{"id":5890,"date":"2026-03-13T17:12:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5890"},"modified":"2026-03-13T17:12:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:12:38","slug":"cards-mustangs-notch-baseball-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5890","title":{"rendered":"Cards, Mustangs notch baseball wins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelseyville falls to Etna in opening round of West Valley Tournament<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

LAKEPORT >> AJ Bruch was a mystery to Willits\u2019 hitters Thursday afternoon as the Clear Lake Cardinals won their home opener, 13-4, in non-league varsity baseball action in Lakeport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruch, the winning pitcher, stopped the Wolverines dead in their tracks during his four innings on the mound, allowing no hits or runs, striking out eight and walking three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got some of the jitters out,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Brian Horne said of the Cardinals playing before the home fans for the first time this season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruch left the game with Clear Lake leading 13-0. The Wolverines roughed up freshman reliever Greyson Murray for four runs in the top of the fifth to prevent being 10-runned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Cruz closed with two innings of shutout relief, striking out two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake\u2019s second straight win after an 0-3-1 start this season was successful in other ways, according to Horne. Because the Cardinals are not fielding a junior varsity team this season, several younger players who would have been part of that JV team are suiting up with the varsity, giving Horne a large bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I got everyone (16 players) in the game, I got everybody a couple of at-bats, so it was a good day,” Horne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruch also helped himself at the plate going 2-for-2 with four RBIs, including a two-run double. Jesse Hayes went 2-for-2 with a RBI, three runs scored and two stolen bases, Ryken Villanueva (1-for-2) drove in three runs, and Johnny Gonzales III (1-for-2) knocked in two runs with sacrifice flyballs while also stealing two bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zane McAuley (1-for-1) and Fabian Moreno (1-for-2) drove in runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear Lake plays Branson in a non-league road game Saturday at the College of Marin. First pitch is 1 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other varsity baseball action Thursday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown 10, Tomales 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Tomales, winning pitcher Cody de Jong went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Hayden Xavier went 3-for-5 as the Mustangs beat the Tomales Braves for their second straight victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Jong worked the first two innings, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits, striking out five and walking none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown (2-1) scored five times in the top of the first and led 9-1 through four innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Davis went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI while Madden Sutton went 2-for-3 with a double for the Mustangs. Tyler Galamay (1-for-4) and Cody Perez (1-for-2, 2B) drove in two runs apiece. Fabian Becerril also had a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown shoots for a third straight win Tuesday at home against Credo. The Mustangs\u2019 home opener begins at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etna 5, Kelseyville 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Cottonwood, Kelseyville fell to Etna in the opening round of the West Valley Tournament. The Knights (0-3) play two more tournament games Friday \u2013 against Redding Christian and West Valley \u2013 before heading to Arcata for a Saturday doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville managed to put the potential tying runs in scoring position in the top of the seventh, but the game ended when JD Smart grounded out to shortstop, a play on which he appeared to be safe but was called out nonetheless, according to head coach Billy Shaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Etna pushed ahead with a run in the third before going up 5-1 in the fourth. Kelseyville closed the gap with two runs in the fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t get big hits when we needed them,\u201d Shaul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart, who went 3-for-4 with a RBI, pitched the first 2 1\/3 innings and took the loss. He allowed five hits and two runs, struck out two and walked none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe came out a little flat,\u201d Shaul said. \u201cJD didn\u2019t have his best stuff, but I thought he threw the ball well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carson Stone went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a RBI while Deake Lyndall and Ryan Keithly added hits. Case Pivniska knocked in a run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV baseball<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake 13, Rio Lindo 12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Upper Lake, in a game called after five innings because of darkness, the Upper Lake High School junior varsity squad scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to defeat Rio Lindo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe offense got the bats going later than expected but provided solid run support for the pitchers,\u201d Upper Lake head coach Wyatt Hensley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning pitcher Carlos Narvaes worked four innings, allowing three runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter Perry powered the Upper Lake offense, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs, and Michael Marcks went 3-for-5 with a RBI. Travis McCutcheon (2-for-3, double) knocked in two runs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelseyville falls to Etna in opening round of West Valley Tournament Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKEPORT >> AJ Bruch was a mystery to Willits\u2019 hitters Thursday afternoon as the Clear Lake Cardinals won their home opener, 13-4, in non-league varsity baseball action in Lakeport. Bruch, the winning pitcher, stopped the Wolverines dead in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,16,84,17,19,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890"}],"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=5890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5891,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5890\/revisions\/5891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}