Senior outfielder Cory Tenanes connects with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. The Vikings went on to win the game, 9-2.
– Grant Raffel
The Palo Alto High School baseball team (15-7, 9-3) beat Los Altos High School (14-7, 9-3) for the second straight game, by a score of 9-2 on Friday in a key Santa Clara Valley Athletic League matchup, after winning 4-1 at Los Altos on Wednesday.
The Vikings won their fifth straight game, knocking Los Altos out of first place and giving themselves a longshot chance at the league title. Paly ‘s current league ranking is a tie for second place with Los Altos, while Wilcox sits at number one. For the Vikings to win the regular season league title, they must win their two remaining games and hope Wilcox loses its final two. While this may be unlikely, Paly can still win the league title by winning the SCVAL playoffs.
The Vikings are living up to their potential after struggling earlier in the season.
“We’re playing as a team,” said senior catcher and captain Will Glazier. “We’re being aggressive and everyone is on the same page.”
Junior pitcher Kevin Kannappan tossed 4 ⅔ scoreless inning for Paly. He benefited from strong offensive and defensive support.
“My pitching was helped today by our defense,” Kannappan said. “They played behind me the whole time [and] the bats came alive and I had some run support.”
The support loosened Kannappan up, and he was able to be aggressive with his pitches.
“I didn’t need to worry about trying to avoid pitches,” Kannappan said. “I was able to go after guys. It was really easy to go attack the strike zone.”
Paly kicked off the scoring in the third inning, when junior center fielder B.J. Boyd hit a sacrifice fly, allowing senior Jeff Cohen to score. Boyd also had a 3 RBI bases-loaded double to right-center field in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, he was thrown out at third base while trying to stretch for the triple.
The Vikings scored five runs in the fourth inning, thanks to senior outfielder Cory Tenanes, senior first baseman T.J. Braff and junior second baseman Jack Witte, who each had one RBI. Senior outfielder Christoph Bono chipped in 2 RBIs.
Los Altos scored both of its runs in the last inning. Junior pitcher Arun Varma came on in the top of the seventh inning but allowed a double and RBI single to consecutive batters for Los Altos’ first run. Senior Graham Marchant relieved him and finished out the game for the Vikings, giving up one more run.
Paly now looks forward to its four remaining games, two of which are league contests. After that, the team will enter into the league playoffs and hopes to continue to the Central Coast Section playoffs. To do this, the team needs to continue its winning ways.
“[We need to] keep practicing hard every day,” Glazier said. “We need to keep attacking the game and putting pressure on the other team instead of letting the game come to us.”
The Vikings will host Willow Glen in a non-league game at 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, at Paly.