ST. HELENA — Kris Cole registered his seventh win of the season, but his first as a reliever, as the Middletown Mustangs rallied to beat the St. Helena Saints 6-5 in an eight-inning North Central League I interlock varsity baseball game on Tuesday at St. Helena.
Cole, now 7-0, worked three shutout innings, striking out three and walking none. He also came up with big hits in the seventh and eighth innings as the Mustangs improved to 11-2 overall.
Trailing 5-4 going to the top of the seventh, Cole singled with one out and scored on Ryan Peterson s RBI double. Tied at 5-5 in the top of the eighth, it was Cole s double off the top of the fence in left-center field that scored Chris Gracheff with what proved to be the winning run. Cole was 3-for-3 on the day with two RBIs.
St. Helena jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Middletown starter Dusty Hernandez, scoring four times in the bottom of the first and adding another run in the third. In fact, the Saints collected their only three hits in the first inning.
They had nothing after that even looked like a hit, Middletown coach Mike Robertson said.
Hernandez lasted 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Jake Strickler, who worked the next 2 1/3 innings, striking out one and walking one.
Hernandez, who struck out four and walked nine, had a better day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double.
