With the stands packed on fan t-shirt day, the Paly baseball team fittingly beat its cross-town rival Gunn 10-2.

With ace junior pitcher Alex Schmarzo slowed down by a sore leg, the Vikings handed the ball over to junior pitcher Carey Schwartz to start in place of Schmarzo.

"We didn’t hesitate at all to give the ball to Schwartz after Schmarzo couldn’t start," Paly head coach Joel Kaufman said. "He was fabulous today, and he had great control of his pitches."

In his first season on varsity, Schwartz has stepped up to be one of the most reliable pitchers on the team. He pitched the Vikings to their first win over Monterey on Wednesday, March 8 after a slow 0-3 start to the season. He held #2 in state Serra high school to just two runs and six hits on April 13. On April 21 against Los Gatos, he allowed only two earned runs, losing to Kyle Blair, one of the top pitchers in the state.

Schwartz did not throw a single fastball until the fifth inning in Tuesday’s game.

He got all the offense he needed in the bottom of the first where five hits and a walk yielded five runs. Junior center fielder Evan Warner set the tone with a triple to deep right and scored on a throwing error giving the Vikings the early 1-0 lead.

"I got some hits behind me, and it felt good to have the run support," Schwartz said.

The team was without junior first baseman and cleanup hitter Will Elmore. Elmore, who was hit in the face in the previous game against Milpitas, argued with the umpire and was ejected from the previous game and by rule was suspended for the next game.

Senior left fielder Jake Martin had two hits, two runs, and two RBIs while senior third baseman Andrew White had a double, two runs and two RBIs. Junior shortstop Nick Goodspeed hit a two-run blast into the tennis courts in the bottom of the 6th with one on and nobody out for the third home run of the season for the Vikings.

"It felt good coming off the bat," Goodspeed said. "I was in a slump, but I worked with coach [Dave] Jefferson for a couple hours yesterday to improve my swing, and it paid off."

The defense was also solid behind Schwartz with just one error the entire game. This was a significant improvement over the previous game against Los Gatos where three errors occurred on one play, which resulted in the batter scoring on a groundball to third.

"The defense made the difference," Schwartz said. "The outfield was great, and Martin and Warner came up with some great plays."

With their win against Gunn, the Vikings only need two more league game wins to clinch a CCS playoff berth for the fifth straight year.

"We want to have our own fate in our own hands and not have to depend on others to get us into the playoffs," Kaufman said.

The Vikings next face Gunn on Friday, May 5 at 7:00 p.m. at Baylands Park.

"We prepared well, and this win means a lot to them," Kaufman said. "It was really a team effort, and we took it to Gunn."