SARATOGA, CA - Saratoga baseball coach Adam Varteressian had a message scrawled on a dry erase board in the Falcon dugout: "To be the champs, you must beat the champs."
Given that Saratoga entered the game at .500 in league play, it's easy to forget the Falcons were SCVAL-De Anza champions last season. But Saratoga delivered a reminder to Los Gatos on Wednesday, defeating the league-leading Wildcats 6-1.
"We're the defending champs," Varteressian said. "Los Gatos is having a great season and they're a good club, but we've proven we can play anyone. We've played San Benito and Wilcox and that's just how we roll. We just need to stay consistent."
The Falcons (13-5, 6-5) parlayed effective pitching from starter Joey Medeiros and timely hitting to hand Los Gatos (17-4, 8-1) its first league loss.
The big hit came during a five-run Falcon fifth inning. Tyler Plesse, on a 3-1 count, lined a bases-loaded double down the third-base line to clear the bases and give Saratoga a five-run lead.
"I just tried to stay calm and not get too tight," Plesse said. "I didn't want to think too much. I was just trying to get a ball I could drive."
Plesse said he knew he had a double and was just hoping all the runs could score.
Los Gatos made two errors in the inning, including mishandling a potential, inning-ending double play.
"We didn't hit and had some costly errors," Los Gatos coach Bobby Hill said. "But that's baseball. It happens. Sometimes things don't go your way. We didn't execute and it cost us."
Los Gatos took a 1-0 lead in the second after Hunter Bigge drew a one-out walk, went to second on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Saratoga took little time in tying the game, as Davis Berryhill led off the bottom of the second by hitting a drive to the right of the 365 sign in center field for a solo home run.
That's the way things stood until the fifth when a combination of wildness - two walks and a hit batsman - and two errors set up Plesse's clutch hit.
Medeiros gave up just three hits for Saratoga.
"Knocking off Los Gatos is a huge accomplishment," Plesse said. "They're a big rival and hopefully it will put us on a roll heading into the playoffs."
The teams meet again Friday at 4 p.m. at Los Gatos.
