{"id":3191,"date":"2025-05-03T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=3191"},"modified":"2025-05-03T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:03:07","slug":"knights-cards-win-trojans-stangs-fall-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=3191","title":{"rendered":"Knights, Cards win; Trojans, ‘Stangs fall short"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelseyville hosts Clear Lake on Tuesday in key North Central League I baseball battle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KELSEYVILLE >> Jonathon Gonzalez added his name to the list of pitchers who have won at least once for Kelseyville High School\u2019s varsity baseball team during a North Central League I winning streak that reached 42 games on Friday as the Knights beat the Upper Lake Cougars 11-2 at Lloyd Larson Field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalez is the ninth pitcher of record for the Knights during a winning streak that stretches back to late in the 2022 season. A senior who has seen limited action, Gonzalez was making his first start of the year, and he worked 3 1\/3 innings for the win, allowing one hit and two runs with three strikeouts and three walks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He’s part of the record books now,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaul and Gonzalez go way, way back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to coach him in Little League,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cHe definitely deserves it. He works his butt off in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalez left the game in the top of the fourth with a 5-0 lead although the bases were loaded and Gonzalez was behind 3-1 in the count to Upper Lake\u2019s Jimmy Sanchez when Shaul went to his bullpen for JD Smart. Smart threw ball four to Sanchez (the walk officially charged to Gonzalez) to make it a 5-1 game. One out later, Smart walked George Rahmer for Upper Lake\u2019s other run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville (11-0 league, 16-3 overall) got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth before putting the game away with a four-run fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Cougars (0-11, 3-13) had no real expectations of pulling off the upset, Upper Lake head coach Don Meri said the \u201cmoral victory\u201d of going the full seven innings with the Knights was an accomplishment for his young squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe played as good a game as we’ve played in a while,” Meri said. \u201cWe made some mistakes; we did some good things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams were able to play everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got some guys who don\u2019t get to play a lot,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cThey work hard in practice, and this was a good chance to reward them. My subs did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler Bryant, a senior starter and four-year varsity veteran, went 1-or-3 with a RBI, that hit the 100th<\/sup> of his Kelseyville career. He\u2019s the second player on the team to reach that milestone, joining four-year veteran Brock Barrick (105 hits). Barrick went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Watkins led the Knights at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a RBI, Max Hommer went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI, while Case Pivniska (1-for-1) and Reme Strong (1-for-3) both knocked in two runs. Other Kelseyville hits went to Gonzalez, Brayton Thomas (RBI) and Gene Holdenried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahmer, Sanchez, Tyler Collin and Ryan Young had Upper Lake\u2019s hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanchez also impressed Meri with his play in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe made a shoestring catch in right field, rolling over but holding onto the ball,\u201d Meri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahmer pitched a complete game for Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams return to action Tuesday. Kelseyville travels to Lakeport to play Clear Lake while Upper Lake hosts Lower Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have Clear Lake, Cloverdale and Fort Bragg left, three tough teams,\u201d Shaul said of his league schedule. \u201cI\u2019m excited to have the pressure on us. We want to win league of course, but our biggest goal is to do something in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville, the two-time defending NCL I champion, needs one more victory to clinch no worse than a tie for the title. Two wins guarantees the Knights a third straight undisputed crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other NCL I action Friday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake 9, Cloverdale 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Cloverdale, the Clear Lake Cardinals built a 9-0 lead while beating the Cloverdale Eagles and improving to 7-3 in league play and 12-5 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning pitcher Sawyer Smith worked the first three innings for the victory, allowing one hit and no runs while striking out nine and walking none. He also hit a batter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s throwing the ball well,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second before adding four more runs in the third. The Cardinals added three insurance runs in the sixth for a 9-0 advantage. Cloverdale broke up the shutout with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a good win,\u201d Horne said. \u201cThey (Eagles) have a young team, but I told my guys we needed to take care of business, and we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake leadoff hitter Jesse Hayes remained red-hot at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, and sophomore catcher Dalton Harris went 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Zane McAuley also had two hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are so glad he\u2019s back,\u201d Horne said of Hayes, who missed all of his sophomore season with a knee injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was a good, productive day for everybody,” Horne said. “Everyone got at least two innings (of playing time).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith, Johnny Gonzales, AJ Bruch, Levi Ewing and Ryken Villanueva (double) all had hits. Ezekiel Lopez knocked in a run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake returns home Tuesday to play league-leading Kelseyville at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do our best and take our best shot at them,\u201d Horne said of facing the Knights, who haven\u2019t lost a league game in almost three full calendar years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville has won the last eight league meetings between the two teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena 2, Lower Lake 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At St. Helena, after Lower Lake scored in the top of the sixth to tie game, St. Helena snapped the 1-1 tie in the bottom half, holding off the Trojans for the second time this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the teams last met April 8 in Lower Lake, St. Helena edged the Trojans 4-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke Campbell pitched all six innings for Lower Lake, scattering six hits, striking out two and walking three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake\u2019s offense managed just three hits, including a double and RBI by AJ Myer, and singles from Ashton Hartmann and Jordan Rohrbacker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Helena is 7-4 in league play and 15-6 overall. Lower Lake falls to 3-7 in the NCL I standings and 3-11 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake travels to Upper Lake on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Bragg 16, Middletown 11 (8 inn.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Middletown, Fort Bragg scored six times in the top of the eighth inning to beat the Middletown Mustangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The back-and-forth game saw the Timberwolves (9-2, 15-3) take a 10-9 lead into the bottom of the sixth when Middletown (2-8, 4-14-1) tied it up. After a scoreless seventh inning, Fort Bragg rallied for six runs against reliever Cody Perez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown hit a pair of home runs. Cody de Jong had a three-run shot and Hayden Xavier had an inside-the-park solo homer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two teams combined for 33 hits. Xavier went 4-for-5 with three RBIs for Middletown while Hunter Karp went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs. John Finney and Tyler Galamay added two hits apiece, and de Jong and Costlow each had one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown hosts St. Helena on Tuesday before traveling to Upper Lake on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelseyville hosts Clear Lake on Tuesday in key North Central League I baseball battle Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> Jonathon Gonzalez added his name to the list of pitchers who have won at least once for Kelseyville High School\u2019s varsity baseball team during a North Central League I winning streak that reached 42 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,16,20,58,84,17,18,19,59,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191"}],"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=3191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3192,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}