{"id":2968,"date":"2025-04-12T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2968"},"modified":"2025-04-12T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:58:10","slug":"knights-turn-back-cards-go-to-5-0-in-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=2968","title":{"rendered":"Knights turn back Cards, go to 5-0 in league"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelseyville varsity baseball team uses strong effort by defense to turn back Clear Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KELSEYVILLE >> Brock Barrick pitched a complete game, the Kelseyville offense banged out 12 hits, including some timely ones, but it was the Knights\u2019 defense that left head coach Billy Shaul in awe during a big 7-3 win over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Friday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey key to that game was great defense,\u201d Shaul said as the Knights beat their archrivals to remain on top of the North Central League I varsity baseball standings at 5-0, a half-game ahead of Fort Bragg (4-0), a team they\u2019ve yet to play, and now two full games ahead of Clear Lake (3-2 league, 8-4 overall).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the NCL I race still has a long, long way to go, the two-time defending league champions, now winners of 36 consecutive league games dating back to 2022, are showing no signs of letting up this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you haven\u2019t guessed it by now,, one of the reasons for that is the team\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrock threw the ball well, but he had only six strikeouts, which means our defense stayed pretty busy,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cTyler Bryant had a great game at shortstop (six putouts). Two of them were pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Clear Lake scored twice in the top of the third inning to pull even with Kelseyville at 2-2, the Cardinals\u2019 still-going rally came to a quick end when right fielder JD Smart, a freshman, fielded a single and threw out a Clear Lake runner trying to advance from first to third on the play, the third out of the inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA great throw,\u201d Shaul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne concurred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA perfect throw,\u201d Horne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Clear Lake scored its final run in the top of the sixth on a Jacob Horne RBI single with the bases loaded, cutting Kelseyville\u2019s lead to 6-3, the Clear Lake coach said he didn\u2019t send the runner who was at second base when the play started because of Smart\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to risk having another runner thrown out,\u201d Horne said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrick worked out of the bases-loaded jam by retiring the next batter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart wasn\u2019t the only Kelseyville outfielder to make a great play during the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Center fielder Reme Strong, a senior, robbed Clear Lake\u2019s Sawyer Smith of extra bases in the top of the third by running down a blast off Smith\u2019s bat in deepest left-center field, his back to the infield as he made a Willie Mays-type basket catch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReme tracked it down,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cThey (Cardinals) thought it was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another solid day on defense was had by Kelseyville third baseman Carson White (with three putouts), according to Shaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville scored first in the game, striking for two runs in the bottom of the first inning against Clear Lake starting pitcher AJ Bruch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant singled home a run and Smart added a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake pulled even in the top of the third. After David Cruz singled and Peyton Portlock walked, Jesse Hayes and Johnny Gonzales followed with back-to-back RBI singles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville pushed ahead to stay in the fourth. White opened the inning with a walk, Brayton Thomas singled him to third and Gene Holdenried\u2019s sacrifice lineout made it 3-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights gave themselves a little more breathing room in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI double by Max Hommer, Smart\u2019s RBI single and a RBI fielder\u2019s choice grounder off the bat of Holdenried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Jacob Horne\u2019s RBI single made it a 6-3 game in the top of the sixth, the Knights added a final run in the bottom half, and it wasn\u2019t the type of scoring play you\u2019ll see very often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting that seventh run was a big one,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cThat means it\u2019ll take a grand slam to tie the game, so I was glad to get a four-run lead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrick led off the inning with a double after an 11-pitch at-bat that included six foul balls. Speedy Michael De John ran for Barrick and promptly took third base on a passed ball. With Bryant at the plate, De John held his ground as Bryant popped up to second base. De John tagged up at third and broke for the plate once the ball had been caught. He arrived home well ahead of the throw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you can add aggressive\/opportunistic baserunning to the things the Knights did well on Friday. They also continue to get production from all parts of their batting order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEight of my nine guys (in the starting lineup) reached base,\u201d Shaul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake\u2019s Horne, while admitting he\u2019s not a fan of \u201cmoral victories,\u201d nevertheless had nothing but good things to say about the Cardinals\u2019 effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t roll over and let them flog us,\u201d Horne said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen that happen to other teams they\u2019ve played. \u201cWe were right there. It was a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horne also was impressed with Kelseyville\u2019s solid play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have a good approach to the game, they\u2019re seniors, and they\u2019re well coached,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruch allowed 12 hits in his five innings, striking out four and walking four. Barrick threw 108 pitches during his complete game, striking out six and walking two. He needed only seven pitches to get through the seventh inning, sneaking in under the 110-pitch limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrick, Hommer, White and Bryant all finished with two hits apiece for the Knights. Hayes went 2-for-4 for the Cardinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville returns to action Tuesday in Cloverdale. Clear Lake was scheduled to play Lower Lake on Tuesday, but that game has been rescheduled for early May. The Cardinals next see action Friday at Middletown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTES: Kelseyville\u2019s 36-game league winning streak began on May 10, 2022, with a 12-9 home win against Lower Lake, the league finale for both teams. Barrick, a freshman, was the winning pitcher, throwing a complete game. The Knights lost 13-9 at home to St. Helena in their prior game May 6, the Knights\u2019 last league setback. Colin Jensen took the loss. Kelseyville\u2019s last road league loss was 2-0 at Middletown on May 2, 2022. Barrick pitched a complete game \u2026 Clear Lake and Kelseyville meet again this season May 6 in Lakeport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelseyville varsity baseball team uses strong effort by defense to turn back Clear Lake Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> Brock Barrick pitched a complete game, the Kelseyville offense banged out 12 hits, including some timely ones, but it was the Knights\u2019 defense that left head coach Billy Shaul in awe during a big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,16,84,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2969,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions\/2969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}