Sacred Heart Prep sweeps San Mateo to take control atop PAL Ocean Division standings

The junior left-hander’s gem comes on the heels of Tuesday’s 1-0 walk-off win for SHP in an 11-inning marathon, with Covey working 8 2/3 scoreless innings before senior Chase Affrunti emerged to earn the win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

“It’s been lights out all season,” Gators manager Sean McMillan said. “We’ve got two guys that get us going, but we also have a bullpen to rely on that’s throwing up zeroes. So, we focus on playing catch, making routine plays behind them, and it gives us a chance in every game.”

In holding the Bearcats (7-3, 15-7) scoreless through 18 innings, SHP takes outright control of first place in the PAL Ocean Division baseball standings. The Gators entered the week tied for first with San Mateo. Now, the Bearcats fall into a second-place tie with Terra Nova, two games back of first with four league games to play.

“It was a good battle,” San Mateo manager Neal Goldstein said. “We fought them hard. Unfortunately, it was costly to get swept. ... We just didn’t hit.”

A commit to University of Notre Dame, Sweeney has taken some time to grow into his big frame. As a sophomore in 2025, he went just 2-4, though he turned in a similar performance against San Mateo early that season, throwing five shutout innings before the Bearcats won it late against SHP’s bullpen.

The 6-4 southpaw has been one of the PAL’s best arms this season. With the win Thursday, his record improves to 7-0 with a 0.68 ERA.

“It’s been a process,” Sweeney said. “My lanky limbs kind of getting into my legs, and the repetitions. It’s something I have to work hard for. I have to work on my mobility. But it’s definitely beneficial, I think, in deception.”

While Sweeney has thrown to junior catcher Nico Pollioni most of his high school career, Thursday marks the first time the battery has officially featured one NCAA Division I commit throwing to another as, earlier this week, Pollioni announced his commitment to play at Santa Clara University.

While Pollioni enjoyed a fine day, not only navigating the shutout behind the plate, but going 1 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored, it was perhaps the junior catcher’s base running that featured most prominently.

With the Gators leading 3-0 in the seventh, and runners on second and third and one out, junior JP Durrett was called upon to squeeze bunt. The left-handed batting No. 3 hitter bunted back to the mound with the runner at third, junior Thomas Barton, scoring easily on the suicide squeeze. The stunner, however, was with San Mateo throwing to first for the second out of the inning, Pollioni, from second base, never stopped running, racing all the way around to score on the play.

“We call it the double squeeze, I guess,” McMillan said. “You keep it in your back pocket for situations like that when you’re not hitting well. When guys are struggling at the plate, you can use that and hopefully it kind of gets them going with confidence. ... You wish you didn’t have to use it.”

San Mateo starting pitcher Jesus Olivas overcame a first-inning hiccup to lock in with Sweeney for a brilliant pitching duel. The junior right-hander worked 6 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on five hits, though held the deficit at 2-0 into the seventh.

The Gators, though, took advantage of the slightest bout of wildness by Olivas in the first. Pollioni got hit by a pitch to open the game, and Affrunti followed with a walk. Durrett was looking to sacrifice bunt, but turned his bunt into an infield single to load the bases. Cleanup hitter Colin Beim followed with an RBI groundout to short. Olivas then notched a three-pitch strikeout and a weak popup to left to strand two runners in scoring position.

“He pitched great,” Goldstein said. “He battles. ... It could have went either way. I’m just hoping one, two guys get on, because we have guys that can hit it out of here. And this is a home run park. You’ve just got to get one guy on and you can tie the game, but it just didn’t happen.”

SHP added a run in the second on thanks to a squirrelly hop with one on and two out, with bounder to the left side off the bat of Drew Parker catching the lip of the grass to elude the shortstop for an RBI single.

The Gators knocked out Olivas with two outs in the seventh, with San Mateo turning to sophomore left-hander Wilson Morales to record the final out of the inning.

The Bearcats have plenty of pitching depth in their own right. Morales was coming off a no-hitter in Saturday’s 6-0 non-league win over Design Tech. Then in Tuesday’s series opener at SHP, senior left-hander Christian Louie fired eight no-hit innings, and Copus carried the no-hitter into the 10th before San Mateo sophomore Michael Lackey broke it up with a two-out single. Combined with the Bearcats’ April 23 win over Woodside, San Mateo pitchers spanned 18 2/3 innings without giving up a hit.

“It’s been awesome,” Morales said of San Mateo’s weekday rotation of Louie and Olivas. “They go CG almost every game. Then we’ve got Tyce Copus to close out games. So, it’s been great. Everyone’s been great.”