Viking junior Henry Harding throws a pitch Friday in the Vikings’ second game of the year against the Los Altos High School Eagles. Despite a strong finish, the Vikings weren’t able to close the gap, leading to a 3-12 loss to the Los Altos High School Eagles. According to the Eagles head coach Gabriel Stewart, the game against the Vikings the day before helped the Eagles mentally prepare. “I told the guys, you have to be prepared because they’re a great team,” Stewart said. “They’re gonna be fiery, and you have to match their intensity. And luckily today we did.”(Photo: Andrew Zhao)

In their sixth game of the season, the Palo Alto High School Vikings varsity boys’ baseball team (2-3) lost 3-12 to the Los Altos Eagles (2-6) at 4 p.m. on Friday at home. This marks their second loss to the Eagles this season, with their first loss occurring the day before.

In a standout performance, Eagles pitcher senior Eric Colegrove threw a complete game against the Vikings, keeping them from scoring until the final inning.

Eagles head coach Gabriel Stewart said Colegrove played consistently throughout the game. 

“Colegrove on the mound was pitching a shutout against a team as talented as Paly, that’s a pretty incredible feat,” Stewart said. 

According to Vikings’ sophomore catcher, Carter Bader, the Vikings’ offensive execution is what cost them the game. 

“I feel like at the plate we just couldn’t get it done,” Bader said. “That cost us a bunch of runs.”

The first inning began with the Eagles scoring on a triple from outfielder and pitcher junior Emmett Heath. Vikings’ starting pitcher Henry Harding was able to limit the inning to just the one run, with help from Bader who threw out an Eagle’s baserunner attempting to steal second base. 

The second inning was dominated by both team’s pitchers, Harding of the Vikings and Colgrove of the Eagles. Neither team scored in the second inning. 

In the third inning, the Eagles extended their lead to three with an RBI double from senior Channing Hautop and an RBI single from junior Darrion Wesley. Colgrove continued his impressive performance, not allowing a single hit by the Vikings up until this point. The Eagles led 3-0 at the end of the third inning. 

Neither team scored in the fourth inning, but the Eagles scored once in the fifth inning on an RBI double from Heath. This led the Vikings to pull Harding from the game after allowing four runs in five innings. 

Unfortunately for the Vikings, the Eagles’ offensive onslaught continued in the sixth inning, with four additional runs including one that occurred when Vikings’ pitcher senior Carter Cegielski faked a pitch, resulting in a balk. The Eagles were up 8-0 to end the sixth inning. 

The seventh inning began when the Eagles amassed another four runs off of an RBI single from junior Aaron Baum and another RBI single from junior Jagger Heath. However, the Vikings got on the scoreboard, totaling three runs in the seventh inning. Viking junior Dexter Cleveringa crushed a two-run double and senior Charlie Bates hit an RBI single. Ultimately, the Vikings lost 3-12.

Despite the late-game scoring by the Vikings, Colgrove pitched strong, only giving up three runs on four hits. 

According to Colgrove, his performance was powered by his teammates and that’s why they won. 

“I thought my control was a little off today, but my team gave me the lead that allowed me to pitch more with confidence and even when I made a mistake my teammates backed me up so that was really nice,” Colgrove said. 

According to Viking head coach Pete Fukuhara, the Vikings need to work on playing more as a cohesive unit instead of as individuals.

“This is nobody’s fault,” Fukuhara said. “Anything like this happens, we just need to come together as a team and all work together to achieve our goal.”

The Vikings now (2-5) play another league game at 4 p.m. Wednesday at home against the Los Gatos Wildcats (7-1).