KELSEYVILLE >> Doubles — two by freshman second baseman Adrian Villalobos — enabled Kelseyville to retain a share of the North Central I varsity baseball lead on Tuesday afternoon.
The Knights improved their league record to 6-0 and their overall mark to 10-2 by thumping the Middletown Mustangs 7-3 at Lloyd Larson Field.
Villalobos played a key role in the victory by driving in four runs on two doubles in the first and third innings. He finished the game 2-for-3. He also found himself in the middle to two key double plays turned by the Knights that squashed Middletown scoring threats.
Catcher Noah Lyndall added a two-run triple in the bottom of the first to give the Knights a commanding 5-0 lead after one inning
This after the Mustangs loaded the bases on consecutive singles in the top of the first. But the first double play by Kelseyville ended that threat almost as quickly as the Mustangs mounted it. Stephen Amos hit into the twin killing, which went from pitcher Logan Barrick to Lyndall at the plate, and from Lyndall to first baseman Sambhava Baird.
The Mustangs (3-3, 5-8) were doubled up again in the third, ending the inning with Matt Wiloth on third base.
“It was an OK day,” said Mustang coach Brad Holt. “We put pressure on them early. We needed to jump on them really early and we didn’t . The double plays hurt us a little bit, but Logan (Barrick, Kelseyville pitcher) got us into a situation where we had to force a groundball that led to a double play. But, hey, that’s baseball.”
Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said that Barrick “definitely didn’t have his best stuff.
“We had to battle today,” he added. “Hats off to Middletown. They played the bejesus out of us. But we wiggled out of a lot of jams early.”
Barrick nonetheless went the full seven innings, giving up 11 hits, walking two and striking out five.
Poloni praised his freshman Villalobos, who was called up from the junior varsity ranks earlier this season, never to return.
“He had a really nice day,” Poloni said, “and he’s really tough defensively for us. He hangs in there.”
Travis Williams, the first of two Middletown pitchers, was tagged with the loss after allowing all seven of Kelseyville’s runs in his 2 1/3 innings on the mound.
Middletown out-hit Kelseyville 11-8. Williams, Chris Davis, Sam Pyzer and Brett Pike had two hits apiece.
