LAKEPORT — Clear Lake didn”t play its best game on defense, but Andrew Jackson”s solid pitching and a handful of timely hits propelled the Cardinals past the Lower Lake Trojans 7-2 in a North Central League I varsity baseball game on Tuesday in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (5-1) remains tied with the league-leading St. Helena Saints (7-1) in the loss column as a result of the victory. St. Helena beat Middletown 8-2 on Tuesday.
“AJ pitched a great game,” Clear Lake assistant coach Gary Milhaupt said of the junior, who left the Cardinals” last game, a 2-0 win over Cloverdale, after getting hit in the mouth by a bad-hop grounder.
Milhaupt said Jackson had no problem bouncing back. He pitched five effective innings, leaving the game with a 6-2 lead. He allowed four hits, one earned run, struck out three and walked none.
“He throws strikes so we gotta play defense behind him and today we made some mistakes on routine plays,” Milhaupt said of the Cardinals” four errors. “You could tell we hadn”t played in a week.”
Clear Lake staked Jackson to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Stone Phillips RBI single and a run-scoring error. The Cardinals added four runs in the third on a bases-loaded walk to Matt Gatton, a two-run single by Oren Ruffcorn and a run-scoring error.
Lower Lake closed to 6-2 with two runs in the top of the fifth. The Cardinals added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
Phillips went 2-for-3 for the Cardinals and Chad Elliston went 1-for-2 with a double.
Zef Roofener took the loss for Lower Lake, walking six in three innings and allowing five hits and six runs.
Ruffcorn pitched the final two innings for Clear Lake.
