KELSEYVILLE — Sir Sedrick to the rescue for the Kelseyville Knights.
Blake Sedrick hammered a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence for a grand slam to cap a six-run bottom of the fifth inning, the decisive blow in the Knights” come-from-8-5 victory over the Middletown Mustangs on Tuesday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.
The win gives Kelseyville (7-1 North, 15-7 overall) the undisputed North Central League I North varsity baseball championship and an automatic berth in next week”s North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. Middletown (5-3, 12-10) could have clinched a share of the title with a win, in which case a league playoff would have decided the league”s automatic playoff berth. In fact, that playoff could have involved up to three North teams ? Fort Bragg (5-2) still has a game remaining against Lower Lake. In a three-team scenario, Kelseyville would have played at Fort Bragg on Thursday, the winner moving on to meet Middletown on Saturday in Middletown.
One swing of the bat made things a whole lot simpler for the Knights and head coach Lou Poloni, who won”t have to worry about traveling now, unless it”s in the sectional playoffs.
“He has struggled at times this season, but he”s got some pop,” Poloni said of Sedrick, who was batting eighth in the Knights” lineup on Tuesday. “He”s had some big hits for us. That was one of them.”
Poloni shook up his starting lineup for Middletown, moving regular first baseman Devon Call to left field so that Sedrick could play at first.
“Mike Davis said he (Sedrick) was going to do something good ? and he was right,” Poloni added of Davis, who threw 112 pitches for a complete-game victory.
Middletown led 4-0 going to the bottom of the third and had a 5-2 lead after scoring its final run on a Connor Chick sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth.
Chris Aguon worked a full-count walk against Middletown starter Chick to open the Kelseyville fifth, but he was promptly forced at second base on Dustin Thaxton”s grounder to shortstop. Call (2-for-3) followed with a single to left field and an error on the play allowed both Thaxton and Call to move up an extra base. Chick then walked Max Huff to load the bases.
A key play followed, one that would have devastating consequences for the Mustangs” title hopes. John Mark Reagan hit a hard grounder to third baseman Saul Preciado, who fielded it on one hop. His throw home arrived in plenty of time to beat Thaxton, but catcher Bryan Holt couldn”t hold the ball, which dropped harmlessly at his feet as Thaxton scored.
“I don”t think they could have turned two on the play because Reagan is fast, but they might have,” Poloni said.
“In that situation we just wanted to take care of the baseball and make sure we got an out, but high school players have a tendency to want to rush things,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said. “He was thinking about getting the runner at first (for an inning-ending double play). That”s baseball.”
Thaxton”s run made it 5-3 and the Knights promptly closed to 5-4 when Nick Rodrigues” chopper to third took such a high bounce that Preciado had no chance to field it. Shortstop Eric Schenck gloved the ball deep in the hole but had no play. That set the stage for Sedrick, who took a ball before hitting a laser beam over the fence, just to the left of the scoreboard.
“I thought it was gone,” Poloni said when asked about his initial reaction to Sedrick”s blast. “But we hit balls in batting practice that die out there even when you absolutely crush ”em, but that didn”t happen this time. I”m glad it didn”t.”
It was the second home run this season for Sedrick, a senior, who also has five wins on the mound for the Knights.
“What a way to go out,” Poloni said.
Sedrick had grounded out to shortstop and popped out to second base in his first two at-bats against Chick, whose 103rd and final pitch of the day ended up on Park Street beyond the left-field fence.
“He was bringing it today,” Poloni said of Chick, “but we noticed he was losing a little bit of velocity there toward the end.”
Tucker said he never gave a second thought to pulling Chick, who has been the Mustangs” most effective pitcher this season when he”s not starting and starring behind the plate.
“We were hoping to get a ground-ball double play and get out of the inning,” Tucker said of Sedrick”s at-bat. “Connor”s been a horse for us this season, so I wasn”t going to pull him. If I had it to do again, I”d do the same thing.”
Likewise Poloni said he never gave serious thought to pulling Davis, whose pitch count was getting up there in the latter innings.
“He still had good velocity from what I saw,” Poloni said. “He”s pretty resilient.”
Davis rewarded Poloni”s confidence by allowing just two baserunners over the final two innings. He hit Jon Tanguay with one out in the sixth and allowed a one-out single to Kyle Brown in the top of the seventh, but was never in any real trouble.
Davis finished with nine strikeouts and three walks. Chick left after giving up Sedrick”s home run and finished with five strikeouts and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. Preciado finished up.
Middletown grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, scoring both runs after two were out on RBI singles by Nos. 8-9 hitters Luke Humphrey (2-for-4) and Cody Rains.
The Mustangs pushed their lead to 4-0 in the top of the third on Holt”s two-run triple to deep right-center field. Holt finished 2-for-4.
Kelseyville cut that lead in half in the bottom of the third. Thaxton”s sacrifice fly made it 4-1 and Reagan”s two-out RBI single to right field made it 4-2.
“We cut their lead in half in that inning and I told my guys we had plenty of game to come back,” Poloni said. “But those were two big runs.”
“Congrats to Lou,” Tucker said on winning the outright league title. “He sent us some last year after we won it and I”m sending them back his way this year.”
“I think they”re a dynamite team,” Poloni said of the Mustangs. “Our league has three playoff teams.”
