Korjeff in control for Scots

If Vallero didn’t know about Korjeff’s makeup before, he certainly does now. The senior right hander pitched five innings of one-run ball as Carlmont resumed its Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division schedule with an 8-1 win over Capuchino, which was playing its division opener.

Vallero wasn’t even sure Korjeff was going to play, who informed his manager by text message Monday about the passing, before texting him again Tuesday to tell Vallero he was going to make his scheduled start Wednesday.

“I decided [Tuesday] night,” Korjeff said of his decision to play. “I wanted to come out and fight for [my grandfather].”

The Carlmont offense certainly did its part to help lighten the load for Korjeff. After a pair of quick innings, the Scots put together a seven-run fourth and then cruised to the finish, tacking on an insurance run in the fifth for good measure.

“Once you get seven (runs), you don’t have stress,” Korjeff said. “You just relax.”

After giving up Capuchino’s only run in the second, Korjeff allowed only three hits over the next three innings, before giving way to a pair of relievers. Gabe Ramirez and Jake Robinson pitched the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, with Ramirez getting out of a jam when the Carlmont defense turned a 6-4-3 double play. Robinson ended the game with a flourish, striking out the final two batters.

“[Korjeff] said he was going to pitch in honoring of his grandfather,” Vallero said. “People do phenomenal things in peoples’ honor.”

Things began well for Capuchino (0-1 PAL Bay, 5-5 overall) starter Devin Meyer, who combined to throw only 12 pitches through the first two innings. Carlmont’s Jasper Loo led off the game with a single, but Meyer needed only three more pitches to retire the side.

Meyer then threw only seven pitches to set the Scots down in order in the second inning.

Offensively, the Mustangs got on the board first, scratching out a run in the bottom of the second. Catcher Kenny Osterlund led off the inning with a four-pitch walk and Ryan Lapuyade sacrifice bunted courtesy runner Jason Arsenault to second. Nick Balch came to the plate and slashed a 1-2 pitch the opposite way, landing just fair down the right-field line to plate Arsenault and give the Mustangs’ a 1-0 lead.

Calmont (2-1, 6-3) responded right away as Meyer suddenly lost his command in the third inning. A four-pitch walk to No. 8 hitter Jack Vanoncini set the table for a seven-run Scots uprising, needing only four hits to do so. They also took advantage of two walks and two hit batters as they sent 11 batters to the plate to take control of the game.

After Vanoncini’s base on balls, No. 9 hitter Kevin Shea pulled a 2-2 pitch to right field for a double. Leadoff hitter Jasper Loo was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. David Bedrosian came up and hit what could have been a double play, but the Capuchino shortstop bobbled the ball and managed to get an out only at second, with Vanoncini scoring on the play.

Tyler DeSmidt followed with a walk to reload the bases before first baseman Logan Snow, filling in for an injured Ryan Busser, drove in what would be the game-winning run when his single to center chased home Shea.

Shortstop Sean Vanderaa came through with the big hit of the inning, a two-run, opposite-field double to right to push Carlmont’s lead to 4-1.

Catcher Daniel Friis was hit by a pitch to load the bases for a third time and designated hitter Mateos Melkesian followed with a two-run single. Vanoncini came up for his second at-bat of the inning and put down a bunt to score courtesy runner P.J. Avila with the seventh run of the frame.

“[Meyer] gave too many free passes (in the third inning), then [Carlmont] put the ball in play and hit the ball hard,” said Capuchino manager Matt Wilson. “You can’t do that in baseball. You can’t give up that big inning, especially against a great team like Carlmont.”

The Scots added an eighth run in the top of the fifth when Melkesian doubled and later scored on a Loo sacrifice fly RBI to right.

“I liked the way we responded (in the third inning),” Vallero said. “We get a leadoff double, but we can’t get him over and get him in (in the first). As we get deeper into the season, we have to manufacture runs.”