SAN JOSE — Holding a five-run lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with runners on second and third base, Leland senior Justin Kuhns knew that he had a prime opportunity to put the game away, and promptly did, hitting the ball high in the air for a RBI double, give the Chargers a seven-run lead. Leland ended up getting the 7-1 win over Santa Teresa (0-9, 0-3 Mt. Hamilton).
Leland (6-3-1, 3-0 BVAL-Mt. Hamilton) established its dominance right off the bat. In the bottom of the first inning, sophomore Carson Yates hit a RBI double, scoring two men and drawing first blood to take a 2-0 lead. Right after, sophomore Joey Taddie hit a RBI single to increase the Chargers’ lead to 3-0.
The Chargers weren’t done after the first inning. In the bottom of the second, sophomore Lucas Mirizzi hit a RBI single to increase Leland’s lead to 4-0. Mirizzi hit another RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning to add another run on the scoreboard for the Chargers right before Kuhns hit an RBI double to give Leland a 7-0 run and seal the game. Santa Teresa (0-9, 0-3) junior Jacob Liquori hit a RBI single to put the Saints on the board, but that was it for them, as they fell to the Chargers 7-1.
It was a tale of two pitchers, as Leland junior Michael Garcia only allowed one run and four hits on the game, earning him the win, while Santa Teresa junior Ryan Sleeman gave up seven runs and nine hits, which gave him a loss on the stat sheet.
Leland head coach Mike Sparrer, whose team is undefeated in league play, still emphasized the need for more practice.
“We have to practice. We’ve had a few weeks that we haven’t been on the field a whole lot because of the weather and a tournament. So getting on the field and getting the timing back helped us a lot,” Sparrer said. “We had a good comeback win last Friday, which I think that gave us a lot of confidence.”
Santa Teresa head coach Lance Motch, whose team is still winless this season, believed that this team needs to use this loss as motivation.
“Our pitcher gave up too many runs off the bat, which means we’re playing catch up, so that’s usually not a good thing. The baseball gods weren’t great to us today — every time our guys hit something, it hit right to Leland,” Motch said. “It’s still early. We still have eighteen more games left on the season. It doesn’t hurt us too bad and hopefully it gets us fired up for Friday because we’re going to be facing them again.”
Both teams will have a rematch at Santa Teresa on Friday — Leland will be looking to avoid its first loss while Santa Teresa will be searching for their first win.
