SAN JOSE — The fifth inning of the latest Battle of the Den between rivals Leland and Pioneer proved to be an inning to remember for senior Justin Kuhns.
Holding a narrow one-run lead in the top of the fifth inning with two outs and the bases loaded, Kuhns struck out Pioneer senior Ryeland Drake to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, he hit a two-out RBI double that scored two runs. Leland proceeded to win the game against Pioneer 6-1.
Pioneer (11-8, 4-4 BVAL-ST) started the game off sloppily with a throwing error, which set the tone for the team for the entire game. On the other hand, Washington commit senior Albert Hsiao gave Leland (11-6-1, 7-2 BVAL-ST) an early spark, putting the Chargers on the scoreboard with a RBI double, which was followed by another RBI double by sophomore Carson Yates, who is also the starting quarterback for the Chargers’ football team.
After the first inning where Leland took a 2-0 lead, the game turned into a defensive struggle until the top of the fifth inning, where senior Travis Varni reached at home plate to score Pioneer’s first and only run of the game. With two outs and the bases loaded, Kuhns experienced a clutch moment to strike out Drake and get out of the inning.
Kuhns’ clutch strikeout seemed to rejuvenate the Chargers, as the team ran away with the game in the bottom of the inning. Senior Anthony Sortino got the scoring party started as he reached home plate on a throwing error by Pioneer, the Mustangs’ second error of the game. Kuhns then hit a two-run RBI double to increase Leland’s lead to four, and sophomore Kekoa Lopez capped the inning off by reaching to home plate and scoring the Chargers’ final run of the inning and the entire game. Leland ended up winning the Battle of the Bay 6-1 over Pioneer.
While Pioneer used up three pitchers in Nick Garcia (allowed four hits, two earned runs), Jack Gribbin (two strikeouts, allowed four hits, four earned runs), and Ian Torpey (allowed two hits), Leland did not have to reach into the bullpen as Kuhns pitched all seven innings for the Chargers, striking out six and allowing six hits and one earned run.
Leland head coach Mike Sparrer was proud of how his team bounced back from yesterday’s loss to Pioneer.
“We talked yesterday about competing and I didn’t think we necessarily did that to the best of our ability yesterday,” Sparrer said. “Today we came out with good energy and scored a couple of runs in the first inning, and that helps.”
Hsiao, who had two hits in the game, praised Kuhns’ pitching and how his teammates’ hitting came alive in the game.
“It was a collection of good pitching and good hitting,” Hsiao said. “A lot of guys had hard hits, and our pitching just really closed the door for us.”
Leland will try to start a winning streak at Leigh on the 25th, while Pioneer will head to Scotts Valley to bounce back from the loss.
