Menlo News June 07, 2025

Baseball is NorCal Champion!

The Knights defeated Santa Clara for first regional title in program history

Menlo baseball 24-25 NorCal Div. IV champions

Menlo baseball 24-25 NorCal Div. IV championsWhen it comes to close games, Menlo School baseball has gotten used to coming through for the win, and Saturday’s 2-1 win over Santa Clara was no exception as the Knights won the first CIF-NorCal Championship in program history.

The Knights finished the season 24-8 and won the NorCal Div. IV title after picking up the Central Coast Section Div. V and Peninsula Athletic League-Ocean championships. Menlo won 21 of its last 22 games and has come away with the win in games decided by a run or fewer 14-1.

This time, the Knights got all the runs they would need in the fourth. Senior Kc Chavinson singled with one out, Freshman Zach Roeder’s base hit moved Chavinson over to third before senior Ben Salama’s sac fly plated Chavinson. Freshman Fletcher Cahill then singled to score Roeder.

In the eighth, Santa Clara had two on with two out before shortstop Jack Freehill fielded the grounder and flipped the ball to Chavinson for the force-out.

“Last inning, I was telling them there’s no place I’d rather be than right there with the team,” Chavinson said. “I’m very grateful for them and all the work they put in.”

Chavinson, Salama, first baseman Nikhil Pathak, and catcher Jared Saal graduated on Thursday morning, rode the bus to Woodland Christian, where they played 7.5 innings of the NorCal semifinal before coming back around midnight. The next morning at 8, they then took a bus back to Woodland and finished the bottom half of the inning in 7 minutes before coming back for the next day’s final.

“I’m so proud of all my teammates and the hard work they put in this season, and how even in games where we got punched in the mouth, even the game before this, they had put four runs on us in the first innings. We didn’t know if we were going to be here,” Chavinson said. “We fought back. I’m really proud of how we stuck together.”

Chavinson started his usual spot at second but also moved to shortstop and third when Freehill and freshman Liam Widner went in to pitch.

“I was all in. At that point, you dedicate so much time to the sport that there’s no going back,” Chavinson said. “I needed to leave it all out on the field, Win or lose today, I knew I was going in with my best effort.”

Knights ace Jackson Flanagan threw four shutout innings, and as he has all season, wanted to stay out there, but had reached his maximum number of innings after throwing six over Las Lomas. In March, Flanagan was on the mound against Sacred Heart Prep, politely shaking his head with a smile at Manager David Trujillo to keep him in. Menlo won in the ninth, and Flanagan walked away with the nine-inning, complete-game victory.

“We were here last year and didn’t come out on top, so I’m feeling awesome,” Flanagan said. I felt amazing, in complete control. I would have liked to stay out there, but really happy that everyone else did well. It was really special to see.”