Gators righty Fleischli mows down Menlo

Fleischli set down the final 14 batters he faced, and the Gators (1-0 PAL Bay, 8-1 overall) rallied back from an early two-run deficit, gratis of a seven-run third inning, to take down rival Menlo School (0-1, 3-6) by a score of 8-2 in Friday’s Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division opener at Sacred Heart Prep.

“It’s an absolutely big momentum push for us,” Fleischli said. “We were strong in preseason; we were 7-1. So, for us to come in and keep that rolling … this was a great start to what we think is going to be a pretty good run of a season.”

A big reason for SHP’s optimism is the one-two punch of its starting rotation. Senior left-hander Angelo Tonas already has two complete games on the season. Friday’s CG effort was Fleischli’s first of the year.

And the starting tandem brings a wealth of experience. Tonas — the Georgetown-bound southpaw is one of two Gators pitchers with a Division I commitment — is a fourth-year varsity senior, who has a Central Coast Section championship game victory to his credit from his freshman season. Fleischli is in his third-year varsity junior.

Add to the mix Dominic Cacchione, a senior right-handed reliever committed to Arizona State, the Gators have a three-headed monster that Fleischli said can stand toe-to-toe with any lineup in the PAL.

“I think we absolutely have one of the best pitching staffs in the league,” Fleischli said. “… Us three combined, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem going forward. If we just do our job … then we’ll keep rolling.”

Menlo starting pitcher Justin Nam had a tough go of it on the mound, lasting just 2 1/3 innings in taking the loss.

The senior right-hander danced around two jams in the first two innings. In the first, he bounced back from a first-and-second, one-out jam with a strikeout and a fly out. In the second, SHP loaded the bases with two outs on an infield error, but Nam induced an inning-ending groundout.

Then a blister problem on Nam’s right foot wreaked havoc on his control. He issued four walks and uncorked two wild pitches in a landslide third inning before Menlo went to its bullpen.

“Not to make excuses, but he started to get a blister on the inside of his foot,” Menlo manager Tink Reynoso said. “He was trying to push off the mound a lot more than he has been.”

At the plate, Nam accounted for each of Menlo’s first two runs. In the first, he ran into a two-out fastball from Fleischli and hit a booming home run over the left-field wall to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, Fleischli fell into a scuffle with his control, issuing three straight walks on 12 pitches to load the bases. Nam then lined an RBI single to left to put Menlo up 2-0.

“We were feeling really good because we knew [Nam] was dealing pretty good,” Reynoso said. “We only got one run out of that. If we had gotten two or three, we might have got something different from [SHP]. It’s because we’re so young.”

Fleischli looked to be on the ropes when SHP got relievers Cacchione and Jack FitzSimons warming in the bullpen. However, Gators manager Anthony Granato said the bullpen was just in case of emergency.

“I want these players to learn how to work through those things, so I wasn’t ready to give up on him right away,” Granato said. “I got someone to start warming up just so, if it did get out of hand, I get him out of there. But I wanted to see him work through it. And it was good to see him do it.”

The Gators proceeded to stake Fleischli to a big lead.

SHP, despite totaling just one hit in the third, sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning. John McGrory opened the frame with a walk. It was the first of six bases on balls, four wild pitches and a hit batsman in the frame. There was also a dropped fly ball for an outfield error.

Nam got the hook with two on and one out after walking No. 9 hitter Parker Isaacson. Then, after Menlo reliever Charlie Giesler hit FitzSimons to load the bases, Kyle Cody drew an RBI walk, Isaacson scored on a wild pitch, and McGrory produced a sacrifice fly to score FitzSimons.

“I think that was huge for [Fleischli] to help him settle in and believe that he could come back through that,” Granato said, “which, he’s done it before, so I wasn’t worried too much.”

SHP added an insurance run in the fourth. Senior outfielder Barry Mainz — 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored — drilled a one-out double to left. After a walk to Ryan McWilliams and an Isaacson single loaded the bases, FitzSimons averted an inning-ending double play by legging out a grounder to score Mainz, giving the Gators an 8-2 lead.

Fleischli had all the run support he would need though. The junior went on to strike out seven, including the final out of the game on a three-pitch punch-out with a crisp curveball for a called third strike.

The rivalry matchup was the first time SHP and Menlo have met in a divisional game since 2015. Menlo finished in the cellar of the Bay Division that season was dropped to the Ocean Division in ’16 and ’17.

Granato welcomed the idea of the two neighboring schools going head-to-head in Friday’s league opener.

“It’s great,” Granato said. “For me, it’s right next door and a lot of these kids know each other … it makes for good baseball. So, it’s fun. I enjoy it. I think that’s what you play this game for is to compete, and to compete against your friends, and your rivalry. … It makes it for much more fun baseball.”