The Score: Menlo 4, Santa Cruz 0.

The Star: Freddy Avis pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing only three hits and striking out six in a 4-0 victory over Santa Cruz in the Central Coast Section Division III championship game Saturday at San Jose Municipal Stadium. Avis retired the final eight batters he faced, and then contributed to a two-run sixth inning with a run-scoring single.

The Turning Point: Santa Cruz loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning but Menlo reliever Jake Bruml induced leadoff Derick Delucchi to ground into a fielder’s choice for the final out to preserve the victory.

The Quote: “Our hitting is contagious. When we got hits, we didn’t stop. That was the key.” --Menlo freshman second baseman Mikey Diekroeger,

What’s Next? Menlo returns five of its Saturday starters, including winning pitcher Freddy Avis, outfielder Jake Batchelder and freshman second baseman Mikey Diekroeger, in its quest to win a third consecutive CCS championship next spring.

The Bottom Line: Menlo captured its second consecutive CCS baseball title and fifth in school history, all under coach Craig Schoof.

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The similarities seemed eerie as Menlo School baseball coach Craig Schoof approached Jake Bruml, who had just loaded the bases in the final inning, and took a glance at his relief pitcher’s facial hair.

“That’s not Brian Wilson’s beard,” the coach pointed out. “We don’t need to make this any more exciting.”

And, as is norm for the San Francisco Giants’ closer, Bruml closed out the game by inducing a groundout with the bases loaded to preserve a 4-0 victory over No. 8 seed Santa Cruz in the Central Coast Section Division III championship game on Saturday at San Jose Municipal Stadium.

The game lacked offensive fireworks and evolved into a grind-it-out affair played without delay in periodic rain. But for Menlo, individual highlights mattered little. The Knights (26-5) won their second consecutive CCS title and fifth in school history, all under Schoof.

“Each one’s special,” Schoof said. “Last year, it seemed like we either won it a year late or a year too early.”

An outstanding class of seniors had left before last year’s title season, during which sophomores played big roles. This year’s squad had much higher expectations and responded to the additional pressure with a balanced lineup and timely late-season pitching. Going into the game, the third-seeded Knights were hitting .355 as a team and had a team ERA of 2.97.

“It just shows that with the work we put in all season, we don’t need to play our best game,” said winning pitcher Freddy Avis (10-1). “If we just do the little things right, we can beat almost any opponent.”

Bruml originally was assigned to start the championship game, but put in more than four innings of relief of Avis, who got shelled in a start on Tuesday in an eventual 9-8 nine-inning victory over No. 2 seed Carmel in the semifinals.

The plan instead was to duplicate that sequence, by starting Avis and using Bruml late in relief. Avis allowed only three hits – all singles – over 5 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking only one.

“My goal was to keep the ball low,” Avis said. “So, I just pounded the zone.”

Avis, who struck out 17 in a first-round victory over Scotts Valley, changed speed, and used his curveball and changeup judiciously, fanning Zach Seftel looking on a sweeping curve and then causing Ryan Roubal to flail at a changeup for a second consecutive strikeout to end the Santa Cruz fourth.

By that time, Menlo was in the midst of a small-ball bonanza, using bunts, steals, and hit and runs in an effort to push across runs. The Knights would strand 11 altogether, but scratched to a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and fifth with only one hit – freshman Mikey Diekroeger’s fifth-inning RBI single – in those combined at-bats.

Left-hander Collin Ferguson held Menlo hitless for the Cardinals (15-15) until Tim Benton’s single up the middle to open the fourth. Ferguson allowed only two hits through five innings, but in the sixth, Menlo began to tee off.

“You get in a game like this and hitters want to hit off their front foot and do everything,” Schoof said. “He got us to chase. But toward the end, he got the ball up a little bit. We’d seen him a couple of times and his pitches began to flatten out.”

No. 8 batter Robert Wickers opened with a single and Avis and Bruml had run-scoring singles while five of six batters reached base.

“Our hitting is contagious,” Diekroeger said. “When we got hits, we didn’t stop.”

The two seventh-inning runs didn’t seem big at the time, but after Bruml retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning, he allowed a single and two walks to load the bases with the top of the order coming up.

But Bruml immediately got ahead 0-and-2 to Derick Delucchi, before the leadoff grounded to third baseman Wickers, who tagged a runner to end the game.

Beard or no beard, the Wilson-like Knights were champions.

“You can’t even describe this feeling, especially winning it two years in a row,” Avis said.

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Menlo School 4, Santa Cruz 0

SC -- 000 000 0 – 0 4 3

M -- 010 012 x – 4 6 0

WP: Avis (10-1). LP: Ferguson (1-3). Ferguson and Colombini; Avis, Bruml (6) and Marcus.

Records: Santa Cruz 15-15. Menlo 26-5.