Michael Strem separated himself from every player on the field Wednesday night as he led St. Francis to an 8-3 win over Palo Alto and a shot at the CCS Championship for the first time since 2001. Not only did Strem pitch well for the Lancers, but he dominated at the plate too.
On the mound, Strem threw six strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven. In the batter’s box, Strem exploded, going 3-for-4 with a double, five RBIs and a run scored.
“Today my curveball was working for me. My fastball was getting hit, they were being aggressive at it, I battled, and my changeup came up big,” said Strem. “First at bat I swung through three changeups, second at bat I made an adjustment, stayed back on it, hit it to right [for a double]. Next couple at bats I just jumped early on the fastball.”
St. Francis piled up runs in the third and fourth innings, tallying three runs in each frame and putting the game out of reach for Palo Alto. Four of Strem’s five RBIs came in those innings, leading to two pitching changes for the Vikings.
“Awesome. Fantastic. He’s been a rock for us all year, he’s done so many things for us. We wouldn’t still be playing if it wasn’t for him,” said St. Francis coach Mike Oakland. “He wasn’t perfect tonight, but he didn’t need to be perfect, he had to be good and he was good.”
Kort Peterson also contributed to the St. Francis offensive charge, not with his bat, but with intimidation. Following a leadoff base hit in the first, Peterson walked in his three subsequent plate appearances, walking intentionally in the last two. The senior center fielder finished the day 1-for-1 with three walks and three runs scored.
“I was just looking for a pitch to hit, obviously they walked me intentionally the last two times, but first two at bats I was just looking for something over the plate, I wasn’t going to be picky, just looking for a good pitch,” said Peterson.
The Lancers were able to execute in every scoring opportunity, only needing seven hits to push eight runs across the plate. Palo Alto’s young pitching staff did its best to control the St. Francis offense, but Lancers, who have been ranked nationally this season, were too much for the Vikings to handle.
Starting pitcher Danny Erlich pitched into the fourth inning, surrendering five of the total eight runs given up by Palo Alto.
For Palo Alto, senior Rowan Thompson led the charge at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of base hits, and knocking in one of the Vikings three runs during a two-run sixth inning rally that brought the Vikings within 6-3. Third baseman Jack Cleasby also assisted in the offensive effort, reaching base once on a base hit in his three at bats, scoring once.
Junior Tyler Deason moved from third base to the mound in the seventh, shutting down the Vikings in order, striking out two of the three hitters he faced.
Coach Erick Raich was extremely satisfied with the season and how his players performed.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this group. We didn’t return one starter from last year, we started a whole nine new guys, an entire starting pitching rotation from last year,” said Raich. “We overachieved, this group squeezed everything they could out of themselves ability wise.”
Oakland is looking forward to Saturday’s CCS championship contest against Serra, which defeated San Benito 6-0 in the other CCS Division I semifinal. First pitch is set for 7 pm at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
“We have a couple days here to revisit our games we had against them. The main thing is it’s going to take a really good effort all the way around,” said Oakland. “We’re going to have to play well, really grind out some key spots, hopefully we pitch well, it’ll be tough, there’s no question, they are an excellent team.”
