KELSEYVILLE — John Mark Reagan had two hits during a six-run third inning and the Kelseyville Knights continued their hot-hitting ways while beating the Lower Lake Trojans 9-1 in a North Central League I varsity baseball game on Friday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.
Kelseyville, a winner of three straight and six of its last seven, improved to 9-3 in the NCL I with two games remaining — Tuesday at home against Clear Lake and next Friday at Middletown. If they win both they”ll do no worse than finish in sole possession of second place.
Lower Lake (1-12, 6-14) scored its only run in the top of the third against winning pitcher Jake Peters to knot the score at 1. Kelseyville answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Reagan (3-for-4) led off with a single and later singled again to drive in the final two runs of the inning.
“He is smoking the ball,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of Reagan, who bats No. 1 in the Knights” batting order. “He went 3-for-4 and his only out was a hard-hit ground ball. He”s on fire.”
Even with Devon Call out of the lineup because of an excused absence, the Kelseyville offense didn”t miss a beat. Dalton Gunther went 3-for-3 with a double and a RBI, Dustin Thaxton went 2-for-3, and Peters helped his own cause with a RBI triple.
Along with collecting 15 hits overall, the Knights did some clutch hitting with two outs. In fact, all six runs in the third came after two were out. Gunther”s two-run single put Kelseyville ahead to stay at 3-1, Nic Vargas and Jacob Martinez added RBI singles, and Reagan capped the rally with his two-run single.
Peters worked five innings for the victory, allowing all five Lower Lake hits. Reliever Camilo Diaz retired all six of the batters he faced over the final two innings, striking out four.
Losing pitcher Luis Martinez went 2-for-3 for Lower Lake.
Kelseyville is 10-7 overall.
In other baseball action Friday:
Rincon Valley 8, Upper Lake 7
At Santa Rosa, Rincon Valley Christian scored twice in the bottom of seventh, all with no outs, to rally past the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL II action.
It was the regular-season finale for the Cougars (6-6, 6-10).
Stoney Timmons, working in relief of starter Jared Wade, walked in the winning run. Wade left the game with a 3-2 lead — and a sore arm — after three innings.
“We just didn”t play smart, that”s what it boils down to,” Upper Lake coach Martin Wade said.
Larry Stacy went 3-for-4 as part of a 16-hit Upper Lake attack, but the Cougars stranded runners on base in every inning. Jeremiah Swaney went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a RBI, while Wade, Timmons, Greg Gagnon and Monte Orozco added two hits apiece.
Upper Lake will apply for an at-large berth in the upcoming North Coast Section Division V playoffs.
In softball action Friday:
Lower Lake 10, Kelseyville 9 (8 innings)
At Kelseyville, winning pitcher Shelbie Harris singled home teammate Adrina Miller with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning to propel the Lower Lake Trojans past the Kelseyville Knights in an eight-inning NCL I softball battle.
Kelseyville (4-7, 7-9) forced extra innings by scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh to knot the score at 9. The Knights also threatened in the bottom of the eighth after the Trojans (6-7, 13-9) had gone in front on Harris” single. Kelseyville put runners at the corners with two outs before Harris struck out the final batter of the game on a called third strike.
“It was a crazy game,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said following a contest in which the Trojans squandered 4-0 and 9-6 leads. “Sabrina Lyon threw really well today (for Kelseyville). Her defense kind of let her down a little bit.”
Lyon went the distance, striking out 10 and walking four. Harris, who also pitched a complete game, struck out three and walked three.
“Sabrina pitched great and we hit the ball like crazy, but we couldn”t get the defense together today,” Kelseyville coach Taryn Kysely said. “We should have won that game.”
JoAnna Wakeman went 3-for-5 with three RBI for Lower Lake while Harris went 3-for-5 with two RBI. Miller (2-for-4) tripled and score four times for the Trojans, who have one game remaining this season, their first winning campaign since 1993 (10-7).
Savannah Koch, Nicole Spooner and Amanda Graf added two hits apiece for Lower Lake.
Jennifer Green went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Lyon, Destiny Pagan, Dakota Rixen, Savannah Meyer and Stacy Ogden also added three hits apiece.
Kelseyville …
Upper Lake 31, Tomales 8
At Upper Lake, LaShaye Taylor and Amber McQueen connected on three-run home runs to power the Upper Lake Cougars past the Tomales Braves in NCL II softball action.
The game was called after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run rule.
Upper Lake (3-4 league, 6-6 overall) pounded out 30 hits, half of them for extra bases. Taylor, McQueen, Kat Edmonds, Kelsey Pearl and Sierra Fugate all had four hits apiece for the Cougars, while McQueen and Edmonds drove in five runs each.
Tomales led 4-2 after one inning but it was all Upper Lake the rest of the way. The Cougars went ahead to stay with a nine-run second, which featured Taylor”s Lake County-leading fourth home run of the season.
The Braves closed to 11-7 with three runs in the top of the third, but the Cougars broke things wide open in the bottom half with 12 runs. They added eight more in the fourth.
Janee Swaney was the winning pitcher, working the first three innings.
The Cougars have seven home runs on the season, tops in the county.
Upper Lake travels to Calistoga on Tuesday for its league finale.
