SUNNYVALE — A special season for the Santa Clara High School baseball team continued Tuesday.
The Bruins won their 13th in a row, improved to 22-3 on the season and clinched the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division title with a 5-1 victory over second-place Fremont.
“We’re feeling really good about ourselves right now, that’s for sure,” Santa Clara coach Pedro Martinez said.
With 22 wins the team has also equaled the most wins by a Santa Clara team in the MaxPreps era, since 2004. The 2005 team, which lost in the Central Coast Section Division I championship game to Archbishop Mitty, also had 22 wins, postseason included. The current team still has two regular-season games remaining.
And the objective is to emulate the 2005 team with a deep run into the CCS playoffs.
Santa Clara’s John Kepner (6) throws against Fremont in the seventh inning at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“We’ve beat five `A’ league teams, including Leigh,” Martinez said. “I believe we belong in the discussion of being one of the top teams in the section.”
Fremont (15-6, 11-3) handed Santa Clara its one El Camino Division loss. But Santa Clara (15-1 El Camino) has now defeated the Firebirds two out of three and gained the tie-breaker should the regular season conclude with an unlikely tie for first place. Santa Clara would have to lose its last two and Fremont win its last four for that to take place.
On Tuesday, leadoff batter Jaxton Chao led off the top of the first with a single, stole second and scored on a wild pitch. His two-out single in the second inning drove home Greg Salgado to make it 2-0.
Santa Clara’s Jaxton Chao (9) scores on a wild pitch against Fremont in the first inning at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Chao was batting .608 going into the game. A 2-for-4 day made his average plummet to .603.
“It’s not a soft .600, either,” Martinez said.
The score stayed 2-0 until the fifth when the Bruins scored three runs to make it a five-run advantage. Andrew Traffes led off with a shot over the right-field fence for his third home run of the season. Catcher Charles Conley and Dominick Chavarria added RBI singles.
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Five runs was plenty as Drew Diffenderfer went five shutout innings on the mound, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out three. Diffenderfer, coming back off an elbow injury, was described by Martinez as the staff ace. He improved to 4-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.41.
“The goal is to keep rolling, keep winning,” Diffenderfer said. “Even against the better teams we’ve proven we can beat them, will beat them. Our goal is to go deep and win CCS.”
Connor Armstrong led off the sixth for Fremont with a double. He scored on a single by Kevin Koval. But Santa Clara reliever John Kepner settled down after that and retired the last four batters he faced on strikes to close out the win.
Chao, Traffic and Chavarria had two hits apiece for Santa Clara. Logan Mullins had two hits for Fremont.
Santa Clara’s Andrew Traffas (1) heads to home plate after hitting a solo home run against Fremont in the sixth inning at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)