Jake Bruml was the driving force in Menlo's championship run

"He’s just a winner,” Schoof said. "The bigger the moment, the bigger he came up. There is no better word to describe him other than to say he’s a winner.”

At its core, Bruml’s monster 2011 was about that one thing: capturing a Central Coast Section trophy to compliment the one he and his team won the year before. All the numbers, all the reasons, they were a byproduct of that desire.

"I expected nothing less than a CCS title, to be honest,” Bruml said of his expectations for the season that just passed. "By returning the whole (pitching) staff, I felt like we were poised to make another run, based on Menlo’s philosophy of pitching and defense.”

At the back-end of this philosophy for the last two seasons was Bruml, who assumed the closer role his junior year. This season, he took his role on the mound and, in the words of Schoof, "he was lights out.”

In 19 appearances this year, Bruml went 10-2 and picked up three saves while boasting a 2.54 ERA. Batters hit .231 against him in 74.1 innings pitched and he only surrendered 27 runs.

"I think the big thing about Jake is, whether it was on the mound, at the plate or even on the field, we could count on him to make the big play,” Schoof said. "That’s how he did things all year. That’s how he did things his whole career.”

There was no bigger moment for Bruml and the Knights than the CCS playoffs. And as predicted, the senior came up huge on the mound. In the quarterfinals against Sacred Heart Cathedral, he tossed a five inning no-hitter. In the semifinals, he went 4 2/3 innings and allowed zero runs against a Carmel team that were winners of 16 straight. And in the championship game against Santa Cruz, Bruml got the final four outs. For those keeping track, that’s 11 innings of scoreless baseball in the postseason. Schoof said after that game there was no one he would rather have on the mound for those final four outs.

"In all the years that I’ve coached, there is only other guy that I would consider giving the ball to at the end of the game on the same par with Jake Bruml. He’s just a winner. He’s not going to let his team lose.

"He wants the ball, and you want the ball in the hands of someone that wants the ball. There is no doubt in my mind he does a lot better when the pressure is on,” he said.

"I think part of the mindset of being a closer is to deal with that pressure. You can’t look ahead in the order, you can’t look at past successes and what’s happened. You have to be in the moment and ready to do business,” Bruml said.

Bruml took care of business at the plate as well. Batting in the three spot, the senior hit .462. And it was a loud .462. Of his 42 hits, 28 of them were for extra bases — 20 doubles, one triple and a CCS-leading seven bombs. Schoof recalls a stretch during the beginning of the season were Bruml went 10-for-15 with nine of hits going for extra bases.

"It was incredible. It was like going fishing and saying, ‘Oh, it’s not big enough, let’s throw it back.’ As a team captain, he really led up. He was the rock of the team, the infield and of the offense.”

Much like his pitching, Bruml lived in the now while at the plate.

"The key was maintaining my approach throughout the season and hit the ball to the right center gap and not getting pull happy like I did at the end of last year,” Bruml said.

But back to the winning part, and more importantly than the .462 batting average and 2.54 ERA, are the numbers 99 and 2 — as in, with Bruml donning a Menlo Knights uniform, his team won 99 games, two of those were in a championship setting.

"I hope I’ll be considered as one of the best high school baseball players to step in at Menlo and go up there with the names of the elite players,” Bruml said.