LAKEPORT — Tanner Mansell added three more hits to his Lake County-leading total and the Clear Lake Cardinals bounced back from a loss to St. Helena a day earlier to blank the Upper Lake Cougars 11-0 in a five-inning North Central League I South varsity baseball game on Tuesday in Lakeport.
Clear Lake closes out the first half of its South schedule at 2-2 while also improving to 6-7 overall. Upper Lake is 0-3 in league and 2-9 overall.
Mansell went 3-for-3 with a double and a RBI, pushing his season hit total to 28, an average of better than two a game for the Cardinals, who haven”t been lacking for offensive punch so far this season.
“We didn”t have the errors today (none),” Clear Lake coach Gary Milhaupt said one day after the Cardinals made five in a 12-10 loss to the Saints. “We played catch today. When you get double digit hits, you have to win those games.”
Steven Edwards went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, including a two-run double that was part of a five-run Clear Lake second-inning uprising. Jaime Lopez, starting at catcher for the injured Tyler Beets (broken thumb), added a two-run single in the second as the Cardinals went up 7-0.
Kyle Swartz also had two hits for the Cardinals.
Winning pitcher Matt Richards tossed a two-hitter in his first start of the season.
“We just told him to go out there and throw strikes and that”s what he did,” Milhaupt said. “He pitched great.”
Richards struck out nine and walked only one. The only two hits he allowed were singles to Jared Wade (2-for-3) in the first and third innings.
Billy Armstrong worked the first two innings on the mound for Upper Lake and took the loss.
Beets, the team”s and county”s RBI leader with 25, might be able to rejoin the team before its next game on Tuesday against Lower Lake at Lakeport, according to Milhaupt. He sustained the injury to the thumb on his left hand during a collision at home plate against St. Helena.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Lower Lake 8, Willits 1
At Willits, Kevin O”Quinn scattered seven hits as the Lower Lake Trojans beat the Willits Wolverines in NCL I North action.
O”Quinn nursed a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning when the Trojans (1-2, 3-7) padded their lead with three runs. They added three more insurance runs in the seventh to keep the Wolverines (0-3) winless in the North standings.
“He threw a really nice game,” Lower Lake coach Joe Mattos said. “He settled in and picked his spots ? he pitched smart.”
The Trojans played strong defense, especially up the middle, according to Mattos, who said standouts were Luis Martinez at second base and Johnny Meza in center field.
“We had everybody back today and we stepped up and played a good game, especially on defense,” Mattos said. “It made a big difference.”
O”Quinn struck out three and walked two. He also had one of the Trojans” seven hits.
Kyle Buckingham went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI to lead Lower Lake at the plate.
St. Helena 12, Clear Lake 10
At Lakeport, in NCL I South action on Monday, the St. Helena Saints improved to 2-0 in league play by pounding out a win over the Clear Lake Cardinals.
St. Helena snapped a 4-4 tie with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. The Saints opened up a 12-7 lead before Clear Lake rallied with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Tanner Mansell went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Tyler Beets went 3-for-5 with RBIs to lead Clear Lake. Jaime Lopez (2-for-4) also drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who had 14 hits to the Saints” 15.
Oren Ruffcorn pitched the first five innings and took the loss.
