Middletown baseball nails down first win of season with 7-0 home victory
Lake County Sports on Facebook
MIDDLETOWN >> Sophomore Cody Perez shut out Willits on two hits while striking out Monday as the Middletown Mustangs picked up their first win of the 2025 season, beating the Wolverines 7-0 in non-league varsity baseball action at Wes Martin Field.
Middletown head coach Kyle Buckhorn said he was especially pleased with Perez’s outing given that he is one of several Mustangs who got a late start in baseball this season because of the basketball team’s deep postseason run, including an appearance in the NorCal playoffs.
“Really proud of Cody bearing down,” Buckhorn said. “This was impressive.”
Added Buckhorn, “I also want to give credit to Jon Hawkins (another member of the basketball team). He made a lot of good plays, hit the ball well. He’s just a great athlete, plus he’s always trying to help with the younger players, which I have a lot of.”
Hawkins went 2-for-2 with a triple, two RBIs and four stolen bases.
Middletown (1-1-1) scored single runs in each of the first three innings before adding two more runs in the fourth and two in the sixth. The Mustangs finished with eight hits, two each by Hawkins, a junior, and freshman Cody de Jong, who went 2-for-3 with a RBI.
“The bats came around a little bit today,” Buckhorn said. “Cody de Jong did a great job today. Also, my catcher, freshman Johnny Finney. That kid works hard.”
Kelby Shook doubled and scored a run while Madden Sutton went 1-for-4 with a RBI. Finney went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
Middletown draws Durham in the opening round of the Fort Bragg Tournament on Friday at 9 a.m., weather permitting.
GAME NOTES: Perez needed 97 pitches for the complete game, or roughly 14 pitches per inning … The Mustangs don’t open league play until March 25 against St. Helena. They will be looking to improve on last year’s 3-11 finish (seventh place out of nine teams). Willits has dropped down into the NCL I (except in football), leaving the league with only eight teams this season – the five Lake County schools plus Cloverdale, Fort Bragg and St. Helena.
