger popped out to force the extra frame.

W: Warner. L: Schaffer. 2 hits- Gibson (S), Warner (W), Smith (W), McLelmore (W). 2B- Giametti (S).

Woodside 8, Aragon 3

Joseph Hohl went the distance, scattering seven hits and surrendering three runs on a 112-pitch effort.

The Woodside bats reemerged to ensure a sweep of the Dons (5-11). The 12-hit attack was led by Mateus Mokhtarani, who had two hits, including a double, and drove in four runs.

Trent Amoroso, Cruz Torres and Diego Perez also had two hits each for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats (8-7) scored three runs in the first. Amoroso led off with a single. He was bunted to second by Anderson Comfort. Torres reached first based on a dropped third strike, which allowed Amoroso to score when the ball got away at first base.

A Colby Fernandez single was followed by a Mokhtarani double that scored two more runs.

W: Hohl. L: Kane. 2 hits- Amoroso (W), Torres (W), Perez (W), Mokhtarani (W). 4 RBI- Mokhtarani (W). 2 RBI- Torrez (W). 2B- Mokhtarani (W).

Oak Ridge 9, Mitty 3

It could have been worse for the Monarchs, who split four games in Sacramento, but were left with a bad taste following Thursday's lopsided loss to an Oak Ridge team with a losing record.

Mitty (10-10) collected just four hits. Ethan Chase had two of them.

W: Youdan. L: Engin. 3 hits- Telpy (OR). 2 hits- Ransi (4 OR), Malloy (OR), Hubbard (OR), Manguia (OR), Chase (M). 3 RBI- Manguia (OR). 2 RBI- Ransi (OR), Mallow (OR). 3B- Ransi. 2B- Manguia (OR), Malloy (OR), Hubbard (OR).

San Mateo 5, El Camino 1

Christian Louie won his sixth game of the season, going the distance by allowing a run on six hits. Perhaps most impressive about his outing is that 65 of his 92 pitches went for strikes.

Hayato Nishiyama led off the bottom of the first with a single. Louie was then hit by a pitch and Jesus Olivas was safe on an error to lead the bases. A Julien Bleess single scored Nishiyama with the game's first run.

A double play grounder plated the second run of the inning and Tyce Copus closed out the first-inning scoring with an RBI single.

W: Louie. L: Bromaghim. 2 hits- Jang (EC), Osorio (EC), Nishiyama (SM), Bleess (SM). 2B- Bleess (SM), Jang (EC).