MIDDLETOWN — Bryan Holt tossed a five-hitter and Jon Tanguay went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs on Thursday afternoon as the Middletown Mustangs, with a little help from Fort Bragg, played their way back into the North Central League I North varsity baseball race at Wes Martin Field.
Middletown”s 10-0 victory over Willits coupled with Fort Bragg”s come-from-behind 7-6 victory over Kelseyville on Thursday in Fort Bragg leaves the North race up for grabs going to the final day of the season.
If Middletown (5-2 North, 13-9 overall) can beat Kelseyville (6-1, 14-7) on Tuesday in Kelseyville and if Fort Bragg (5-2) beats Lower Lake on Tuesday in Fort Bragg, the North race will end in a three-way tie and a playoff will determine the league”s top seed for the upcoming North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. However, if Kelseyville wins on Tuesday, regardless of the outcome of the Fort Bragg-Lower Lake game, the Knights clinch the undisputed league championship.
“If we beat ”em we get at least a co-championship,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said of the Knights. “We”re excited ? we”d like to get a (championship) banner. We also know Kelseyville”s going to be tough.”
Holt, a senior appearing in perhaps his final home game, was making his first start of the season. He struck out seven and walked three.
“He did a great job of just getting his rhythm going,” Tucker said. “He did a good job of working out of some trouble early.”
Middletown staked Holt to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and the Mustangs added to their lead with single runs in the second and fourth innings, four more in the fifth and another in the sixth, at which point the game was called because of the 10-run rule.
The Mustangs had 15 hits, including three each by Tanguay and Holt, who also drove in two runs to help his own cause. Andres Fernandez went 2-for-3 and scored three times and Eric Schenck went 2-for-4 with a RBI.
