The Menlo School Knights will square off against the Santa Clara Bruins at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Menlo School comes in on 11 and Santa Clara on 20.
Menlo School is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They walked away with a 15-11 win over Woodland Christian. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Knights considering their two-run performance the game before.
Chuck Wynn was incredible, getting on base in four of his six plate appearances with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run. The team also got some help courtesy of Fletcher Cahill, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with four runs and one stolen base.
Menlo School kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits in six consecutive matches.
West Valley typically has all the answers at home, but on Thursday Santa Clara proved too difficult a challenge. They were the clear victors by a 6-0 margin over the Eagles. The Bruins might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 18 contests by six runs or more this season.
The result came thanks to Drew Diffenderfer's shutout, as he gave up just five hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in eight consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Connor Houle, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. Another player making a difference was Jaxton Chao, who went 3-for-5 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Santa Clara's victory was their ninth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 29-3. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Menlo School, their record is now 23-8.
Menlo School was able to grind out a solid victory over Santa Clara when the teams last played back in February of 2024, winning 9-4. Do the Knights have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bruins turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
