KELSEYVILLE — Michael Davis hit a first-pitch single up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to score the tying and winning runs as the Kelseyville Knights rallied past the Cloverdale Eagles 5-4 in a non-league varsity baseball game Tuesday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.
Trailing 3-2 entering the seventh inning, the Knights fell behind 4-2 on a Beau Gastineau two-out RBI single.
“The way we”re scoring runs, two runs is like four touchdowns,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of the deficit staring the Knights in the face entering the bottom of the seventh.
But the Knights (3-4) rallied on the strength of four extended at-bats that all yielded walks and Davis” clutch hit.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Ethan Rohner, the Knights” No. 9 hitter, worked the count full before drawing the base on balls. Winning pitcher Dustin Thaxton also battled to a full count before walking. Chris Aguon fouled off a number of pitches with two strikes and eventually walked to load the bases. Max Huff hit a deep drive to right-center field that was caught, Rohner tagging up and scoring to make it 4-3. Devon Call then worked the count full before drawing a walk that reloaded the bases for Davis.
“We had some tough at-bats and made some loud outs,” Poloni said of a Kelseyville offense that has struggled to plate runs this season. “We swang the bat as well as we have all year. Our approach at the plate was much better than we”ve had.”
Thaxton, who went the distance on the mound, did allow 11 hits but he also didn”t walk anyone.
“The hits were spread out and we didn”t make any errors,” Poloni said.
Cloverdale took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Kelseyville pushed ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second and the score remained unchanged until the Eagles struck for two runs in the sixth for a 3-2 lead.
“We hadn”t won in two and a half weeks, so we really needed it,” Poloni said.
Thaxton struck out seven. He also went 1-for-3 with a RBI. Aguon went 2-for-2 and Zack Bailey went 2-for-3 with a RBI.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
St. Vincent 13, Lower Lake 1
At Petaluma, the St. Vincent Mustangs batted around in the bottom of the first inning, scoring 11 times en route to a five-inning non-league victory over the Lower Lake Trojans.
Lower Lake (1-3) hadn”t played since March 11 because of the weather and the Trojans were noticeably rusty, according to coach Joe Mattos.
“We haven”t played baseball in two weeks and it showed,” Mattos said. “We played pretty decent after the first inning. We just need to play some games. Being off two weeks didn”t help us.”
St. Vincent added two runs in the third for a 13-0 lead. Anthony Montalvan”s RBI single in the top of the fifth broke up the shutout.
Losing pitcher Josh Benfante worked 1 2/3 innings, walking five. On a more positive note, Benfante (2-for-2) did have two of the Trojans” six hits.
The Trojans are still without one of their top pitchers, Kevin O”Quinn, who remains sidelined with a badly sprained ankle.
The Trojans return to action Friday in St. Helena at 4 p.m.
Softball
Cloverdale 20, Kelseyville 0
At Kelseyville, Cherise McEnery hit a pair of tape-measure home runs and the Cloverdale Eagles, defending North Coast Section champions, won their season opener by pounding Kelseyville 20-0.
No other details were reported to the Record-Bee.
Tennis
Clear Lake 3, Kelseyville 2
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals made new coach Glen “Milo” Meyer a winner in his tennis coaching debut on Tuesday in a Coastal Mountain Conference match against archrival Kelseyville.
Clear Lake won in No. 3 singles as Raul Rendon beat Daniel Lucas 6-0, 6-2; in first doubles where Darcy McCarrick and Clhoe Rojas defeated Max Lehman and Kyle Schmidt 7-6 (7-5), 2-6 and 7-5 in a tiebreaker that replaced the third set; and in second doubles by forfeit.
Kelseyville”s two wins came in No. 1 singles as Moses Kuzu turned back a strong effort by Clear Lake”s Andreina Guedez 6-3, 6-2; and in No. 2 singles as Nils Mostin beat Gabriela Reyes 6-2, 6-0.
The day”s featured match was in No. 1 singles as Kuzu, the defending CMC champion, battled Guedez, a foreign exchange student from Venezuela.
“Jeff (McLaren, the Kelseyville coach) said he was impressed with her and that she wouldn”t face a tougher player the rest of the season,” Meyer said. “She”s the real deal.
“That Kuzu kid is really good,” Meyer added. “She earned everything she got.”
The Cardinals return to action today in Middletown.
