Lower Lake, Upper Lake drop North Central League I road games
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KELSEYVILLE >> Brock Barrick pitched into the seventh inning before Gene Holdenried came on to notch the save Tuesday afternoon as the Kelseyville Knights closed out another championship season with a 5-2 victory over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in North Central League I varsity baseball action at Lloyd Larson Field.
Kelseyville (13-1 league, 18-4 overall) heads into next week’s North Coast Section playoffs as the three-time NCL I champion, but the Knights are hunting bigger game this postseason.
“We want to win a section title, that’s our ultimate goal,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said. “We’ve had our eye on a section title for the last four years with this group of players.”
The senior-dominated Knights lost to eventual section champion and NorCal runner-up Justin-Siena in the quarterfinal round last season, that after falling to those same Braves from Napa in the quarterfinals in 2023.
“As long we play our best baseball I’ll be happy,” Shaul said with an eye toward the sectional playoffs, which begin either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on what division the Knights end up in.
The at-large and seeding meeting takes place Sunday and that’s when the Knights will find out as well as who they are playing in the first round and where.
“We’ve had a really good year so far, but we still have things left to do,” Shaul said.
While Kelseyville entered play Tuesday having clinched the league championship, the last thing the Knights wanted to do was let Fort Bragg slow down their momentum heading into the postseason or hurt their chances of gaining a better playoff seed.
The Knights rolled out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Kyle Watkins doubled to lead things off. Reme Strong’s single followed by a walk to Brock Barrick loaded the bases. Tyler Bryant was hit by a pitch to bring in the game’s first run and Max Hommer drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0.
Then things got a little weird, according to Shaul.
“We tried a suicide squeeze and it failed,” Shaul said of Barrick being thrown out at the plate as Bryant and Hommer moved up a base. “I thought I killed momentum with that.”
The next batter bounced into a fielder’s choice on which Bryant was thrown out at the plate, leaving runners at the corners. A double steal made it 3-0 and Carson White’s RBI single pushed Kelseyville’s lead to 4-0.
As Barrick continued to put up zeroes on the scoreboard through six innings, the Knights had all kinds of scoring chances yet scored only one more run – that in the bottom of the fourth for a 5-0 lead.
“We left runners on first and third in the second and fourth, left the bases loaded in the sixth,” Shaul said. “The runs were out there for us.”
Fort Bragg (10-4, 16-5) definitely made it exciting in the top of the seventh against a tiring Barrick, pushing two runs across the plate and getting the potential tying run to the plate before Holdenried, after entering the game with two outs and allowing a single to the first batter he faced, induced a game-ending popup to second base.
“They made it a little interesting,” Shaul said of the Timberwolves, who dropped a 3-0 decision to Kelseyville in Fort Bragg last month.
Fort Bragg’s four league losses were to two teams – two each to Kelseyville and St. Helena.
Like the Knights, the Timberwolves should easily advance to the postseason, only as an at-large team and not a league champion.
“I don’t think they will move us up (from Division 4),” Shaul said when asked where he thinks the Knights will end up when the playoff fields in all divisions are released Sunday.
The competitive seeding formula now used by the North Coast Section allows a team to move up or down as many as two divisions, so the Knights could land anywhere from Division 5 to Division 2.
Barrick allowed three hits and two runs (one earned) in his 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 10 and walked six.
Strong went 2-for-2 with a RBI while Hommer (1-for-2), Watkins (2-for-3) and White (1-for-3) also drove in runs. The Knights also drew six walks and had two batters hit by pitches.
“I thought Carson White had a really good day,” Shaul said. “He lined out to center field and hit another ball to the fence.”
Kelseyville may schedule a non-league game with Healdsburg, most likely on Friday or Saturday, to close out the regular season. The two teams were rained out earlier this season.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 13, Middletown 6
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals won their fourth straight and seventh in their last eight, beating the Middletown Mustangs on senior day.
