HEALDSBURG >> The Healdsburg Greyhounds finally chased Jordan Chana from the pitcher’s mound on Saturday night, but it had nothing to do with the senior’s performance.
“He had electric stuff,” Clear Lake coach Zane Jensen said of Chana’s 4 2/3-inning stint in the Cardinals’ 9-1 non-league victory at Healdsburg.
“Everything was working for him,” Jensen said. “I’m guessing his fastball was between 82 and 83 miles per hour and his slider was very good. It’s a late-breaking, hard slider.”
Chana struck out 10, walked three and allowed two hits, only one of which left the infield. He left the game after a hard grounder hit his thigh. The ball ricocheted to the third baseman for a 1-5-3 putout.
“The ball hit him in the meaty part of the thigh,” said Jensen, who said Chana’s pitch count also was “getting up there” when he left the game.
Chana did allow an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning by which time the Cardinals (6-0) already had six runs on the scoreboard.
“The only run they scored was because we dropped a flyball,” Jensen said of Clear Lake’s lone error.
Tyler Krul relieved Chana and pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball, striking out one.
After a scoreless first inning, Clear Lake scored four times in the second inning, twice in the third, once in the fourth and twice in the fifth.
Matt Heller went 2-for-4 with a run scored for Clear Lake. Chana (1-for-2) helped his own cause by knocking in a run and Jake Egger (1-for-3) also had a RBI.
The Cardinals, defending North Central League I champions, open their league schedule today in Cloverdale at 4 p.m.
Jensen said he knows the Cardinals carry a bull’s-eye on their backs this year after winning the league in 2014.
“We know we’re going to get everyone’s best every time we go out there and we have to be ready for that,” Jensen said. “But I like where these guys are mentally. We know we’ve got to step up every game.”
Clear Lake’s league home opener is Friday against Willits at 4 p.m.
In other baseball action Saturday:
El Molino 8
Kelseyville 4
At Forestville, a stretch of wildness and one bad 0-2 pitch helped turn an early pitcher’s duel into an El Molino 8-4 victory over the Kelseyville Knights in the third-place game of the El Molino Tournament.
It was 1-1 going to the bottom of the fourth when Kelseyville starter Noah Lyndall walked three of the first batters he faced to open the inning. After forcing in a run with that third walk to give El Molino a 2-1 lead, Lyndall jumped ahead of the Lions’ next batter 0-2.
“His 0-2 pitch caught a little bit too much of the plate and the guy knocked in down the right-field line for a bases-clearing double,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said.
El Molino added to its 5-1 lead with a three-run fifth.
“Definitely not his best outing,” Poloni said of Lyndall, who left after five innings. He allowed eight hits and eight runs, six of them earned.
Kelseyville (4-6) scored three times in the top of the seventh to halve the El Molino lead.
It was the third time the two teams have met this season and the Lions’ third win.
“There were some positives,” Poloni said with an eye toward Kelseyville’s North Central League I opener today at home against St. Helena at 4 p.m. “I think we did a lot better defensively and we also swung the bats better,” Poloni added.
Kelseyville had only one error and bunched all seven of its hits in the last four innings. Lyndall led the way, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Luis Acosta also doubled.
“Our league is going to be tough,” Poloni said. “I don’t see any easy wins.”
Two of the league’s projected top teams, defending champion Clear Lake and Cloverdale, square off today in Cloverdale.
