Middletown varsity baseball snaps 1-1 with six-run bottom of the third
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MIDDLETOWN >> Not even two double plays initiated by Upper Lake High School’s Carlos Navares could stop the Middletown Mustangs from posting a 10-5 victory over the Cougars in North Central League I varsity baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Wes Martin Field.
Middletown (2-3 league, 4-8-1 overall) scored six times in the bottom of the third inning, pounding out five of its 11 hits in the inning, to break a 1-1 tie.
“They worked for it,” Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said of Middletown’s six-run third.
Middletown staked winning pitcher Cody de Jong to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Upper Lake (0-6, 3-9) briefly tied the game with a run in the top of the third, but the Mustangs pushed ahead to stay in the bottom half. Middletown had a 9-1 lead before the Cougars began to close the gap.
“We battled them,” Meri said. “We just had that one bad inning.”
The Mustangs had at least one hit from eight of its nine starters. De Jong helped himself by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs while Hunter Karp and Blake Costlow each went 2-for-4. Kelby Shook (1-for-2) also knocked in two runs. Other hits went to John Finney (1-for-4, double, RBI), Madden Sutton (1-for-3), Hayden Xavier (1-for-2) and Cody Perez (1-for-4, RBI).
De Jong worked the first five innings for the victory, allowing six hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts and four walks. Xavier finished up.
For Upper Lake, Jimmy Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Landen Robinson went 2-for-4, and Jace Kelley went 1-for-3 with a RBI. Tyler Collins, Mikel Compton and losing pitcher George Rahmer also had hits.
Rahmer pitched the first four innings for the Cougars.
Navares opened the game in center field where he started an 8-6 (center to shortstop) double play early in the game following a shoestring catch. After moving to pitcher later in the game, he initiated a 1-3 (pitcher to first) double play after coming off the mound to grab a soft liner.
“It wasn’t so much that he caught the ball, but how quickly he was able to get rid of it and double off the runner that was impressive,” Meri said.
“We had two really good plays by our outfielders,” Meri added. “Carlos made the first (starting the double play) and Jerod Rosales (in left field) had another.”
Middletown remains home Friday to take on Clear Lake at 4 p.m. Upper Lake returns home to host St. Helena at 4 p.m.