A high-scoring offense and solid defense allowed the Palo Alto Vikings’ to beat the Mountain View Spartans 12-6 early Friday night in the Vikings final game of the season.

With a loss, the Vikings would likely have been demoted to Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s lower El Camino Division next year.

The Vikings started junior Chris Gonnerman on the mound, but he put the Vikings in an early hole, allowing three runs the top half of the first.

Luckily, it wasn’t just the Spartans that hit well in the first inning. Senior Evan Warner got on base with a deep drive to centerfield, and was followed by senior Nick Goodspeed’s line drive. With two on, senior Kevin Dexter hit a double, bringing in both Warner and Goodspeed. With Dexter on second base, senior catcher Blaine Marchant hit a single that allowed Dexter to tie the score at 3-3.

However, the Vikings couldn’t hold their momentum in the second inning when Mountain View scored three quick runs. Gonnerman was pulled and was replaced by senior Carey Schwartz who closed out the inning to keep the score at 6-3.

The Vikings came out swinging in the bottom of the second as sophomore Steven Burk hit a single and freshman Joc Pederson hit one of his three doubles for the night. Warner then batted in Burk and Pederson with a line drive single. Down 6-5, Warner stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch with Goodspeed batting. Goodspeed then proceeded to hit a ground-ball single that tied the score at 6.

“Our pitching was struggling a bit in the first two innings,” said head coach Dave Jefferson. “Our players got us back to being tied up at 3-3 and then again at 6-6, and so we just went from there.”

With Schwartz on the mound, Mountain View never had another chance to take the lead. Schwartz set the Spartans down in the third and fourth with ease.

“I pitched pretty well,” said Schwartz. “I’m very satisfied with my performance, but I am even happier that I ended my high school baseball career with a win.”

The Vikings struck again in the bottom of the fourth with Joc Pederson scoring off of an Evan Warner triple. With Warner on third, Goodspeed stepped up to plate and cracked a towering homerun into the tennis courts beyond right field.

With excellent defense, the Vikings dominated anything the Spartans hit at them, quickly getting three outs in the top of the fifth. Marchant led off in the bottom of the fifth with the Vikings already holding the 9-6 lead. Marchant put down a bunt and with the third baseman sleeping, the ball scooted by him and Marchant ended up on second.

“I didn’t even know what happening until I got to second,” said a grinning Marchant after the game. “I just wanted a base hit, so when the third baseman made that error, I was pretty happy.”

Following Marchant, senior Jeff Christopherson was walked, and Tyger Pederson bunted. Pederson’s bunt dropped a few feet in front of the catcher, but the Spartan catcher made his third error. This error allowed Marchant to slide into home. On the next at-bat, Steven Burk hit a sacrifice fly that allowed both Christopherson and Pederson to move advance Following sophomore Steven Burk was freshman Joc Pederson, who stepped up to the plate and promptly hit his second double, allowing both Christopherson and his older brother to score.

Palo Alto then looked to hold on to their convincing 12-6 lead, and thanks to a nice double play by Burk, the Vikings made it through their fourth straight scoreless inning. Senior Alex Schmarzo, who missed much of the season due to injury then took over for Schwartz and promptly ended any hopes of a Mountain View comeback.

“It was pretty sweet getting that double play,” said Burk after the game. “Earlier in the season, I was struggling with errors, so in the last couple games I’ve just calmed down and focused. I’ve been playing a lot better in the last part of the season, but more importantly, it’s huge for Paly to end the season with a win.”

By coming out of the last game with a win, the Vikings have avoided moving down to the El Camino league for next year’s play. However, due to the 10 seniors on the team, Coach Jefferson sees a tough off season, but also a lot of room for improvement.

“It was tough coming in here and having 10 seniors on the team, but they played hard through the season and helped out the younger guys a lot. During the off-season, I’m going to have my first chance to really mold the players to they playing technique that I coach. With hard work and some dedication by the players, I can see Paly doing very well in league next year.”

With that ending statement, the players congratulated their coach with a full cooler of Gatorade.