Paly boys’ baseball defeated the Cupertino Pioneers in extra innings because of Ethan Stern’s (‘17) bunt in the ninth inning.

The game started half way through the first inning as a continuation from the game on Friday that was rained out. The game started off with Paly up 3-2 and Justin Hull (‘16) on second base. Ryan Chang (‘17) pitched for the first five innings and had a total of four strikeouts. Riley Schoeben (‘16) hit a single putting two guys on base. Hull scored on a steal home and Schoeben was able to get around the bases after Cupertino failed to catch the next two pitches, putting them farther in the lead at the end of the first inning with a score of 5-2.

The second inning was scoreless for both teams. Paly got two quick outs in the top of the second and although Cupertino then got two consecutive hits that put runners on first and third, they were unable to convert and the inning ended with a fly out to left field. Paly did not have much luck either with a strikeout and a fly out followed by a walk. The Vikings’ fourth runner got a hit but was tagged out at first. The third inning was uneventful as well, with Cupertino hitting three fly balls that were caught for outs and Paly hitting one fly ball followed by two runners getting tagged out at first.

Cupertino started the fourth inning with a strikeout, followed by a single. The next runner was tagged out at first but the first runner was able to advance to second. Another hit put runners on first and third, but they were unable to score because the next batter up got tagged out. For the Vikings, Schoeben started things off with a single and advanced to third off a single by Mike Champagne (‘17). Max Jung-Goldberg (‘18) then brought Schoeben home to make it 6-2 at the end of the fourth.

The Vikings had a double play in the top of the fifth and kept the Pioneers from getting more than one runner on base, but were held to one hit themselves as well. Andrew Tam (‘18) replaced Chang in the top of the sixth following two consecutive walks and Cupertino did not score. In the bottom of the sixth, Sean Young (‘17) scored off a sacrifice fly by Ben Cleasby (‘17) to make it 7-2.

Early into the seventh inning, Cupertino hit a triple driving in two more runs to bring the score to 7-4. Cupertino then loaded the bases forcing Paly to bring in a new pitcher, Niko Lillios (‘18). After two more hits, Cupertino scored three runs to tie the game 7-7. In the bottom of the seventh, Paly got two men on base but could not drive them in forcing them to go into extra innings.

Neither team was able to score in the eighth inning. Cupertino was denied an opportunity to score in the top of the inning when Paly turned a double play by Stern and Alec Olmstead (‘16).

In the final inning, Cupertino went out 1-2-3 to end their half inning. Hull hit a double to start the bottom half of the inning. Shoeben was intentionally walked bringing Stern up to the plate. Stern layed down a bunt and charged towards first. An error on the throw allowed Stern to reach first and Hull to score the winning run and end the game.

Head Coach Pete Fukahara commented on the team’s performance.

“We came out in the first inning really focused and i think we got a 4 or 5 run lead and then we kinda lost focus a little bit. We started giving up some walks and we hit some guys and gave them some free passes to first base and it came back to bite us. But ultimately the kids rallied together and found a way to get it done at the end so that was good.”

Boys baseball will play again today at 4pm.