Monte Vista Varsity Baseball Drops Home Opener 1-0

Not a raindrop was to be found in Danville Saturday, as an eager grandstand watched San Mateo's Serra Padres face the Monte Vista Mustangs in their season opener. 

Rain wasn't the only thing hard to come by – runs were equally scarce, thanks to some sparkling pitching and defense from both teams.  The game remained scoreless until the final inning when Padres junior, Andre Mercurio, laced an RBI single up the middle to break the tie.

Junipero Serra High Padres senior, Julian Merryweather, took a no-hit bid into the bottom of the seventh, before Mustang shortstop, Taylor Prentice, broke it up with a one-out laser shot single to centerfield.  Next up, open-stanced senior, Brien Beaman, collected just the second Mustang hit of the game to become the potential winning run on first base.

The last-inning comeback was not to be, however.  Merryweather stopped the bleeding by striking out sophomore Tony DiMartino, and then induced a popup from the next batter, rightfielder Brandon Carr, to end the game and give the Padres the 1-0 victory.  Merryweather's final stat line was 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 ER.

"He's sneaky 'cause his delivery is really slow and easy, and then bam," said Monte Vista Head Coach Bill Piona. "Those guys are sometimes hard to pick up. He threw his spots, had good control, got the ball in on us and used both sides of the plate.  Really good pitching, not just throwing. It was tough for us to face him on our first outing.  Hopefully we'll improve from there."

"When you play a team like Serra, which is always going to be one of the top teams in the area, and you can play with them, that means you can play with pretty much anyone," said Assistant Head Coach Carl Alioto.  "I'm really proud of the guys."

The Mustangs pitched brilliantly as well.  Three pitchers – senior starter Craig Lanza, senior Nate Castiglioni and junior Cameron Keysor combined for seven strikeouts over seven innings, allowing no earned runs.  Keysor gave up an unearned run in the seventh when Merryweather, who had reached base on a tough error, helped out his own cause by scoring on Mercurio's poke up the middle. That proved to be all Merryweather and the Padres needed.

The error was charged to Mustangs shortstop Taylor Prentice when Merryweather hit a ball deep in the hole at short that Prentice showed good range by just getting his glove on.

"That ball took a hard hop," Prentice said.  "I just barely missed it."

Prentice had already made several fine defensive plays. He started an inning-ending double play in the second, had a great pick and throw to beat senior Tyler Hardeman to end the third, and made a heads-up play by fielding the ball and tagging second base to end the fourth with two runners on base.  His fielding skills were on display early and often, thanks in large part to Merryweather, who somehow managed to hit the ball Prentice's way in each of his three at-bats. 

Prentice also hit the ball hard in each of his plate appearances.  To go with his clutch hit in the seventh to break up the no-hitter, he also made a couple of loud outs, including the longest drive of the day – a shot in the fourth to the warning track in the deepest part of the ballpark, dead center. Prentice and fellow third-year varsity standout, third baseman Brien Beaman, are the new leaders of a Monte Vista squad, after the graduation of 12 members of last season's team. 

"Those are the two guys we're looking at to step into leadership roles this season," Piona said.  "Taylor's looked good since day one.  He started as a sophomore; as a junior he got mono at the end of the season and didn't get to play.  He broke his arm last April, and he's been sick all winter.  Just the fact that he is where is after what he's gone through is pretty impressive.  He's a player – he can hit, field, throw, he can do it all. The sky's the limit for him."

Danville's Monte Vista High will also need to rely on younger players to fill out the rest of its lineup.  The Mustangs are carrying more sophomores and juniors this season.  Starting leftfielder Bret Binning, whom coach Alioto dubbed a "baseball junkie," is a freshman.

This could mean there will be some growing pains for the Mustangs, who are looking to improve on their 17-8 record from last season, sixth in the North Coast Section.

"We play some really good teams early on," Piona said.  "Our record may not reflect how good we are.  We just have to keep playing hard with our head high."

"We have a lot of young guys who are going to be great this year," said Prentice.  "I'm looking forward to it."

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