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The Palo Alto High School Vikings boys’ baseball team (10-11) defeated the Henry M. Gunn High School Titans (4-14), 11-3, on Friday at home in a game with high rivalry tensions and implications for league standings.
According to Vikings’ head coach Pete Fukuhara, the Vikings have had a tough season, but they are getting back on track.
“We had a really tough beginning of the schedule and our guys grinded their way through the battle,” Fukuhara said. “Now I feel that it prepared us and we’re battle-tested for the rest of the season.”
According to Titans’ senior Amrit Joshi, the Titans tried new strategies after losing the previous game to the Vikings.
“We made a few changes like pitching more to contact and soft contact was a lot better,” Joshi said. “It was definitely better than last game.”
The game began with the Vikings jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Viking infielder Jonathan Nguyen drove in two of the runs on a double. Viking pitcher senior Nate Donaker held the Titans scoreless throughout the first inning.
The second inning was a dominant inning by Donaker in which he got three Titans’ batters out without allowing a hit or a walk. Viking senior shortstop Charlie Bates drove in a Viking runner on a sacrifice fly (flew out but runner scored) and the Vikings further the score ended inning 4-0.
In the third inning, the Titans scored two runs. However, the Vikings increased their lead once again with Bates scoring two of the Vikings’ three runs in that inning with a two-run single. In the fourth inning, the Titans once again scored, this time on a double from catcher Tripp Higgins.
The Vikings offense continued to dominate in the fourth inning, amassing an additional two runs from a double by junior Isiah Walker and a single by junior outfielder Kanghee Cho. The Vikings led 9-3 after four innings.
Neither team scored in the fifth inning. The Titans replaced their pitcher with Ethan Hong, who shut down the Vikings, while Donaker continued to pitch well. However in the sixth inning, the Vikings scored two runs from Cho, stretching their lead to 11-3, after the Titans were scoreless in the top half of the inning. The Vikings shut down the Titans in the final inning, winning 11-3.
According to Titans’ head coach Chris Melvin, the Titans played a good game overall and were able to keep the game more competitive than the last time they played the Vikings.
“Well we had a much better effort today, we put together some good at-bats, played better defense, and put our pitcher in a tough spot a couple of times, but we kept in the game,” Melvin said.
According to Cho, he needed confidence in himself to have the great game that he had.
“I was trying to go out there and leave everything out on the field and believe in my ability to have a good game,” Cho said.
According to Fukuhara, the Vikings played a great game due to an impressive performance by Cho.
“It was a great team win,” Fukuhara said. “It was great to see Kanghee Cho break out and have a great game, I think that’s going to give him confidence for the rest of the year. I know he’s been struggling a little bit and this was a big one for him.”
The Vikings (5-3) are set to play the Homestead Mustangs (3-4) at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Palo Alto High School.
