PETALUMA — In a battle for second place in the North Central League I South varsity baseball standings, the St. Vincent Mustangs worked over the Clear Lake Cardinals 14-4 in a game called after five innings on Friday afternoon at McNear Park in Petaluma.
The loss guarantees that Clear Lake (2-4, 15-7) will finish no higher than third in the final South standings. The Cardinals can still apply for an at-large berth in the upcoming North Coast Section Class A playoffs.
St. Vincent starter Rich Dodele, undefeated on the season at 9-0, carried a 7-0 lead into the top of the fifth when the Cardinals scored all of their runs, including a two-run single by Ryan Lunas. While Dodele didn”t survive the fifth, the Mustangs (5-2, 19-3) answered with seven runs in the bottom of the inning without making an out.
In other action Friday:
Willits 13, Upper Lake 3
At Upper Lake, losing pitcher Jayce Meri couldn”t find the strike zone and reliever Devin Callen could, but the Willits Wolverines didn”t seem to mind either way as they beat the Cougars in NCL I interlock action.
The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Meri walked six batters in one-plus innings. Callen pitched the final four innings and threw a lot of strikes, some of which the Wolverines hit pretty hard as they snapped a 2-2 tie with six runs in the top of the second and four more in the top of the third.
“Callen did what I wanted, throw strikes,” Upper Lake coach Don Meri said. “At least if you throw strikes you give your defense a chance to make a play behind you, but they (Wolverines) can hit the heck out of the ball.”
Joe Barnes went 2-for-3 to account for half of Upper Lake”s hit total.
Kelseyville 6, Lower Lake 3
At Lower Lake, Mike Duman was a one-man wrecking crew for the Kelseyville Knights in their NCL I North win over the Lower Lake Trojans.
“He pretty much single-handedly beat us,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said of Duman, who pitched a complete-game six-hitter, hit a home run, and flawlessly fielded his position.
“He made three plays on the mound,” Emberson said.
Kelseyville (2-5, 10-13) took advantage of two dropped flyballs and a dropped popup to score four unearned runs in the first two innings while building a 5-0 lead.
“Duman”s home run was the only earned run they scored,” Emberson said.
Duman connected leading off the top of the second, hitting the ball well over the left-field fence. Kelseyville added three more runs in the inning.
Lower Lake (0-6, 3-18) picked up single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh.
Ryan Cockerton went 2-for-2 for Kelseyville. Stephen Whitcomb went 2-for-3 with a RBI for Lower Lake.
Fort Bragg 2, Middletown 1
At Fort Bragg, Kyle Harmyk”s RBI single in the top of the seventh gave Middletown the lead, but Matt Freitas” one-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning capped a two-run Fort Bragg rally and lifted the Timberwolves to a hard-fought NCL I North win.
Fort Bragg (7-0) clinched a tie for the NCL I North title with the victory. Middletown fell to 2-4 and 8-13.
“It was a classic pitcher”s duel,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said.
Winning pitcher Everett James allowed seven hits, struck out 10 and walked five. Losing pitcher Dylan Galusha also went the distance, scattering six hits, striking out six and walking two.