Following the game, the Cardinals (10-3, 15-5) honored their four seniors – Jace Beard, Peyton Portlock, Jacob Horne and Ty Bingham.
“That group of seniors, I’ve been coaching three of them (Horne, Beard and Bingham) since they were at least 8,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said. “I’ve been coaching Peyton since he was 12. They’ve had to put up with me all these years.”
Added Horne of his seniors, “They all got a complete game in.”
Portlock pitched six innings for the victory, striking out five and walking two, while Beard went 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored, and two RBIs.
Two of Clear Lake’s hottest hitters did nothing to reverse that trend. Jesse Hayes went 4-for-4 with a double, triple, two RBIs and four runs scored while Johnny Gonzales went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Ryken Villanueva also had two hits, including one of the team’s three triples on the day, and AJ Bruch went 2-for-3.
Clear Lake’s field has no fence, and it has cost the Cardinals a handful of home runs this season, including on Tuesday.
“We probably hit four balls that would have been home runs at any other field,” Horne said.
Portlock (1-for-4), Zane McAuley (1-for-3, RBI), Sawyer Smith (1-for-1, RBI) and David Cruz (1-for-2, RBI) also had hits.
Clear Lake led 7-0 after two innings and 12-3 after four innings.
Middletown starting pitcher Cody de Jong took the loss, allowing nine runs (seven earned) in 3 1/3 innings while striking out five and walking two.
The Mustangs (3-10, 5-15-1) received two hits apiece from Hayden Xavier (2-for-3, triple, three RBIs) and Jon Hawkins (2-for-4, RBI). Hunter Karp and John Finney both went 1-for-4 with a RBI. De Jong, Cody Perez, Blake Costlow and Tyler Galamay also had hits.
Both teams have one league game remaining. The Mustangs close out their season Wednesday in Cloverdale when the Cardinals remain home Friday to play Lower Lake.
Cloverdale 6, Lower Lake 5
At Cloverdale, Cloverdale snapped a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning and beat Lower Lake to pull even with the Trojans in the league standings at 4-9.
Lower Lake certainly had chances late in the game to produce a different outcome, according to head coach Mike Huffman.
“We had a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, tried to lay down a bunt, didn’t get it down, but the runner tried to advance anyway and got thrown out,” Huffman said.
Lower Lake loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but came away empty.
“We battled, it was a good game,” Huffman said.
Zach Jones took the loss while working in relief of starting pitcher Luke Campbell. Jones went 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple and RBI. Ashton Hartmann had a double and two RBIs while Campbell went 2-for-3 with a RBI. AJ Myer added a double. Brody Shields also had a hit for the Trojans, now 4-13 overall.
Lower Lake finishes its season Friday on the road against Clear Lake.
St. Helena 11, Upper Lake 0 (5 inn.)
At St. Helena, the Upper Lake Cougars fell in five innings to the St. Helena Saints, managing just one hit against winning pitcher Cole Joy, who struck out seven and walked one.
Upper Lake’s George Rahmer had the lone hit for the Cougars, a one-out infield single in the top of the second inning.
“It was a slow roller up the first-base line that he legged out,” Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said.
Carlos Navares started on the mound for the Cougars and took the loss.
“He deserved better than what he got,” Meri said. “We had our dreaded one bad inning. They sent 12 guys up (in the fourth) and scored six runs.”
A young squad, the Cougars (0-14, 3-17) returns nearly their entire roster next season.
Meri agreed to take the Upper Lake team at the last second this season and said his youngsters never quit on him.
“There’s not a day I dreaded going to practice with these guys,” Meri said. “They didn’t yell at me, no one walked off even though we had a tough season.”
Meri plans to return next season.
“I have a grandson in the seventh grade,” Meri said. “Hopefully I can hang on that long.”
St. Helena (10-4) is tied with Fort Bragg for third place in the league standings, pending on what Clear Lake (10-3) does in its season finale Friday against Lower Lake. The Saints, 18-6 ovverall, should easily obtain an at-large playoff berth Sunday.
