LAKEPORT — Ryan Dixon, batting .138 when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied at 5, crushed an 0-2 pitch over the fence in right field to lift the Clear Lake Cardinals to a dramatic 6-5 victory over the St. Vincent Mustangs in a North Central League I South varsity baseball game on Tuesday in Lakeport.
It was a must-win for the Cardinals (5-2 South, 11-8 overall), who are now tied with St. Vincent (5-2) for second place in the South standings. Cloverdale (6-2) closed out its league schedule with a 10-0 win over St. Helena to clinch no worse than a tie for the title.
If both Clear Lake and St. Vincent win on Thursday in their league finales, the South will end in a three-way tie and the Cardinals will get the automatic playoff berth because of a number-draw tiebreaker held before the start of the season. If the race ends in a two-way tie, a playoff will be held Saturday to determine the automatic playoff berth.
Clear Lake travels to Upper Lake (1-6) and St. Vincent visits St. Helena (1-6) on Thursday.
Clear Lake wiped out a 4-0 St. Vincent lead with a five-run bottom of the fourth that featured five straight hits. Roman Rose”s bases-loaded single cut the deficit to 4-2 and Connor McCrea followed with a home run to put the Cardinals in front 5-4.
St. Vincent came back to tie it with a Tommy Matthews home run in the top of the sixth.
“Our hearts just dropped when Mike (Zimmerman) gave up that home run,” Clear Lake coach Brian Figg said.
With the game still tied going to the bottom of the seventh and Clear Lake”s 6-7-8 hitters due up, Figg said the Cardinals were looking toward extra innings. But after losing pitcher Nick Baldocchi struck out the first batter he faced in the seventh and jumped ahead of Dixon 0-2 with two fastballs, the hard-throwing senior tried to sneak another fastball by him, and it didn”t work.
“He (Dixon) told me it was a peach of a pitch,” Figg said.
Mike Dessel led off the game with a home run to give St. Vincent a 1-0 lead and the Mustangs added three more runs in the third for a 4-0 advantage.
Zimmerman worked all seven innings for Clear Lake to notch the win. He struck out five and walked two.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Willits 10,Upper Lake 0
At Willits, the Cougars were all ready to play at home, and so were the Wolverines, so Upper Lake ended up making an unexpected road trip.
“We should have stayed at home,” Upper Lake coach Joe Ogulin said.
Upper Lake fell to 8-14 on the season after being blanked in six innings by the Wolverines, who are in the hunt for the NCL I North title.
Devin Callen went 2-for-2 for Upper Lake and Joe Barnes had a double.
Softball
Fort Bragg 11, Middletown 7
At Middletown, an eight-run second inning propelled the Fort Bragg Timberwolves to a win over the Middletown Mustangs and the undisputed NCL I North softball championship.
Middletown (4-3 North, 9-13 overall) took a 2-0 lead into the second but Fort Bragg (7-0) took advantage of four Mustang errors in the top half of the inning to score eight unearned runs.
“We should have been out of that inning after four batters,” Middletown coach Lisa Rogers said. “But it didn”t happen.”
Middletown cut that deficit in half with a three-run third to make it 8-5. Fort Bragg picked up three more runs in the sixth and the Mustangs scored twice in the bottom of the seventh on Jacquie Tobin”s two-run home run. Tobin went 2-for-3, scored twice and drove in three of the Mustangs” runs.
Lower Lake 13, Kelseyville 11
At Kelseyville, the host Knights rallied from an 11-1 deficit to tie the game at 11 with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Trojans scored twice in the top of the eighth to win this NCL I North game.
Kelseyville trailed 11-1 after three innings.
“We could have packed up and gone home after that, but the kids really dug deep and never gave up,” Kelseyville coach Greg Giusti said. “You have to give them credit for that.”
Lower Lake pushed ahead 12-11 in the top of the eighth on a Morgan Meadows RBI single and scored another run on an error.
Kayla Behler and winning pitcher Katie Munch each had two hits and four RBIs for Lower Lake (2-5, 3-17).
Losing pitcher Casey Bowlin went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Kelseyville (2-5, 5-16).
Willits 16,Upper Lake 6
At Willits, the Wolverines pounded the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL I interlock action as Upper Lake starting pitcher Courtney Gatton was unable to make the trip to Willits because of a previous commitment.
Willits scored 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth to bring an early end to the game.
Jessica Swaney went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for Upper Lake (7-12).
