Prep Baseball Roundup: Tam tops Redwood, keeps pace in MCAL title race

Tam High out up four runs late to secure a much-needed 5-1 home win over rival Redwood on Friday as the regular-season title race intensifies. Senior Tito Fierstein was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs for the Hawks (15-5, 10-2 MCAL), while Finnegan McGane and Dara Zolfaghari each doubled.

Junior Ethan Ferry drove in senior TJ Beck for the Giants’ only run of the game to briefly tie the score in the fifth inning. Seniors Sam Gersch and Miles Harrison had the only two hits for Redwood (11-8-1, 8-6).

Tam senior Eli Solem was in playoff mode on the mound, with nine strikeouts and two walks through 6 2/3 innings for the win. On the other side, Giants ace Matthew Knauer struck out six batters, walked three and allowed six hits in six innings of work.

The second-place Red-tailed Hawks are in the hunt for the top seed in the MCAL playoffs, but still trail San Marin by one game in the standings with four games to play. San Marin and Tam play a home-and-home set May 6 and 8 to wrap up the regular season.

• Terra Linda put up five runs in the top of the sixth inning, but it wasn’t enough against San Marin as the Mustangs held on to for a 7-5 home victory over Friday. Senior Sean McGrath had a solid day at the plate for the Mustangs, with a double, a triple and three RBIs. Junior Matthew Baldino and senior Tyler Keehn each drove in a pair of runs and senior Hugh Brady scored three times on three hits for San Marin, which plated six runs in the first two innings. San Marin starter Tanner O’Keefe struck out three batters in five shutout innings.
• San Rafael starter Aedan Bardoul overcame some early struggles to pick up the win as the Bulldogs held off Archie Williams High, 2-1, on Friday. Bardoul rang up five strikeouts and didn’t allow a hit, but walked nine batters and surrendered a run to the Peregrine Falcons (11-8, 7-5 MCAL) in the first inning. Falcons sophomore hurler Kingston Weinberg was solid through five innings with eight strikeouts and three walks, against five hits. San Rafael’s Dylan Thorpe and Mikey Giannino scored in the third innings to put the Bulldogs (10-11, 7-7) ahead for good.
• Marin Catholic limited Saint Francis of Mountain View to just four hits, but the Lancers made the most of their opportunities in Friday’s 2-0 non-conference win against the host Wildcats in Kentfield. Marin Catholic (10-8, 6-6 MCAL) is scheduled to host Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep on Saturday before wrapping up the regular season next week with games against Novato and Archie Williams.
• Marin Academy put up a pair of runs in the first inning, but that was all the offense the Wildcats could muster in Friday’s 12-2 road loss to Lick-Wilmerding (7-7, 3-3 BCL West). Reed Meyer and Brady Stewart crossed the plate to give the Wildcats (3-9, 0-5) the lead before the Tigers responded with four runs in the bottom of the first. Meyer and Griffin Hornbrook both doubled for Marin Academy.
• Tomales opened up Friday’s game with a barrage and cruised to an 11-1 home victory over Roseland Collegiate Prep of Santa Rosa. Junior Jorge Lopez was 3-for-3 with a double to drive in two runs and score two more, while sophomore Erick Dominguez tripled and had an RBI for the Braves (6-7, 3-5 NCL-II), who have won three in a row.