After starting off the season by winning 10 of its first 12 games, Paly baseball has struggled, dropping 4 of 5 heading into a game against Burlingame.
Paly has fallen from first in the De Anza Baseball league to fourth as Los Altos, Los Gatos and Wilcox High Schools have surpassed them in the standings, riding winning streaks of their own.
Paly dropped both games in a recent home series against Wilcox.
Sophomore first baseman Matthew Caren said the losses came from out of character play.
“We had a tough series against Wilcox,” Caren said. “I don’t really think we played like ourselves on Wednesday, but we definitely showed some fight during yesterday’s game in the later innings. It just wasn’t enough to get us the win.”
Sophomore outfielder Stephen Lee said the team is not currently performing up to standard, however he offered optimism for the future.
“We’re in a little slump right now, but in our last game (8-5 loss to Wilcox) we came together a little bit. I feel like we are going to come out of this slump and we will go into the playoffs hot and ready to roll.”
Sophomore Stephen Lee
Lee said the team’s recent losses to Wilcox were a result of bad timing, rather than Wilcox fielding a more talented team.
“In my opinion, (Wilcox) isn’t better than us or has more talent than our team,” Lee said. “They just caught us after a long break and at a bad time. There aren’t any opponents that we can’t beat when everything is working well.”
Lee believes that the team’s recent losses may have been caused by internal discord.
“I would say that our recent losses (are) more because of internal struggles,” Lee said. “In our first game against Wilcox we didn’t have enough energy in the dugout, and our players weren’t doing their jobs. The players on the field didn’t execute, and the players on the bench weren’t supplying the energy we needed.”
Despite the struggles the team is facing, Lee said he remains confident in himself and his teammates moving forward.
“None of the other teams were any better than us,” Lee said. “We have a lot of talent on this team and I don’t think there is any team we can’t beat.”
