Senior catcher Will Glazier makes contact with a hit during Friday’s game against Saratoga.  The Vikings came back from an early 5-0 hole to win, 9-5.

– Grant RaffelIn a matchup that tested its mettle, the Palo Alto High School baseball team (20-7, 11-3) came back from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Saratoga High School, 9-5, on Senior Day Friday at Paly.

The Vikings dug themselves out of an early hole, largely thanks to a six-run fourth inning that saw the team bat through its entire order. Junior pitcher Kevin Kannappan allowed five runs in the first inning, but rebounded to hold the Falcons scoreless for four more innings.

Paly head coach Erick Raich was pleased with the way his team responded after a bad start to the game.

“Our guys did a good job of not panicking,” Raich said. “They did a good job of relaxing and knowing that there was a lot of game left.”

Senior catcher Will Glazier led off the fourth inning with a single, and Paly did not look back. Senior outfielder Cory Tenanes contributed one RBI with a sacrifice fly, junior outfielder B.J. Boyd had an RBI single, senior outfielder Christoph Bono had two RBIs on a bloop single and senior first baseman T.J. Braff crushed a two-run homer deep to left-center field to give the Vikings a 7-5 lead.

“I just tried to stay patient,” Braff said . “I had a feeling he was going to throw a fastball on my homerun. I just connected with it and he gave me a good pitch to hit.”

Paly went on to score two runs in the sixth inning when Braff hit a double to score his brother, junior shortstop Austin Braff, who had walked; and Bono, who hit a ground-rule double.

Saratoga scored all five of its runs in the first inning when Kannappan walked two batters and gave up a three-run homerun.

Braff explained the Vikings’ mindset in coming back from an early hole.

“We just tried to chip away, not try to do too much and we were able to come back,” Braff said.

Raich agreed with Braff that the team took the correct mindset after being in an early hole.

“We’re not playing against the score, we’re just taking it inning by inning and out by out,” Raich said. “You almost take a basketball mentality in that they went on a 5-0 run and we need to go and gradually chip away and get it back.”

The Vikings now enter into the SCVAL playoffs, which start next week, pairings to be determined.