FORT BRAGG — Dustin Thaxton did everything he could do to get the Kelseyville Knights a win Tuesday afternoon on the Mendocino County coast. Too bad his offense couldn”t say the same.
Thaxton allowed just three hits, one unearned run and struck out 13 batters with no walks only to come out on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in a North Central League I varsity baseball pitcher”s duel at Fort Bragg.
“Dustin threw the best game he”s thrown in four years at Kelseyville,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of his senior, who threw only 73 pitches. “He was unbelievable. He had great velocity and his curve ball was breaking. He was throwing it pretty much where he wanted to.”
Fort Bragg (6-3) pushed across the game”s lone run in the bottom of the fifth. A two-base throwing error with one out led to the run. A bloop single into right field put runners at the corners for Gabe Maravilla, who bounced a grounder to shortstop. The Knights forced the runner at second and just missed turning an inning-ending double play as the runner from third scored.
Kelseyville (6-3, 7-7) threatened in each of the fifth and sixth innings only to come away empty. The Knight had a runner at third with one out in the fifth but Max Huff was caught in a rundown between third and home as Jacob Martinek bounced out to the pitcher.
“Max was running on contact,” Poloni said.
The Knights then loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth only to leave them there. Winning pitcher Bradley Norman struck out two batters in a row before getting a fly ball to end the inning.
“Pretty much all we needed was to put the ball in play,” Poloni said. “Their infield was back. They would have given us the tying run.”
Nic Vargas (2-for-2) had the only two hits allowed by Norman, who struck out nine and walked two in going the distance for the Timberwolves.
