MIDDLETOWN >> By scoring in double digits for the second time in three days, Middletown’s varsity baseball team has established that it is a wild bunch that can’t be fenced in.
Certainly not by the fences on its own diamond.
The wildest Mustang of them all on Thursday was Chrisr Davis, who performed the rare feat of hitting two home runs in one game while batting in three runs and going 3-for-4 at the plate.
But Davis wasn’t the only Mustang to hit a home run as Middletown demolished the Clear Lake Cardinals 10-2 in North Central League I action at Wes Martin Field. Brett Pike also hit a home run after starting the game on the mound but lasting only one-third of an inning.
In all, Middletown used 10 hits and six walks to improve its overall record to 4-6 and its NCL I mark to 2-1.
Davis said he had homered twice in a game “back in Little League.”
He added he wasn’t anticipating the kind of game he had — even after barely missing a home run over the left-field fence his first time up in the first inning as the Mustangs took a 4-1 lead.
But he was not to be denied and retribution for him would come quickly. He smashed his first home run in the bottom of the second inning with teammate Matt Wiloth aboard. The opposite-field shot had the aid of a stiff 15-20 mph wind blowing in that direction.
In the fourth inning, Davis connected again, this time for an inside-the park homer. That blast highlighted a three-run inning during which Tyler Showen hit a sacrifice fly to score Sam Pyzer, who walked and stole second.
Three innings later Pike delivered the final blow — a solo home run over the center field fence.
In the first few innings of the game, Middletown and Clear Lake spent more time conferring on the mound than pitching from it.
Neither starter got through the first inning. Isaac Maize, the Clear Lake starter, was replaced by coach Zane Jensen after pitching to only four hitters. Pike was no better. He, too, pitched to only four hitters. The difference was that the Mustangs scored four runs in the first, two of them coming on a two-run double by John Kelly, who pitched four innings of shutout relief.
Together, the two teams used six pitchers – three each. Middletown’s second pitcher Albert Ruskie, was credited with the victory.
It was Middletown’s second straight league victory, following on the heels of a 12-1 win at Lower Lake on Tuesday.
“I like it, I like it. But we gotta keep working,” said Middltown coach Bad Holt.
Do you see your team as a league contender, he was asked.
“Everybody is,” he said. “It’s early.”
Jensen, whose Cardinals have slipped to 2-10 overall and 1-2 in league play, could blame graduation for Clear Lake’s miseries this season, a year after the Cards won 26 straight. But Jensen is not grief stricken..
“We got a lot of young guys who have never played baseball before and are learning,” he said. “This team is good. We’re still trying to find our identity. Right now we’re trying to learn now to play.”
Brandon Coakley had two of Clear Lake’s three hits.
