Two big games Friday will decide North Central League I varsity baseball race
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LAKEPORT >> Dane Salo’s offspeed offerings had Clear Lake’s batters on their heels most of the day, and the Fort Bragg Timberwolves kept the outcome of the North Central League I race in a state of limbo Wednesday with a 5-1 win over the Cardinals at Lakeport.
Clear Lake (11-2 league, 15-7-1 overall) could have clinched no worse than a share of the league title with a victory. Instead, the NCL I race now hinges on the outcome of a pair of Friday games – Clear Lake at Fort Bragg (9-4), and Kelseyville (10-3) at St. Helena (11-2), with the possibility of the race ending with a solo champion – either Clear Lake or St. Helena, co-champions (Clear Lake and St. Helena if they both win), or tri-champions (if Fort Bragg beats Clear Lake and Kelseyville defeats St. Helena (Clear Lake, St. Helena and Kelseyville would all end up at 11-3 in that event).
Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said he remains confident the Cardinals will emerge victorious Friday.
“With this team, I don’t see any team holding us down two games in a row,” Horne said. “I’ll hang my hat on that”
With the exception of an 8-3 loss earlier this season at St. Helena, Clear Lake had 10-runned the opposition in its other league games. Salo, a known commodity to Horne, held them to four hits and a solitary run, that scoring in the bottom of the third on a bloop single into center field of the bat of Jesse Hayes that barely eluded a diving Fort Bragg center fielder, who had the ball pop out of his glove at the last second.
Ezekiel Lopez had two of those hits, including a double, the only extra-base hit Salo allowed.
“I coached him during summer ball,” Horne said of Salo. “He’s a great young man.”
Added Horne, “Dane did a good job not putting people on base and a good job throwing first-pitch strikes. Good pitching is all about disrupting timing and he disrupted our timing today.”
Salo walked none and only struck out three, but the Fort Bragg defense made all the plays behind him, including a couple of outstanding catches in left field by Luke Fosse.
“Their left fielder made two great plays, and their center fielder ran everything down in the gaps,” Horne said.
While Clear Lake batters were able to hit a handful of balls a long way, Horne said the Cardinals would have been better served hitting line drives in front of Fort Bragg’s deep-playing outfielders instead of trying to hit the ball over their heads.
“They had us well scouted,” Horne said. “Their outfielders caught everything we hit.”
The Timberwolves took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and added two more runs in the second inning against losing pitcher AJ Bruch, who hurt himself by hitting two batters in the Fort Bragg second. Both ended up scoring.
“He was ahead in the count to both of them,” Horne said.
Fort Bragg tacked on two more runs in the seventh with some solid hitting, including a Chris Hernandez double.
“He’s one of the best hitters in this league,” Horne said of Hernandez.
Bruch went the distance for the Cardinals as did Salo for the Timberwolves. Bruch allowed eight hits, struck out seven and walked one.
Ryken Villanueva had the other hit for Clear Lake, which is trying to win a league title – or some share thereof – for the first time since 2015.
“We didn’t make very good adjustments at the plate,” Horne said. “The lack of adjustments in the box really hurt us.”
Regardless of how the NCL I standings end up, all four of the NCL I’s top teams are headed to the North Coast Section playoffs, though probably not all in the same division.
GAME NOTES: Fort Bragg was the only team that beat Clear Lake twice in league play a year ago. The Timberwolves have won the last eight league meetings between the two teams, dating back to Clear Lake’s last win, 5-4, on April 15, 2022, in Lakeport.
