Trojans, Mustangs, Cougars drop varsity baseball games
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ST. HELENA >> AJ Bruch pitched a four-hitter and struck out 10 while also helping his own cause at the plate as the Clear Lake Cardinals opened the second half of their North Central League I varsity baseball schedule Tuesday afternoon by beating the St. Helena Saints 5-1 in St. Helena.
The Cardinals (5-2 league, 10-4 overall) are now tied with Fort Bragg (5-2, 11-3) for second place in the league standings, trailing only Kelseyville (8-0, 13-3). St. Helena (5-3, 13-5) drops into fourth place.
“He came in and pounded the zone,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said of Bruch. “It’s fun to watch him when he’s on.”
Bruch also pounded out two hits and knocked in a run, part of a 12-hit Clear Lake attack led by Ryken Villanueva (3-for-4, two RBIs). Johnny Gonzales (2-for-4, RBI) and Jesse Hayes (2-for-4) each added a pair of hits. Zane McAuley (1-for-4) knocked in a run as well.
Clear Lake did all of its scoring in the sixth and seventh innings after falling behind 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the sixth, Peyton Portlock walked with one out, Hayes singled and Gonzales, down 0-2 in the count, singled home Portlock to tie the game. Bruch and Villanueva followed with RBI singles to make it 3-1 in Clear Lake’s favor.
The Cardinals tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. One-out singles by Hayes, Gonzales and Bruch loaded the bases, and Villanueva and McAuley followed with RBI singles.
“We only had one hit through the first five innings,” Horne said. “Our bat came around late.”
Sawyer Smith and David Cruz also had hits for the Cardinals.
“We’re still getting better every game,” Horne said.
Clear Lake hosts Upper Lake on Friday at 4 p.m.
In other varsity baseball action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 12, Lower Lake 1 (5 inn.)
At Lower Lake, after being no-hit and shut out by Kelseyville in their first league meeting earlier this season, the Lower Lake Trojans took some comfort in scoring a run on three hits against league-leading Kelseyville in their rematch Tuesday.
In the end though, the undefeated Knights continued their march toward a third consecutive league championship with a victory over the Trojans (2-4, 2-8).
“A game we had to take care of business, and we did,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said.
While it was far from the Knights’ best effort of the season, Shaul said there were plenty of positives as Kelseyville won for the 39th straight time in league play.
“We hit the ball pretty well,” Shaul said.
Kyle Watkins went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs while also scoring twice. Winning pitcher Gene Holdenried (1-for-2) and Brock Barrick (1-for-2, double) each knocked in two runs.
Holdenried worked all five innings for the win, striking out 10 and walking two while scattering three hits.
“”They didn’t no-hit us, and we scored a run, so we have stuff to build on,” Lower Lake head coach Mike Huffman said after watching his team’s mini-two-game winning streak snapped. “We’ve got to clean up mistakes, but we’ll bounce back.”
Both coaches gave high marks to Holdenried’s effort.
“Gene threw well,” Shaul said. “His last few outings have been really good. He was throwing as hard by the end of the game as he was at the beginning.”
“He was good,” Huffman added. “He threw some really nice pitches.”
Kelseyville scored three times in the top of the first inning against losing pitcher Ashton Hartmann, which is all that Holdenried would need. The Knights exploded for seven runs in the third to go up 10-0. Lower Lake got its only run in the bottom half when Blake Hill (1-for-2) singled home Jordan Rohrbacker. Zach Jones (2-for-2, double) had the other two Lower Lake hits.
Carson White (1-for-2, RBI), Reme Strong (1-for-3, RBI) and Tyler Bryant (1-for-4) also had hits for the Knights. Jesse Smart drove in a run and scored twice.
Hartmann worked two-plus innings, allowing three hits and eight runs (five earned) while striking out one and walking two.
Lower Lake travels to Fort Bragg for a league doubleheader Friday beginning at 2 p.m. Kelseyville is home Friday against Middletown at 4 p.m.
Cloverdale 15, Middletown 10
At Middletown, Cloverdale built a 10-2 lead after scoring seven times in the top of the second inning, and while the Middletown Mustang (2-5, 4-10-1) battled back to make a game of it, they still came up well short against the Eagles (2-5, 4-8).
Hayden Xavier had a big game for the Mustangs, going 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Hunter Karp (2-for-5, double) and Blake Costlow (2-for-5, RBI) also had multiple hits as Middletown lost for the sixth time in its last seven games.
Cody de Jong, the first of five Middletown pitchers, didn’t make it out of the second inning. He allowed six hits and nine runs (seven earned) in 1 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking four. Colton Karp, Xavier, Landon Pisaro and Costlow followed him to the mound.
Middletown hits the road Friday to take on Kelseyville at 4 p.m.
Fort Bragg 16, Upper Lake 0 (5 inn.)
At Fort Bragg, the Upper Lake Cougars (0-8, 3-11) hit some balls hard, but not nearly enough as they fell in five innings to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
“Both teams hit the ball hard,” Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said.
Fort Bragg scored seven times in the bottom of the first, twice in the second and seven times in the fourth.
Upper Lake starting pitcher Tyler Collin lasted just one-third of an inning. He retired the first batter of the game before running into trouble.
The Cougars finished with four hits, singles by Collins, Jace Kelley, Landen Robinson and Jimmy Sanchez. Two of those hits came in the top of the first, which was Upper Lake’s only scoring threat.
Upper Lake remains on the road Friday to play Clear Lake at 4 p.m.
