Two for two. The Palo Alto High School varsity baseball team (4-0 SCVAL) swept a second win against Cupertino High School (0-4 SCVAL) this week with a 6-3 win today at Paly.
Compared to a crushing 15-0 shutout against Cupertino yesterday, the Vikings played under par, but they executed a satisfactory win against the Pioneers.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Paly center fielder Christoph Bono (’11) said. “But we got the win and we hung in there.”
In the first inning the Vikings started off strong, leading Cupertino 1-0 after an RBI from first baseman T.J. Braff (’11) sent outfielder Cory Tenanes (’11) in to score the team’s first run.
In the bottom of the first, the Vikings allowed the Pioneers to score twice.
Paly scored three in the top of the third and never lost the lead again. However, the Pioneers came back and set the score at 4-3 in the fourth inning.
“Cupertino definitely came a little more prepared [today],” designated hitter Christian Lonsky (’12) said. “They’d seen us once and they were hitting us better today.”
While the Vikings demonstrated a strong defensive effort throughout the game, they struggled to match the successful hitting performance compared to its game on Wednesday.
“We hit the ball well, but we have to adjust to our surroundings,” Lonsky said. “We’ve got to read our situations a little better and come out with more intensity.”
In the fifth inning Paly pulled away from Cupertino when T.J. Braff hit a triple, and obtained an RBI while sending brother Austin Braff into home to put Paly ahead 5-3. The Vikings cleaned up their defense, when Paly earned two outs against Cupertino within two pitches in a smart outfield effort by Sam Maliska (‘11) and Bono, who had a sliding catch.
Paly finished the game with a solid seventh inning effort when T.J. Braff hit a single to earn another RBI and the last run for the Vikings, putting them ahead 6-3. Check out his hit:
Paly third baseman Alec Wong (‘12) ended the game with all three of the Vikings’ outs on defense in the final inning, with a ground ball followed by a 5-3 double play.
Paly looks forward to a strong lineup in the next several weeks of play.
“We play Homestead next week, and Los Gatos and Wilcox after that,” Bono said. “They’re three of the better teams so we’ve got to get through those and pick up our game a little bit. We just have to keep moving week by week.”
The Vikings will continue their regular season on Saturday against Menlo School at 2:00 p.m. at Menlo.
