AUSTIN YU
Prep2Prep Junior Editor

May 4, 2013

Lynbrook scored a come-from-behind 7-6 baseball victory against rival Monta Vista on Thursday in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division play. The Vikings improved to 5-16, 2-10 in the SCVAL-EC; the Matadors dropped to 12-12, 6-6.

Monta Vista took a four-run lead in the first against Lynbrook pitcher Chris Ma. A single by senior Peter Stern highlighted the rally.

The Vikings were silenced by Stern, the Matador starting pitcher, at the outset.

"We struggled at the beginning; that first inning was tough," Viking coach Ken Wallis said. "It's hard for our guys because we haven't had a real successful season, but when we get behind that early in the game against a good team and against a good pitcher (it makes things difficult)."

However, a two-out fifth inning rally put the Vikings back in the game. Eric Day started things off with a two-out single to left. Tim Wallis followed with a double, scoring Day. Then Ma walked and Gabe Rosales doubled to score Wallis. Finally, Alex Shin singled to score both Ma and Rosales to tie the game 5-5.

Though the Matadors were able to recapture the lead in the sixth inning on an RBI single by senior Spencer Rodrigues, Monta Vista was undone by two errors in the seventh, allowing the Vikings to score the winning runs.

Rosales knocked in the winning run for Lynbrook.

“I'm just really proud of the kids that they hung in there and came back," Wallis said. "They just keep battling. They've done this a few times and it worked out well."

Wallis is upbeat, given what Lynbrook has coming back next season.

"Two of our strongest pitchers are not seniors,” he said. “Greg Lerner came in and threw a few innings for us [today]. He's only a sophomore and he's really going to be a good pitcher. He's gotta become a little stronger and throw a little harder, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in the next few years. Jared Jacoby, he started the game against Los Gatos on Tuesday and he had a good outing. Jacoby's going to be solid next year so we have two good pitchers coming back next year and that makes a difference and I'm definitely looking forward to it."