But when the Los Gatos baseball team battled from behind to beat Milpitas 13-12 in nine innings last Wednesday, the day certainly didn't lack for excitement.

The Wildcats staked the Trojans to leads of 4-0, 9- 2 and 12-5 before battling from behind to tie it 12-12 with two outs in the seventh, then win it with two outs in the ninth.

"Everybody in this league is good and can swing the bats," said Los Gatos boss Don Ardissone. "And every team is capable of coming back."

The Cats did last Wednesday, and "we were very pleased," said the coach.

Pleased with the win—not necessarily the performance.

"We gave up too many runs," added Ardissone, whose club made a couple of crucial errors in the midst of Milpitas rallies and also blew a key double play in the Trojans' four-run rally in the first.

Still, the Cats never gave up and fought back for the victory that evened their record at 2-2 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

A tough 6-4 loss to Cupertino two days later, though, dropped Gatos to 2-3 in league play and to 5-6 for the season.

The Wildcats will try to get back on the winning track this week when they visit Palo Alto on April 2 and host Wilcox on April 4 in a pair of 3:30 p.m. games.

Some nifty relief work by Jeremy Bays helped the Cats shut down the Trojans last Wednesday and gave Gatos a chance to battle back. After Bays walked the leadoff man in the top of the eighth, Ardissone called on his ace, Alex Rollin.

"We were going to leave Jeremy in, but then we decided to go to Rollin," said Ardissone. "He was ready to go."

That's an understatement. After giving up a walk because of some early wildness, Rollin settled down to strike out three straight Trojans. He gave up a walk and a single in the ninth but retired the side to give the Cats one final shot at victory.

With the sun setting over the Santa Cruz Mountains and darkness swallowing the Gatos diamond, the Los Gatos offense went to work in the bottom of the ninth.

Nick Perrone was hit by a pitch with one out. Perrone was forced at second by Kyle Jensen on an attempted sacrifice.

Jensen raced to third on a single to left by Derek Tam, and he promptly scored on a wild pitch to give Gatos the victory.

The Wildcats had battled from behind all afternoon. Milpitas went up 4-0 in the first, but a single to left by Rollin and a two-run homer to center by Kyle Schafer got the Cats close.

The Trojans scored a run in the third and four more in the fourth to lead 9-2, but once again Gatos fought back. Jensen singled up the middle and Tam reached on an error. An out later, Travis Howell singled home a run, Tam taking third and Howell moving to second on the left fielder's bobble.

Rollin ripped a single to right to drive in two runs, and the Cats were down just 9-5.

Once more Milpitas rallied, this time for three more in the sixth, but once more Gatos battled from behind.

Dan Politi singled up the middle, but two outs later he was still on first base. Tam chased him home with a triple to left.

After Bays walked, Howell crushed a three-run homer over the left field fence, and it was suddenly a ballgame again at 12-9.

Bays put down the Trojans one-two-three in the seventh, and Gatos came through in the home half of the frame.

Schafer opened with an infield single and Politi walked. Perrone was hit by a pitch to load the bases. An out later, Schafer scored on a wild pitch and Tam knocked in a run with a ground out to first.

Los Gatos still trailed by a run and was down to its last out when the Milpitas pitcher was called for a balk, allowing the tying run to score.

That set the stage for the rally in the bottom of the ninth that helped the Cats clinch the win.

Rollin threw two scoreless innings to get the mound win, and he also led a 13-hit attack with three singles. Schafer homered and singled twice, Howell homered and singled, Tam tripled and singled and Jensen had two hits. Politi also had a hit, Perrone was twice hit by pitches and Bays walked twice.

Two days later, the Cats were up 4-0 when Cupertino rallied for five runs in the fourth to pull out a 6-4 De Anza Division win. Rollin was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 4-2.

Rollin had three hits for the Wildcats in the loss and Russell Laubach had two hits. Bays cracked a double.

Los Gatos had blistered Cupertino 11-2 the first time through the schedule. Rollin, headed to UC-Berkeley in the fall on a baseball scholarship, went the distance to toss a one-hitter. He struck out 12.

Rollin was also the hitting star for the Wildcats with three two-run homers.

Bays doubled and homered to drive in a couple of runs in the win and Howell singled twice to knock home a pair. Howell is also headed to Cal on a baseball scholarship.

Tam singled and doubled for the Cats in the win and Schafer doubled.

The Wildcats lost 6-1 to Fremont a couple of days later. Ryan Daily belted a solo homer in the seventh and Tam had two hits for Gatos.

Los Gatos had dropped a 5-2 nod to Palo Alto to open the league season. Rollin singled and doubled and Howell and Bays each doubled in the game.

In other early season games, Howell homered, but the Cats lost 4-3 to Valley Christian; and Matt Lazares singled and doubled, but Gatos lost 8-2 to Los Altos. In a 7-2 win over Santa Clara Rollin singled and doubled, Howell doubled and Schafer and Matt Hirakawa knocked in two runs apiece.

The Wildcats had opened the season with a rousing 23-1 win over Lynbrook. Rollin struck out eight in four innings to get the mound win, and he led the bat attack with a homer and two singles to drive in four runs.

Schafer singled and doubled to knock in three runs, Bays drove in three runs with a pair of hits, Howell and Logan Schafer each singled and doubled, Hirakawa had two hits to drive in two runs and Jason Livingstone doubled.