Special to the Town Crier
Mountain View, Los Altos stumble in the El Camino
High School Baseball Report
Thanks to a couple of big wins last week, the St. Francis High baseball team is closing in on first place in the West Catholic Athletic League.
Mountain View High, meanwhile, had a rough week that dropped the team down another peg in the SCVAL El Camino Division standings.
St. Francis (6-2, 15-9-1) is a game out of first place in the WCAL race after an 11-4 triumph at first-place Bellarmine (7-1) last Friday and an 11-1 pasting of visiting Sacred Heart Cathedral on Saturday.
Mountain View found itself on the losing end of two El Camino Division match-ups. The Spartans fell 10-2 at Palo Alto April 20 and then lost a 15-5 home game to league-leading Saratoga last Thursday.
The losses sunk the Spartans to 4-6-1 in league play, making them a long shot for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
St. Francis beat rival Bellarmine every way possible Friday, accounting for 16 hits en route to the easy win.
Senior Mike Sloan had the game of his career, earning the complete-game win with nine strikeouts and ripping a homer and four RBI in three hits.
Senior Greg Arioto added a pair of RBI in four hits for the Lancers.
Against Sacred Heart, Sloan had another productive day at the plate. He led the Lancers' 13-hit attack with three hits, including a double and three RBI.
Senior Larry Cummins contributed a double and two RBI, with junior Scott Stockwell adding a double in two hits.
There was a lot of hitting going on in Mountain View's two games last week as well, but not by the Spartans.
Paly and Saratoga combined for 20 hits versus Mountain View, which mustered only eight hits in the two losses. Spartan senior John Eddington had two hits against Saratoga.
In other local action last week, Los Altos (1-10, 5-12) lost a pair of road games in the SCVAL El Camino Division. The last-place Eagles dropped a 6-5 game to Gunn April 20 and fell 9-3 at Palo Alto on Thursday.
Joe Guy was one of the few bright spots for Los Altos. The junior had three hits against Gunn, coach Sandy Wihtol said, and pitched well in relief against Paly.
Gunn (8-3-1, 12-4-1), which trails Saratoga by two games, also beat visiting Santa Clara 10-0 last week.
Senior center fielder Eric Zweig led the Titans with six hits in the two games, with two triples, a pair of doubles and five RBI.
Homestead lost to host Monta Vista 9-8 last Friday in an SCVAL De Anza Division match-up, as the Matadors tallied the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Chris Dreyer led the Mustangs with a double and three RBI in two hits.