Mark O’Grady’s shutout leads Burlingame past Leigh in CCS Division II baseball opener

The No. 3-seed Panthers (19-9) rode the finest outing of junior right-hander Mark O’Grady’s varsity career to a 2-0 victory over No. 6 Leigh to advance in the CCS Division II tournament. In just his third start of the year, O’Grady went the distance to make his first career complete game a shutout, allowing five hits and three walks, while striking out three and recording nine groundouts, including two double plays.

With the win, O’Grady improves to 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA on the year. Through his three starts, he is 2-0 while allowing one run through 18 1/3 innings.

The junior was tasked with navigating early trouble when the Longhorns set the table in the second. Sophomore Sho Sakoda reached on an infield throwing error to open the frame, and junior Damian Hernandez followed with a sharp single through the 5.5 hole.

Then the hurler who ordinarily starts at third base made the play that defined his afternoon on a bunt attempt, dashing off the mound toward the third-base line to field it and make a do-or-die throw to third to get the out call on a bang-bang play. After the critical first out, O’Grady jumped ahead of the next batter 0-2 before inducing a ground ball to shortstop Jean-Luc Uharriet for a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to retire the side, keeping Leigh off the board.

O’Grady and Leigh starting pitcher Tyler Burriss traded zeroes into the fifth, when Burlingame finally broke through. Grayson Howard drew a walk to lead off the inning, then moved to second on senior Drew Gall’s sacrifice bunt. O’Grady was then intentionally walked, and a double steal put both runners in scoring position. Then, with two outs, senior Slade Flores dropped the hammer, doubling to left field to drive home the game’s only two runs. It was one of just four Burlingame hits on the day.

O’Grady pitched through leadoff singles in both the sixth and seventh. A line drive to Flores at first allowed the senior to race to the bag behind the base runner for a twin killing to end the sixth. In the seventh, O’Grady responded to a leadoff single from Burriss by notching a strikeout, inducing a popup to second baseman Charlie Cheng, and finishing it with a groundout to third baseman Aaron Lau.

Gall led Burlingame with two hits on the day. Hernandez was 2 for 3 with a double for the Longhorns (17-11).

The Panthers now advance to the Division II semifinals to face No. 2 Palma-Salinas at Sollecito Ballpark in Monterey Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Kung dazzles as Half Moon Bay blanks Homestead in CCS Division V

Senior left-hander Kai Kung fired 6 1/3 shutout innings, and the No. 2-seed Half Moon Bay Cougars (18-9) used a clutch pickoff play in the seventh to close it out in a 1-0 win over No. 7 Homestead-Cupertino (12-17) in the CCS Division V opener on the Coastside.

Kung pitched through a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, and stranded two after issuing a pair of two-out walks in the sixth. After notching his seventh strikeout of the day to start the seventh, the southpaw walked Ivan Hwang on four pitches and hit Jayden Duong with his last pitch of the day. The Cougars turned to junior right-hander Riley Jackson, who got an out before ever throwing a pitch as he promptly picked off the lead runner at second for a rundown out, with the back runner moving to second. Jackson then coaxed a line drive to center fielder Lane Giannini with his only pitch of the game.

HMB scored its only run in the first with an RBI single from sophomore Paxton Holden. Alex Ryan paced the Cougars with two hits.

With the win, Kung improves to 11-1 with a 0.72 ERA on the year. The Cougars now advance to the Division V semifinals to take on No. 3 Sobrato-Morgan Hill at Schott Stadium in Santa Clara Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.