Cardinals’ leadoff hitter goes 4-for-4 in North Central League I win over Upper Lake
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LAKEPORT >> When Jesse Hayes is on, so are the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Hayes, a junior, went 4-for-4 from the leadoff position Friday afternoon as Clear Lake rolled to an 11-1 victory over the Upper Lake Cougars in North Central League I varsity baseball action in Lakeport.
“He did his job today,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said. “Every ball he hit was hard. He was solid, impressive.”
So was starting pitcher Sawyer Smith, who threw a perfect first three innings, striking out seven, before giving way to reliever Peyton Portlock in the five-inning game, which was called early because of the 10-run rule.
With the Cardinals (6-2 league, 11-4) facing a big road trip to Fort Bragg (7-2, 13-3) on Tuesday, Horne said he wanted to have Sawyer available for that game, so he limited him to three innings against Upper Lake.
“He was sharp,” Horne said of Smith, who left the game with a 9-0 lead.
Smith had all the run support he could want as the Cardinals collected 13 hits, led by leadoff hitter Hayes, who had one of the team’s three doubles, scored three times, drove in a run and stole three bases. Johnny Gonzales went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI while Zane McAuley (1-for-2) knocked in a team-best four runs, including a three-run double during Clear Lake’s four-run second inning that made it 7-0. He also had a sacrifice fly during a three-run first.
Ryken Villanueva added two more hits and scored twice. Other hits went to Ty Bingham (RBI), Jason Horne, Ezekiel Lopez (RBI) and AJ Bruch.
“The boys had a lot of good swings,” Horne said.
Upper Lake (0-9, 3-12) avoided the shutout on Mikel Compton’s RBI double in the top of the fourth, one of only two hits allowed by Clear Lake pitching. Tyler Collins had the other one.
“Our pitchers threw strikes, we didn’t walk many (three), so I was happy about that,” Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said. “They (Cardinals) hit the ball hard.”
Meri said the Cougars were again down multiple starters, including the middle of the team’s infield defense, so he had to move players around to positions they are unaccustomed to playing.
With five games left for the Cougars, Meri said he believes there are still some winnable league games left on the team’s schedule, more so if they can get injured starting pitcher Kyler Brothers back soon.
George Rahmer started on the mound for Upper Lake and took the loss.
Upper Lake hosts Cloverdale on Tuesday before traveling to Kelseyville next Friday. Clear Lake spends next week on the road – at Fort Bragg on Tuesday and at Cloverdale on Friday.
