Former Scots vie for HR crown

The race harkens back to 2016 when the two were at Carlmont, slugging it out for the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division home run crown. Bologna, then a junior, hit three on the year. Brandenburg, as a sophomore, topped him with four homers en route to winning the Bay Division triple crown.

“We had a race for the bombs and I got mad when he beat me,” Bologna said. “And (now) if he does beat me I’m not really going to care. But I’m definitely going to hear about it.”

The two have known each other for most of their lives. Bologna grew up playing with Brandenburg’s older brother Tyler since Little League. Bologna and Brandenburg, however, wouldn’t play together until their days at Carlmont.

While Bellinger and Yelich were busy trading big league blasts in Milwaukee over the weekend, Brandenburg and Bologna were enjoying some fairly significant offensive exploits of their own. And after Brandenburg hit his 12th homer of the year at Cañada in an 11-6 win over Contra Costa College, he texted Bologna after the game with an update on the home run count.

“It’s great,” Brandenburg said. “We definitely support each other and root for each other. It’s definitely a friendly competition with us. But we like to take a few pokes at each other.”

Even though Bologna is trailing in the home run race, his game Saturday for San Joaquin Delta gives him some serious bragging rights. Delta traveled to Cosumnes River and promptly fell behind 11-4 after three innings. While Bologna didn’t homer, he did go 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and helped Delta rally back with three runs in the fourth, seven in the sixth, 11 in the seventh and eight in the eighth for — yes, this was baseball, not football — a 33-16 comeback win.

Delta shortstop Zack Mathis had the banner day Saturday, going 4 for 5 with a homer and nine RBIs.

“Our offense is pretty high-powered,” Bologna said. “Me and Mathis, I think we’re the best three-, four-hitters in the nation. No one really wants to face us either.”

Bologna currently has a bead on a Big 8 Conference triple crown. He leads the conference with a .408 batting average and 10 homers, while ranking second with 55 RBIs, trailing only Mathis who has 57.

“Vinny, he’s just a big guy, and he takes … good hacks,” Brandenburg said. “He doesn’t cheat himself. So, when Vinny takes good quality at-bats, he does good stuff and can really hit the ball.”

Delta is currently ranked No. 1 in the state, sitting atop the Big 8 with a 17-4 conference record (31-6 overall), one game ahead of second-place Sierra with three games to go.

Cañada, on the other hand, is looking for some help to reach the postseason. To guarantee to playoff spot, the Colts must finish in second place in the Coast Pacific Conference. With three games to go, they are 7-8 in conference play (16-17-1 overall) and are sitting in fifth place, trailing three teams in a three-way tie for second — Skyline, Cabrillo and Monterey Peninsula — all at 8-7.

Cañada faces Cabrillo in a three-game set starting Tuesday. The Colts are looking for Skyline to drop 2 of 3 against Hartnell, and for the same math as Monterey faces first-place Ohlone. The Colts must win out for any chance for a second-place finish.

Incidentally, Bologna and Brandenburg’s final year at Carlmont in 2017 saw the two tie for the team lead in home runs, along with Sean Prozell, with three apiece. Prozell has been sharp in two-way duty this season for College of San Mateo. He is batting .294 in a part-time DH role, but doesn’t bat when he’s on the mound, where he currently ranks second in the Coast Golden Gate Conference with a 2.29 ERA.

Bologna, Brandenburg and Prozell are just three of the highlight players of Carlmont graduates currently making an impact at the college level.

“I think it’s cause I thought we were probably a little bit under the radar in high school, maybe a little overlooked,” Bologna said. “We probably should have got some more credit and then took that in to junior college. … We all play with a chip on our shoulder and we just want to win.”

CSM has plenty riding on its final three-game series of the year as well. Opening a regular-season finale two-game series against Mission Tuesday, both CSM and Mission are currently tied atop the Coast Golden Gate standings. Both teams have clinched the postseason, with third-place Chabot three games back in the standings.

Also contending for the CCCAA home run crown is Ohlone’s Zac Patterson with 11. Tied for third with Bologna is Mission’s Blake Diggle with 10.