LAKEPORT — Mike Zimmerman scattered six hits and James Robinson went 3-for-4 with three RBIs as the Clear Lake Cardinals, idle for nearly two weeks, knocked off the Middletown Mustangs 9-3 in a North Central League I interlock varsity baseball game Thursday afternoon at Clear Lake High School.
The 13-day layoff didn”t seem to affect the Cardinals (11-2), according to head coach Paul Larrea, who watched his team bang out three triples among their 14 hits.
“I don”t think we”ve had three triples all season,” Larrea said. “For not having played for two weeks we played very well.”
Zimmerman, a crafty left-hander, allowed two runs in the top of the first but blanked Middletown (6-10) over the next five innings. He gave way to reliever Roman Rose in the seventh as the Mustangs picked up an unearned run.
“He”s solid,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said. “He”d get ahead 0-2 in the count and then come in with his curve.”
Zimmerman threw only 72 pitches. He was backed by some strong defense, most notably from his outfielders.
“We had eight putouts in the outfield,” Larrea said. “Corey Dillon (center field) made a couple of ESPN specials and James Robinson (left field) ran down a ball and made a nice catch over his shoulder.”
“We hit a couple of shots in the gaps that they ran down,” Tucker said.
Clear Lake tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second and then pushed ahead for good with three runs in the fourth. A four-run sixth put the game out of reach as the Cardinals went up 9-2.
Ryan Lunas (2-for-2, RBI), Alan Moses (2-for-3, two RBIs) and Zane Butler (2-for-3, RBI) had Clear Lake”s triples.
Johnny Harmyk went 1-for-3 with two RBIs for Middletown.
The Cardinals open their NCL I South schedule today at home against Cloverdale at 4 p.m. The South figures to be a three-team race this season between Cloverdale (1-0), Clear Lake (0-0) and St. Vincent (0-1), according to Larrea.
“We feel good about what he have going tomorrow,” Larrea said of the Cardinals” league opener against Cloverdale, which is coming off an 8-4 win over St. Vincent on Tuesday.
Ryan Hansford, 4-0 on the season, will make the start for Clear Lake.
