Mills baseball off to hot start in PAL Ocean Division play

Two weeks into league play, however, the tough non-league schedule appears to have paid dividends as the Vikings sit atop the Ocean Division standings with a perfect 4-0 mark, having swept a pair of games from both San Mateo and South City. After giving up 69 runs in their first nine games, the Vikings have only allowed four runs in their last four games.

Mills is proving that good pitching can carry team since the Vikings entered league play. Their team ERA has dropped more than two runs per game since league play started. In nine non-league games, the Vikings' team ERA was 7.66. With their four straight wins, that number has dropped to 5.13.

Kyle Vallans and Aram Moshkounian have done their parts on the mounds. Both have respectable numbers this season, with Vallans posting a 4.87 ERA in 23 innings and Moshkounian with a 3.92 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched.

They need their pitching on point because the Vikings bats are not exactly on fire, although they broke out in a 15-1 win over South City last Friday, banging out 19 hits in the process, a season high by far.

Sereno Esponilla and Vallans are carrying the offense right now. Esponilla leads the team with a .400 batting average, while Vallans is right behind at .310 -- the only two Vikings hitting over .300 on the season.

Granted, the schedule will get much tougher following spring break as the Vikings return from vacation with a pair against El Camino. They also have Woodside and Sequoia looming on the schedule.

But getting out to a fast start gives Mills some leeway in its quest for a division title.

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San Mateo County was well represented at the Stanford Invitational track meet over the weekend and there was a lot of success for local athletes in the first real barometer of the track and field season.

The Peninsula was especially strong in the Mile race, with four local athletes finishing in the top 20. The top finisher was Menlo-Atherton's George Baier, who finished eighth with a time of 4:19.57. The winning time was 4.12.74. Carlmont's Tim Layten was 12th with a time of 4:21.25, Aragon's Rory Beyer was 17 in a time of 4:23.61 and Joey Berriatua out of Serra was 20th with a time of 4:25.95.

Beyer also finished eighth in the 3,000 with a time of 8:48.35.

For the complete results, which features way too many local athletes to fit in this space, go to http://www.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2013/stan_res.htm

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Current and former College of San Mateo track athletes also excelled at the Stanford Invitational. Current Bulldog Evan McDaniel proved to one of the top shot putters in the nation, finishing in third place in the invitational event with a throw of 55-9. The winning distance was 57-0.75. The only throwers who bettered McDaniel hailed from Iowa State and Cal State Northridge.

Anthony Capitulo, a freshman out of South City, finished fifth in the javelin with a throw of 187-5, about five feet short of the winning mark.

A pair of former Mills standouts, brother and sister Josh and Nicole Uikilifi, also had strong performances. Nicole, who is at Fresno State, won the hammer throw with a mark of 180-6, about two feet further than the runner up. She also had a 12th-place finish in the discus with a throw of 123-10.

Josh, who is at Cal State Stanislaus, was 12th in the collegiate division of the discus with a toss of 50-3.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. He can also be followed on Twitter @CheckkThissOutt.