Terra Nova blanks archrival to open PAL Ocean baseball schedule

Both pitchers overcame their ailments to lock up in a splendid pitchers’ duel, however, with James outlasting his HMB counterpart. The junior right-hander fired a three-hit shutout, and added a go-ahead, two-run single in the fourth, to lead the Tigers to a 3-0 victory. It marks the first complete game of James’ varsity career.

“It was very fun,” Tigers manager Jared Milch said. “And our defense did a great job behind Aiden, and he attacked the zone with all three pitches. That’s a specialty of his. And you could see if you throw three pitches for strikes, how that can get you through a lineup and deep into the game.”

James had trouble finding a handle on his fastball through the early going, walking three batters over the first two frames. From there, he improved his grip by turning to his off-speed stuff. He followed with two quick innings, including throwing just eight pitches in the fourth. He went on to throw 108 pitches on the day.

“One thing was my finger was hurting from throwing fastballs,” James said. “My finger was blistering up. So, I started throwing more changeups and got more strikes from there.”

Kung was navigating his own issues, with his bloody nose stopping play twice in the first two innings. The junior left-hander seemed to find his footing in the third, retiring the side in order on 11 pitches. He said he never really felt like his usual high-energy self, though.

“It was really tough,” Kung said. “Usually I’m coming into the game and I’m amped up, and I’m able to control it and feel the adrenaline. But that bloody nose just zapped it all out of me.”

Terra Nova (1-0 PAL Ocean, 6-2-1 overall) broke through in the fourth. Senior cleanup hitter JT Snead sparked a one-out rally when he got hit by a pitch. Sophomore Brody Finale followed with a sharp double over the bag at third to put runners at second and third. James then cashed in, catching a hanging changeup over the outside half of the plate to line a two-run single to left, staking the Tigers to a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, Terra Nova added an insurance run. With two outs, senior Luke Ornales singled to right then promptly stole second. Junior Joey Donati didn’t wait around, lining the next pitch to left to drive home Ornales.

The Tigers went on to load the bases but Kung battled through to induce a fly ball to center off the bat of James to finish the inning. The junior took the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits through five innings of work. He recorded six groundouts and a strikeout. His record falls to 3-1.

“I think he did a great job,” Cougars manager Brian Anderson said. “He might not have had his best stuff today, but he competed really well. ... Just to be able to shake [the bloody nose] off, and then to go out there and give us five innings, I thought he did a great job. Those boys can hit.”

HMB (1-2, 4-6) had its last, best chance to score in the bottom of the fifth. No. 9 hitter Ian Ehrhardt reached on a one-out single off the glove of the second baseman to turn over the batting order. Then sophomore Riley Jackson nearly got into one, two-hopping the wall for a double to put runners at second and third.

“Just a little more launch angle and that thing’s over the fence,” Anderson said.

Senior Jason Couto followed with a grounder to third base that led to a fantastic game of pickle between third and home, with Ehrhardt finally getting tagged out at the plate. With two outs, senior Ian Lemen got hit by a pitch to load the bases.

“You love it,” Anderson said. “That’s what you want all the time. We’ll take that every inning, if we can. Just got to find a way to get through.”

Terra Nova third baseman Evan Wilson didn’t let that happen, though. The junior came up with play of the day on senior Andreas Hipkins’ hot shot over the bag. Wilson went into a knee slide to nab it with a backhand, then popped to his feet to get the force at third for the final out of the inning.

“It was hit pretty hard, so at first I didn’t see it,” James said. “But then I turned around and saw him lay out for the ball and give it his all. ... He made a really good play.”

James went on to retire the next six batters in order, including a breezy 11-pitch inning in the sixth. That helped his case to go back out for the seventh to get the chance to close out the gem.

“We were debating on letting him go back out there,” Milch said, “but he wanted the ball, as a good competitor should, and we’ve got a lot of trust and faith in him to go finish the job.”

With the win, James improves to 2-0 on the season. He is now 3-0 in his varsity career, including one win as a sophomore in 2024 before missing the second half of the season due to knee surgery.

The two-game rivalry series concludes Thursday, but with a twist. While Terra Nova is having its home field remodeled, the series finale will be held at Half Moon Bay, but with Terra Nova playing as the home team.

Terra Nova has now won three straight over rival HMB dating back to last season.

“I think with the history and everything, we still put a little more emphasis on it,” Milch said of the rivalry. “But we try to take it as any other game and play our game and execute our way. This is a great team that we always have to come in here and face. They have some great players, and Brian does a great job with them. So, any time we come here, we know it’s going to be a battle, rivalry aside.”