The King’s Academy’s outlook is bright this season
The squad returns nine players from their sectionwinning team of 2019
The Kings Academy baseball team has left itself a tough act to follow.
After all, when you’ve won back to back Central Coast Section Division III championships, what can you do for an encore?
But despite losing their first two games of the 2020 season, the Knights refuse to be burdened by the weight of expectations.
“Historically, we have been notoriously slow starters,” said The King’s Academy coach Greg Mugg, after his club recorded its initial win of the year, a 7-6 triumph over Cupertino last Friday at Cupertino High. “Regarding the added pressure and expectations, I don’t believe we feel much. The past two years, we didn’t set out to win CCS. It has always been about the process of getting better every day. Success is simply a reflection.”
The Knights, who were promoted to the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division last year after winning the PAL’S Ocean Division in 2018, return nine players from their 2019 CCS title squad — seniors Jeffrey Taylor, Tate Boynton and Nick Yandle, juniors Josh Algarin, Garrett Plata, Joey Thompson, Finn Reid and Trenton Farnham, and sophomore Jason Kapi. Taylor was a first-team Bay Division selection last year and runner-up for Pitcher of the Year in the PAL, while Plata was a secondteam Bay Division pick.
The King’s Academy is coming off of an 18-13 campaign in which it tied for third place in the tough Bay Division along with Burlingame, two games in back of co-champs Menlo School and Carlmont.
“At one point, we lost eight of nine games last year, but we didn’t panic,” Mugg said.
Instead, the Knights pulled it together to win 12 of their last 14 games, including the final three of the year in the CCS tournament.
After opening this year with a 3-2 loss to Live Oak and a 4-1 setback to San Lorenzo Valley, the Knights broke into the 2020 win column by edging Cupertino behind the clutch hitting and pitching of Farnham.
The third-year varsity performer doubled and drove in three runs at the plate, and allowed just one earned run over four innings of work on the mound.
Tanner Ellis was 2-for-4 with a run-batted-in, Plata delivered a two-run single, and both Algarin and Thompson scored twice to help the Knights’ offensive attack.
Algarin also turned in a strong relief effort, striking out all four batters he retired in an inning and a third.
The loss snapped a modest twogame winning streak for Cupertino, dropping its non-league record to 3-2.
The Pioneers, who finished 1117 last year to miss the CCS playoffs for the first time in three years, were coming off of backto-back wins over Overfelt (13-0) and Oak Grove (9-2) before their loss to the Knights. They opened the season with a 6-0 shutout of Evergreen Valley followed by a 5-3 loss to Oak Grove.
The Fremont Firebirds, who had gone 32-102 since their last winning season in 2014, blanked South San Francisco 12-0 last Saturday to improve to 4-0-1, their best start since winning six of their first seven games in 2015.
Ryan Kao and J.T. Kaprelian combined to toss a one-hitter against South Francisco just one day after Daniel Moreno and Spencer Nogavich teamed up to no-hit the Overfelt Royals 7-2.
Over a three-game span, including a 5-2 victory over the Harker Eagles, Fremont pitchers allowed a total of just two runs and four hits over 21 innings.
Like the Firebirds, the Homestead Mustangs are also off to a roaring start, thanks to some pretty good pitching of their own.
The Mustangs, hoping to rebound from an 11-16 season last year, posted wins in four of their first five games, including a 2-0 shutout of Westmont in their 2020 opener.
Nicholas Elich and Eric Goulet combined to shut down the Warriors on just five hits while walking no one and striking out 10.
Brian Ozawa-burns doubled home Thomas Ngai and Simon Kirschenbaum in the top of the fourth inning to provide the only runs of the game.
After falling to Live Oak 7-5, the Mustangs bounced back to beat Prospect 7-1, Saratoga 8-1 and Lincoln 5-4.
“We have great team chemistry,” said Luis Lerma, who is in his first year as Homestead’s coach following stints at Pioneer and Valley Christian.
The Mustangs chances for a bounce-back season are bolstered by a roster that features 11 returners from last year’s squad, including seniors Josh Say, Matthew Maloney, Dillon Lee, James Coogan and Ozawa-burns.
Early struggles at the plate had the young Lynbrook Vikings off to a sluggish 0-3 start.
While losing to Prospect 5-1 (in nine innings), Live Oak 8-2 and North Salinas 3-1, the Vikes managed a total of just four runs and nine hits in 23 innings.
Despite the slow start, Lynbrook coach Johnny Ramirez remains optimistic.
“We were very young last year and it showed,” said Ramirez, who enters his fourth year at the Viking helm. “But this year we should be very competitive and compete for a league title. We are loaded with pitching.”
Heading a cast of 12 returners is senior Max Smith-uchida, who posted a respectable 3.50 earned run average last year in a staffleading 12 appearances.
“Max is getting looks from D-1 and D-2 schools this year,” said Ramirez about Smith-uchida’s possible college options.
Other returners include Shree Phadke, Aaron Jew, Eugene Jew, Jim Fukusmi, Daniel Vanwiggeran, William Chang, Chris Zhang, Jayson Lo, Jonathan Leslie, Fred Lee and Jason Lee.
The Monta Vista Matadors had also gotten off to a rough start at 0-4, losing to Prospect 12-2 and 6-3, Mountain View 10-0, and Los Altos 25-1. In those four games, the Mats were limited to just six runs and 11 hits.