The Paly baseball team ended its season Saturday with a 4-3 loss to rival Los Gatos in a true nail-biter. The game started off rough for the Vikes, and then a questionable call early in the 3rd inning set a damper on the rest of the game, and eventually a barrier blocking the Vikes from victory.

The 4-3 loss was an uphill battle for the Vikes (23-6, seeded 3rd) throughout the entire game. When Paly went down early to Gatos (20-8, seeded 6th), 2-0, and when they tied the game up, Los Gatos answered back quickly. When it came down to the last inning, the Vikings were only a hit away from tying the score and sending the game into extra innings.

In a last-minute change before the game, Paly coach Pete Colombo decided to start senior Jason Kleinhoffer over senior Mark Wells. Kleinhoffer struggled from the very first pitch, and allowed hit after hit. Despite his rough start, he got out of the first inning only letting up one run.

As in almost all of their games this season, the Vikings had a hard time getting started at the plate and were quickly put down in order in the first by Los Gatos starter Alex Rollins.

In the second, Kleinhoffer continued to struggle on the mound allowing the first two batters on base. But with runners on first and third with one out, and the score still 1-0, Kleinhoffer checked the runner at first and the first baseman Shane Parsons appeared to many observers to tag him before he could get back for the out.

But, after calling the runner out at first, the umpire was confronted by the Los Gatos coach, Don Ardissone, and changed his call, saying the runner was safe. Enraged, Colombo ran out on the field and gave a piece of his mind to the umps. When they wouldn’t budge, Colombo stomped back to the bench.

On the next play, Kleinhoffer checked the runner at first again, but the ball hit the runner, allowing the other runner at third to cross home plate, and increase Los Gatos’ lead to 2-0.

In their half of the inning, the Vikings again went hitless. They just couldn’t seem to figure out Los Gatos’ ace, Alex Rollins.

"He was pretty good," said Parsons after the game. "He’s their best pitcher, and he can throw heat."

In the third the Vikes made a pitching change and brought in the planned starter Wells after Kleinhoffer left two men on base, and Wells pitched out of it without letting up a run.

The Vikings went hitless again in the third, but held Gatos in the top of the fourth, too. But, in the fourth the bats broke out for the Vikings, and they were finally getting hits. After hits by Williams and Picazo, senior Ryan Baukol eventually doubled off the wall in left field bringing in the two runners, and the game was tied.

The Vikings carried this momentum into the top of the fifth, but it didn’t last for long. After Wells let a man on, Los Gatos’ clean-up-hitting catcher Travis Howell hit a shot over the fence in left field to give Gatos a 4-2 lead.

Palo Alto fought back in the bottom of the fifth to get one more run, and the score was 4-3 Los Gatos. In the sixth, Wells collected himself and cleanly got out of the inning.

The bottom of the sixth was Palo Alto’s biggest opportunity to tie up the game. With the bases loaded, and two outs, junior Adam Dexter stepped up to the plate with a chance to put the Vikings on top.

He quickly got on top of the count, 3-0, and with one more ball the pitcher would have walked a Paly runner in and the score would be tied. Dexter watched the next pitch, given the red light by his coach, for a strike. The next pitch was called a strike. Then, with a full count, Dexter popped it up foul into the first baseman’s mitt to end the threat.

"It was a tough at bat," said Dexter disappointedly. I was pretty sure that 3-1 pitch was a ball, but what can you do."

The Vikings brought in their ace David Stringer to pitch in the seventh, while Wells left his last high school game to a standing ovation. Stringer was on fire out on the mound, and quickly set down the Los Gatos batters.

It was the bottom of the seventh, the last inning, and the Vikings final chance to get back in the game. Senior Durrell Williams stepped up to the plate to lead off. He salvaged a hit, and the tying run was on board. Senior John Picazo bunted Williams to second, so Paly had a runner in scoring position with one out. Next up was No. 3 hitter junior Russ Hagemann, who hit a sacrifice fly into right-center field, advancing Williams to third with two outs.

Then came clean-up hitting senior Ryan Baukol, who was already a hero one time this game with the RBI double in the fourth. After he got into an even count, he saw a pitch he liked, and hit a hard grounder to the left side of the infield right to the shortstop. The shortstop’s throw beat Baukol to 1st base, and Paly had lost 4-3.

"It was a tough way to lose it, but we definitely gave it a hard effort," said Baukol after the game.

To Viking players and fans alike, the controversial run earlier in the game was the difference in scores at the end of it. When asked if he would protest the result, coach Colombo said no.

With the loss, Paly ended another season at the hands of Los Gatos in CCS. The team is aware that Los Gatos has knocked them out each of the last two years, and vowed revenge next year.

"We’re going to crush those guys next year. I don’t think there is any school team, not even Gunn, that Paly sports teams dislike more than Gatos," said junior pitcher Jimmy Meuel upon arriving at Paly after the game.