LAKEPORT — Tyler Beets and Jaime Lopez drove in five runs apiece on Friday as the Clear Lake Cardinals routed the Fortuna Huskies 15-4 in a non-league varsity baseball game at Lakeport.
Clear Lake (2-1) scored five times in the bottom of the sixth to bring an early conclusion to the game, which was called because of the 10-run rule. Beets (2-for-3) tripled home three of those runs. Lopez (2-for-4) singled home the final two runs in the inning.
Chad Elliston, working in relief of starting pitcher Stone Phillips, tossed three scoreless innings to record the victory. He”s now 2-0 on the season.
Fortuna scored four times in the top of the second inning to grab a 4-2 lead. Clear Lake tied it with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and pushed ahead 6-4 in the fourth.
“We kind of threw the ball around in that inning,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said of the top of the second. “Three of our (five) errors came in that inning alone. Other than that I thought we played pretty good defense.”
Clear Lake turned an inning-ending double play in the top of the fourth, throwing out a runner at the plate followed by a runner at third base.
“One of our better defensive plays,” Larrea said.
Steven Edwards went 3-for-4 with a RBI and Tanner Mansell went 2-for-4 with a double as part of Clear Lake”s 13-hit attack.
Fortuna”s only two hits came against Phillips, who didn”t allow an earned run in his four innings on the mound.
“I thought both of our guys threw really well,” Larrea said of Phillips and Elliston.
Fortuna”s pitchers struggled with the strike zone late in the game, walking seven and hitting three over the final three innings.
Clear Lake has four games scheduled next week. The Cardinals travel to Kelseyville on Tuesday, stay on the road Friday against Middletown, and return home a week from today to play Ferndale in a doubleheader.
