Knights' rally misses its mark

The King's Academy rallied from way down on Wednesday and appeared to have taken charge of the contest on Ethan Johnson's grand-slam home run – the senior outfielder's second of the game.

But that's when this whacky game got a lot whackier.

Trailing, 9-7, Johnson drove a Dylan Karmin pitch over the right field fence. Dominic Myung and Justin Cho scored without incident, but it was ruled Nate Plata, who started the play on first base, missed home plate, which nullified his run and Johnson's home run and kept the score tied at 9.

The Ravens walked off the game in the bottom of the seventh on a Nolan Fausto RBI double that scored Cameron Abrams and gave Sequoia the PAL Bay Division victory.

But in the end, all anyone was talking about was Johnson's nullified homer, which would have been his second in as many innings.

"It would have put us in the lead by two," Johnson said. "... They wouldn't have had the momentum like they did because of that call."

It's debatable whether Plata missed the plate. "It's hard to tell," Johnson said, adding it looked like Plata touched it on the video replays. Then again, "the plate was dusty."

The King's Academy had rallied from way down to make a game of it. Johnson, who set a goal of breaking the school's single-season home run record with six, hit his second of the season in the sixth inning – a two-run shot that cut Sequoia's lead to two, 7-2.

But Morgan Winfield hit his third homer of the season in the bottom of the sixth – a two-run shot – that gave the Ravens a 9-5 lead and set the stage for the seventh-inning drama (and controversy).

Menlo-Atherton may have been the biggest beneficiaries from Wednesday's action. With The King's Academy and Capuchino getting tagged with losses, the Bears (11-4) extended their lead in the Bay Division.

The King's Academy and Sequoia will meet again in Sunnyvale on Friday to complete their season series.

W: Karmin. L: Kinoshita. 3 hits- Plata (TKA), Cho (TKA). 2 hits- Myung (TKA), Johnson (TKA), Sid (TKA). Ostrander (S), Abrams (S). 4 RBI- Johnson (TKA). 3 RBI- Plata (TKA). 2 RBI- Winfield (S), Ostrander (S), Abrams (S). HR- Johnson (TKA) (2), Winfield (S) (3). 2B- Plata (TKA) 2, Fausto (S), Abrams (S), Ostrander (S), Sid (TKA), Myung (TKA), Johnson (TKA).

Sacred Heart Prep 5, Capuchino 2

Left-hander Kyle Sweeney pitched Sacred Heart Prep to its biggest victory of the season – a 5-2 PAL Bay Division win on the road against tenth-ranked Capuchino.

The sophomore entered the seventh inning with a shutout but lost it on Cameron Chin's two-run homer. He scattered seven hits, struck out eight and threw 100 pitches in his first varsity complete-game-victory.

The Gators (7-10) scored a run in the first and broke it open with four runs in the third inning. The first run of the frame crossed the plate on a balk. A Nico Pollioni single was followed by an RBI double from Sully Fischbein.

Daniel Gee came up next and hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0.

W: Sweeney. L: B. Gomez. 2 hits- Fischbein (SHP), Pollioni (SHP), Chin (C). 2 RBI- Gee (SHP). Chin (C). HR- Gee (SHP). 2B- Brooks (C).

Hillsdale 5, Burlingame 0

Jack Belloni pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just one infield hit in the top of the 6th, while striking out 12 and walking none in Hillsdale's shutout victory on the road.

Hugo Guzman had a three-run double.

Nash Trautwin went the first four innings for the Panthers, allowing just two runs and a hit.

W: Belloni. L: Trautwein. 3 RBI- Guzman (H). 2B- Young (H), Guzman (H).