A St. Francis baseball team with a propensity for putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard, did its thing again Friday.
Scoring five runs in both the first and seventh innings, the Lancers overwhelmed host Valley Christian 10-0 in a West Catholic Athletic League game.
The victory enabled St. Francis (19-1, 6-1) to remain in a first-place tie with Serra (15-3, 6-1), which defeated Sacred Heart Cathedral 9-0.
The hitting does tend to be contagious for the Lancers, who have scored six runs or more in 15 of their 20 games.
"When someone hits a shot, everyone just focuses up," said Mark Cardinalli who went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four runs batted in. "And then we just start a rally. That's how it's always been."
Cardinalli produced that shot in the seventh, hitting a 3-1 fastball high over the fence in left field, 345 feet away from home plate. That two-run homer highlighted the Lancers' second big uprising against the Warriors.
"I was expecting (the pitch) in one location and he gave it to me," Cardinalli said. "I was nice and relaxed and got a good pitch and made solid contact. I knew it was gone right away. I just put my head down and started jogging."
Cardinalli's two-run double in the first inning helped the Lancers seize a 5-0 lead. Tyler Deason and Chris Baker also had doubles in the inning and Cort Peterson and Hunter Simmons hit singles.
"They have good players who have played in competitive leagues," said Valley Christian pitcher Mark Quinby who did a nice job in relief of Ben Hughes. "They had a lot of good hits in that first inning."
The Lancers came into the game averaging seven runs per game and were able to pad that average a bit. The output was more than enough to make a winner again out of right-handed pitcher Michael Strem (7-0), who used a mid-80s fastball, as well as a slider curve and changeup to limit the Warriors to just three hits.
"It's definitely easier to pitch with a lead. You don't have to be so perfect out there," said the Boston College-bound Strem. "It was a good game. I was pounding the zone early and they were making contact and that helps a lot. Our defense played great today."
The top-ranked Lancers have lost only one game, 10-9 to Serra. St. Francis led the Padres 8-1 early in that game. But with seven consecutive victories now, the Lancers are on a roll and their future looks as bright as the Valley Christian ballpark on a hot, cloud-less day.
St. Francis and Serra will meet again, on April 26 in Mountain View in what will surely be a much-anticipated game.
"I feel great," Strem said. "We're starting to reach the end of the season and hopefully we'll peak at the end and bring home a championship."
Despite an impressive performance, Lancer coach Mike Oakland is not satisfied.
"We did a nice job today, but there's still a long way to go," Oakland said. "We definitely got good pitching and the team was hitting. (Valley Christian) was putting the ball in play and that helps."
The Lancers had nine hits and seven of their batters hits safely. Besides Cardinalli, Baker had a pair of doubles and Peterson, Austin Guibor, Simmons and Deason had hits.
Overall, veteran-laden St. Francis was just too much for a Valley Christian team (13-6, 4-3) that has underclassmen all over its starting lineup, but is still rated No. 3 in the P2P rankings.
"They look like men out there," Quinby said of the Lancers.
Quinby, who had a single in the fifth, was the only Warrior to advance as far as second base.
St. Francis hosts Archbishop Riordan at 4 p.m. Tuesday in another WCAL game. Valley Christian is at Archbishop Mitty, also at 4 p.m.
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John Murphy may be followed on Twitter @PrepCat
