The Paly varsity baseball team continued to roll through league match-ups Friday, as it pounded out half a dozen runs in the third inning of its 7-2 victory over the Gunn Titans.
The bulk of the Vikings’ offense came in the from several consecutive extra-base hits from the heart of its batting order with two outs and Gunn leading, 2-0. Sophomore center fielder Joc Pederson started things off with a triple to deep right field that drove in junior right fielder Michael Rizza and senior left fielder Mike Martin to tie the game. Senior catcher Peter Abrams roped a double to the right field wall to drive in Pederson and give Paly a 3-2 lead.
“We’re doing a lot of good things [with hitting],” Jefferson said. “I don’t know how many hits we had, but it was really good”
Senior pitcher Will Goodspeed helped himself with a double of his own that drove home Abrams and scored when senior third baseman Kevin Johnson put up the third consecutive two-bagger on Gunn senior pitcher Travis Bowers. Sophomore second baseman Scott Witte finished the rally with a bang as he tried to stretch his center-field double into a triple and was tagged out in a close play at third. Johnson scored before the out, however, to put the Vikings up, 6-2. Witte attributed the offense to the new emphasis the team has put on it in practice.
“Hitting is contagious,” Witte said. “When it happens to one person, everyone does it.”
The Vikings scored again in the fifth when Abrams charged home on a past ball. In spite of their good play, Jefferson emphasized that the team needs to remain humble.
“That’s up to the coaches to keep them modest and we have to make sure we control their confidence,” Jefferson said. “It is baseball, but it is also a life lesson.”
The Vikings are not completely without worry, though. Jefferson confirmed Friday that the team will play the rest of the season without junior pitcher Steven Burk, who has been ruled ineligible. Burk, according to Jefferson, had pitched five complete games this year, including a four-hitter in a win against Los Altos last week.
“That’s a big deal [because] that’s a lot of innings pitched,” Jefferson said. “[But] we have the guys to [cover] it. I’m not saying we have the Steven Burk-caliber guys, but we have guys who are going to be able to step in because they’ve worked hard.”
Even though the Vikings have not lost in three weeks and are closing in on second place in the De Anza division of the Santa Clara Valley Atheltic League, Jefferson said his team is not worrying about the playoffs, yet.
“We’re thinking about Milpitas on Wednesday, that’s our focus,” he said. “We take it one game at a time.”
The Vikings next play the Milpitas Trojans at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Paly.