Hillsdale baseball rolls over Menlo School 14-4 in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division meeting

Hillsdale headed into the weekend with a smile on its collective faces, while Menlo will have to stew until next week as Hillsdale not only beat Menlo 14-4 in San Mateo Friday afternoon, it did so using the 10-run mercy rule that was newly implemented in the Peninsula Athletic League this season.

Leading 9-4 going into the bottom of the sixth, Hillsdale (1-1 PAL Bay, 6-3 overall) pushed across five runs to end the game.

Which was perfectly fine, as far Menlo manager David Trujillo was concerned.

“Worst game I’ve seen (from a Menlo team) in a long, long time,” Trujillo said. “We pride ourselves on being fundamentally sound. We pride ourselves on throwing strikes and catching the ball.”

Menlo (1-1, 6-4) did neither. Menlo starter Reid Plamondon, who was “lights out” in his last outing, Trujillo said, didn’t make it out of the second inning, allowing seven runs, five of which were earned, on just three hits. But he walked six.

The Menlo defense, meanwhile, did Plamondon no favors as it booted the ball three times, failed to make catches and throws, and just played generally shabby defense.

But even if Menlo was on point, it still would had its hands full against Hillsdale starter Hugo Guzman, who, with the exception of one inning, handcuffed the Menlo bats.

“His key is tempo. … His tempo was good,” said Hillsdale manager Willie Baroncini. “He threw strikes and he hit spots.”

Baroncini said he held Guzman out of most of practice Thursday in anticipation of another sweltering day Friday, but Guzman might have been hotter than the temperature, which was in the mid-90s at first pitch.

Guzman got into some trouble in the first inning, as Menlo put runners on second and third with one out. But Guzman, a senior, got a strikeout and groundout to get out of the inning without any damage.

He then helped with a two-run rally in the bottom of the inning. Junior catcher Parker Jessup and Guzman led off the first with back-to-back walks. Tommy Schultz bunted both runners over and Jacob Bonner drove in courtesy runner Gabriel Urquidez for the first run. Another courtesy runner, Ryan Leong, scored on a Curtis Lee single to right-center as Hillsdale took a 2-0 lead.

It’s not often you see a catcher leading off a batting order, but Baroncini said Jessup has made it his spot.

“He took it (the leadoff spot) last year,” Baroncini said.

The move has paid off as Jessup went 2 for 5 and courtesy runner Urquidez scored twice.

Hillsdale then took control with a five-run second inning as it sent nine batters to the plate. Brayden Lee led off the inning with a walk and he eventually moved around the bases and scored on a wild pitch. Schultz came through with an RBI single.

Menlo reliever Jalen Wong, who entered with two outs in the inning, appeared to get out without any further damage when he induced a high popup behind second base.

No one could make the catch, however, and both Schultz and Bonner, who had walked, came in to score. Curtis Lee rounded out the inning with a delayed steal of home and Hillsdale was up 7-0.

Guzman, meanwhile, retired Menlo in order in the second and third innings before Chuck Wynn led off the fourth with a double. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Fletcher Cahill sacrifice fly.

But Guzman got back-to-back groundouts to Brayden Lee at shortstop, with the first being a good scoop and quick throw to Schultz at first base, who used a big stretch to get the runner for the second out.

It was a routine grounder to Brayden Lee to end the inning with Hillsdale still holding a 7-1 advantage.

Wong kept the Hillsdale offense in relative check, putting up scoreless third and fourth innings before Hillsdale struck again for two runs in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Guzman helped his own cause by blooping a single into left, driving in Brayden Lee.

Then chaos erupted on the base paths. When the dust literally settled, Cubby Gementara had also scored, an out was recorded and Guzman was standing on second with a 9-1 lead.

Menlo finally got to Guzman in the top of the sixth, scoring three times on just two hits. Jack Freehill drew a leadoff walk and after a flyout, the next three Menlo batters reached base, with Cahill driving in Freehill with a double and Liam Widner driving in a pair with a single.

But Guzman never gave in and he got out of the inning, leading 9-4.

Baroncini said he had no plans to take Guzman out.

“I was going to let him go,” Baroncini said, who added Guzman would have pitched the seventh.

Turns out, he wasn’t needed in the seventh as Hillsdale plated five runs in the bottom of the sixth for the mercy-rule win. Kymani Chmolack had an infield single RBI, Gementara put down a safety squeeze bunt that scored one run, with a second scoring when the ball got thrown away at the plate.

Brayden Lee eventually scored the game-ending run on a wild pitch.

“We just do whatever we have to do to [the opposition] play defense,” Baroncini said.

While the beauty of baseball is the opportunity to quickly put behind a bad game with the next, Menlo is going to have to wait until next Wednesday to play again.

“I wish we had a Saturday game,” Trujillo said.