On Saturday, April 2, Redwood JV hosted Montgomery High of Santa Rosa, and came away with an 11-1 victory in five innings. Winning pitcher Blake Cusick faced just sixteen batters in four innings, allowing only two hits and one run while striking out four. Closer Tyler Warren shut the door, striking out two of three batters that he faced. The Redwood batters were unstoppable, racking up 11 hits and seven walks on their way to 11 runs. Of particular note were Mackie Skall with two hits and two RBIs, Luke Zlatunich with a double, a run and two RBIs, and Nicolas Paoli-Khadjenouri with a double, a run and an RBI.

Sean McKenna on base after driving Connors in for the win

JV’s record improved to 8-3 (5-1 in conference play) on Tuesday, April 5 with a 2-1 home win against Marin Catholic. The game featured an intensive pitcher’s duel, as Redwood’s Blake Cusick logged another strong performance, allowing just one run on two hits. Redwood’s defense had a number of important plays to keep the Wildcats off the board, including a key double play in the third, Dane Goodman’s lunge for the final out in the fourth and Drew Jacks’ timely grab in right field in the fifth. MC’s defense was also strong, and the sixth inning started with a 0-0 score. MC managed a run in the top of the sixth, and the pressure was on the Giants’ defense, with no outs and two runners on base. Ollie Pearson came on in relief to try to stem the rally and ended up with the win. When the Wildcat on second attempted to steal third, catcher Luke Zlatunich threw to shortstop Riley Marsh, who whipped the ball to third baseman Sean McKenna for the out. Pearson and the defense then got the next two outs to get out of the inning with no further damage. Redwood’s offense then cobbled together two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. Jacks led off the inning and reached second base on a couple of MC errors. Michael Connors moved Jacks to third with a single, and stole second. Zlatunich smacked a sacrifice fly, allowing Jacks to score Redwood’s first run. Junior Sean McKenna then came through with a huge single, allowing Connors to score the go-ahead run. In their final at bat, the Wildcats were unable to get past Pearson’s pitching, and the Giants were victorious. The boys travel to San Marin before heading into Spring Break and hope to keep their MCAL-leading record intact before hitting the slopes/beaches for some much deserved R&R.

Coach Rich Epidendio celebrates as Michael Connors scores the winning run against MC