OROVILLE — Justin Lilly pitched a gem against Red Bluff and Mike Duman came back with another strong effort against Corning as the Kelseyville High School varsity baseball team opened play in the Oroville Tournament on Friday.
Kelseyville beat a previously undefeated Red Bluff team 13-10 in a first-round game and had a 2-0 lead after four innings against Corning before falling 8-2.
The Knights (2-1) play Wheatland today at 4:30 p.m. in a consolation game.
“Lilly was really dealing,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of his first-game starter, who carried a 13-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh. “He had some nasty stuff against a good Red Bluff team.”
Red Bluff entered play 6-0.
Kelseyville parlayed two big innings — a five-run third and a six-run fifth — into an 11-2 lead and never looked back.
Lilly ended up working 6 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.
At the plate, Matt Jones went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs for the Knights. Lilly helped his own cause by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Against Corning in a second-round game, Duman blanked Corning over the first four innings and took a 2-0 lead into the top of the fifth. That”s when Corning scored five times — all unearned runs — to take the lead for good.
“We committed three errors in the fifth and we had another mental one that hurt us,” Poloni said.
Duman struck out seven and walked one in six innings. He also had two of the Knights” six hits.
“We played 13 innings of really good baseball today,” Poloni said. “I”m happy about that.”
In other baseball action Friday:
St. Vincent 10, Middletown 9
At Petaluma, St. Vincent scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to overcome a 9-5 deficit and beat the Middletown Mustangs in non-league action.
Johnny Harmyk relieved Middletown starter Dylan Galusha in the sixth with Middletown ahead 9-7 and a runner at third. Harmyk surrendered a triple to the first batter he faced, then walked a batter, who promptly stole second. Matt Rohrs followed with a two-run single to give St. Vincent a 10-9 lead.
Rohrs, St. Vincent”s starting pitcher, drove in five runs on the day, including a three-run double in the bottom of the fifth.
“They just kind of outslugged us,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said of a pitcher”s duel — it was 2-1 St. Vincent after four innings — turned slugfest.
“There were 16 runs scored in the fifth and sixth innings,” Tucker said.
Kyle Harmyk went 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Middletown (2-1) and Dan Sallee and Dylan Pastor each had two hits and a RBI.
Potter Valley 23, Upper Lake 13
At Potter Valley, the host Bearcats overcame deficits of 8-2 and 13-12 to beat the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action.
Potter Valley scored 10 times in the bottom of the third inning to go up 12-8.
“We were cruising along and it looked like it was going to be an easy game for us, then the wheels fell off,” Upper Lake coach Greg Smith said.
Upper Lake pitchers walked seven batters during the Bearcats” 10-run third.
The Cougars did regain the lead with a five-run fourth, but the Bearcats scored the game”s final 11 runs to notch the victory.
Upper Lake leadoff hitter Lance McCloud went 3-for-3 with a double, triple, two runs, two RBIs and two walks as the Cougars fell to 0-4 on the season.
Brandon Bills and Sloan Hennig each added two hits and two RBIs.
Anthony Driscoll, the second of five Upper Lake pitchers, took the loss.
