Smith, Smart pitch complete-game gems in non-league varsity baseball action
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KENTFIELD >> Working the count, waiting for their pitch and drilling it once they get it is what the Clear Lake Cardinals did most of last season and what they did Saturday in a 7-2 non-league varsity baseball win over Branson at College of Marin in Kentfield.
“We had a lot of great at-bats where we fell behind in the count but ended up with eight- or nine-pitch walks,” Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said of the Cardinals. “They can swing it, but they are patient and look for their pitch.”
Clear Lake’s Sawyer Smith spotted the Bulls (2-2) a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning but pitched lights out the rest of the way, throwing a complete-game six-hitter with eight strikeouts and two walks.
“Sawyer came out trying to establish his fastball and they (Bulls) were squaring up everything at first,” Horne said. “He got his splitter and changeup going and had them off balance the rest of the day.”
Clear Lake hit the ball hard up and down its lineup, from one to nine, according to Horne. The Cardinals moved ahead to stay with a three-run top of the third before adding single runs in the fifth and sixth as well as two more in the seventh. Four Branson errors helped Clear Lake, especially during the three-run third, but it was the nine walks drawn by six different batters that really pleased Horne.
“We put pressure on them the whole game and it worked,” Horne said. “Their three pitchers might have thrown 200 pitches. We really made them work hard.”
Zane McAuley went 1-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs for the Cardinals while Johnny Gonzales III went 1-for-3 with a RBI. Other leaders were Jesse Hayes, who went 1-for-2 with three stolen bases, and Ryken Villanueva (1-for-3). AJ Bruch and Fabian Moreno also drove in runs.
Clear Lake opens play in the Al Rabinovitz Tournament on Tuesday at 10 a.m. against Ukiah at Santa Rosa High School. Also entered are McKinleyville, Analy, Salesian, Montgomery, Eureka and Windsor. The tournament runs through Wednesday.
In other baseball action Saturday:
Kelseyville 10, Arcata 1 (first game)
Arcata 4, Kelseyville 3 (10 inn., second game)
At Arcata, Kelseyville split a doubleheader with the Arcata Tigers, taking the opener and dropping the 10-inning nightcap.
Kelseyville (1-6) won its first game of the season behind a 10-run outburst, almost as many runs as the Knights had scored in their first five games combined (12), and the solid pitching of sophomore JD Smart, who limited the Tigers to four hits while striking out 11 and walking one. He threw 96 pitches during the complete game.
“He threw very well,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said. “He threw all of his pitches for strikes.”
Kelseyville wasted no time taking the lead and building on it. The Knights led 8-0 after three innings.
“We did a real good job of playing small ball, bunting the ball,” Shaul said.
Case Pivniska went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a RBI to spark a 15-hit Kelseyville attack. Ryan Keithly (2-for-3) drove in three runs, Smart went 2-for-4 with a RBI, Elijah Watkins went 2-for-3 with a RBI, and Deake Lyndall went 2-for-5. Brayton Thomas, Carson Stone (RBI), Michael Dougherty (RBI) and Max Lee also had hits.
Arcata outlasted Kelseyville in the nightcap, finally breaking through in the bottom of the 10th on a two-out RBI single. The teams had been tied 3-3 since both scored a run in the fifth inning.
“We had some chances,” Shaul said of missed Kelseyville scoring opportunities, including a missed suicide-squeeze bunt. “We’re getting a lot of production from the top of the order, but we need the bottom of the order to step up and we’ll be fine.”
Stone (1-for-4) and Keithly knocked in runs for Kelseyville while Smart went 2-for-4. Pivniska (double), Lyndall and Lee had the other Kelseyville hits.
Thomas, working in relief of Reese Johnson, took the loss despite a solid 5 1/3-inning stint during which he allowed only one run while striking out eight and walking five. Johnson went the first 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs (one earned) with four strikeouts and no walks.
The Knights aren’t scheduled to play again until March 24 at Middletown (league opener), but Shaul said Kelseyville is looking to add a game to its schedule sometime next week.