WINTERS — Limited to three hits — all singles — the Middletown Mustangs fell 10-0 to Winters in the winner”s semifinal round of the Winters Baseball Tournament.
Winning pitcher Kevin Rowell shut down the Mustangs” hot bats of late with a nasty curve that helped set up his fastball.
“A lot of my young guys had trouble hitting his curve,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said of Rowell, who threw only 48 pitches in the five-inning game.
Winters staked Rowell to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first before he had thrown his first pitch. Losing pitcher Devin Nordin kept the score at 5-0 until the top of the fourth, when Winters broke things open with a four-run rally.
Nordin walked six and allowed eight hits in four innings. He also struck out six.
Jake Strickler was the only Middletown batter who had any success against Rowell. The winning pitcher in the Mustangs” 9-3 first-round victory over Rio Vista on Thursday, Strickler went 2-for-2. Justin Woodd had Middletown”s only other hit.
Middletown will play either Head-Royce or St. Vincent/St. Patrick today at 1 p.m. in the third-place game. The Mustangs then return home and open their North Central League I North schedule on Tuesday in Lower Lake at 4 p.m.
