Upper Lake baseball improves to 2-1 on the season with five-inning road victory
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ROHNERT PARK >> Tyler Collins allowed just one hit during a five-inning complete game Friday afternoon as the Upper Lake Cougars beat the Technology Titans 11-1 in non-league action at Rohnert Park.
“Just fastballs, that’s all he needed,” Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said of Collins’ pitch repertoire against the Titans (0-3).
Collins had a 5-0 lead when he allowed his only hit, a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning, a ball that took one hop to the Upper Lake left-fielder.
“It was a clean single,” Meri said.
Collins struck out eight and walked two.
Upper Lake (2-1) brought an early end to the game with a six-run top of the fifth inning, pushing its lead to 11-1. The 10-run rule was invoked after Technology failed to score in the bottom half.
“I’m happy with it,” Meri said of the Cougars’ overall performance.
While the Cougars collected only four hits at the plate, all of them doubles, they took advantage of the 10 walks issued by Technology pitching and the six errors committed by the Titans in the field. Landen Robinson (1-for-1), George Rahmer (1-for-2), Jace Kelley (1-for-2) and Jimmy Sanchez (1-for-3) all had hits for Upper Lake.
The Cougars scored single runs in the first, second and fourth innings and two runs in the third to build a 5-0 lead.
Upper Lake hosts Point Arena on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
In other non-league baseball action Friday:
Pleasant Valley 11, Clear Lake 4
Golden Valley 5, Clear Lake 1
At Chico, the Clear Lake Cardinals fell to Pleasant Valley (Chico) in a second-round game, then lost to Golden Valley (Merced) in a third-round game at the Chico Tournament.
Clear Lake (2-2) was on the verge of beating Pleasant Valley in a Friday morning game with a 4-2 lead after five complete innings. With the two teams closing in on a tournament time-limit rule, Pleasant Valley scored nine times in the top of the sixth to win it.
“I know their coach was getting nervous,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said of his Pleasant Valley counterpart. “We were getting close. If we had taken just a little bit more time in the fifth, we wouldn’t have had to play the sixth.”
Starting pitcher AJ Bruch turned over a 4-1 lead to his bullpen. He allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked six in his four-plus innings on the mound. David Cruz ended up taking the loss, allowing five hits and four runs in his 1 1/3 innings on the mound.
Jesse Hayes anchored Clear Lake’s nine-hit attack by going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, a RBI and three stolen bases. Ryken Villanueva went 2-for-3, Johnny Gonzales went 1-for-2 with a triple and a RBI, and Fabian Moreno went 1-for-2 with a double. Bruch and Cruz had the Cardinals’ other hits.
“This is great competition for us,” Horne said. “Pleasant Valley has around 1,800 kids. We came here to compete, and we’ve competed in every game.”
Golden Valley
Two hard-throwing Golden Valley pitchers clamped down on the Cardinals in their afternoon game against the Merced team.
The Cougars struck early, scoring four times in the bottom of the first against losing pitcher Zane McAuley before adding another run in the second for a 5-0 lead. McAuley’s RBI single in the top of the third accounted for Clear Lake’s lone run.
McAuley worked five innings, allowing eight hits, striking out seven and walking four.
Cruz and Sawyer Smith had Clear Lake’s only other hits.
Coming off a tough loss earlier in the day against Pleasant Valley, Clear Lake had a hard time getting going in the afternoon game, according to Horne. Facing two hard throws didn’t help.
Clear Lake wraps up tournament play Saturday morning against Chico High School at 10 a.m.
Vallejo 9, Lower Lake 0
At Vallejo, the Lower Lake Trojans dropped to 0-3 on the season with a shutout loss to the Vallejo Redhawks.
Anthony Myer, the first of four Lower Lake pitchers, took the loss after working the first two innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on one hit. He walked two. Brody Shields, Blake Hill and Luke Campbell followed Myer to the mound.
Vallejo led 4-0 after two innings. The Redhawks added to their lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth and three more runs in the sixth.
Hill went 2-for-3 at the plate for Lower Lake while Adrian Negrete went 1-for-2.
The Trojans hit the road next Friday to play Marin Academy at 6:30 p.m.
Middletown 2, Swett 2 (tie)
At Crockett, Jon Hawkins pitched all seven innings but the Middletown Mustangs had to settled for a 2-2 tie with Swett after the two teams ran out of daylight.
Hawkins, with only two days of practice under his belt after joining the team late because of Middletown’s long run in the basketball playoffs, scattered four hits and shut out Swett over the final six innings. He allowed only one earned run, struck out 11 and walked three.
“I was really proud of Hawkins the way he pitched only having two legitimate practices due to basketball,” Middletown head coach Kyle Buckhorn said.
Both teams finished with only four hits.
“We had a tough time making adjustments at the plate,” Buckhorn said. “It was definitely a pitcher’s duel.”
John Finney went 2-for-3 with a double for the Mustangs (0-1-1) while Hawkins went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Blake Costlow (1-for-3) and Hayden Xavier (0-for-3) drove in Middletown’s runs, which came in the second and third innings to tie the game at 2-2.
“I’m looking forward to what can happen with these kids now that they’re all together,” Buckhorn said.
Middletown returns home Monday to play Willits at 4 p.m.
