LOWER LAKE >> For Kelseyville, this baseball season is like a poker game. The stakes get higher each week and the Knights are one of two teams confident they are holding the better hand.
The other would be the Cloverdale Eagles. Both Kelseyville and Cloverdale improved to 7-0 in the North Central League I varsity baseball standings on Tuesday with victories.
The Knights maintained their share of first by clobbering Lower Lake 11-1 on the Trojan diamond. The victory improved Kelseyville’s overall record to 11-2. At Cloverdale, the Eagles used a seven-run first inning to hold off Middletown 7-5.
For Lower Lake, the loss kept the team winless in league play at 0-8. The Trojans are 5-10 overall.
But Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said he was not taking anything for granted against the cellar-dwelling Trojans.
“I wasn’t feeling great coming in against Lower Lake because it was one of those sleep games that come up to bite you right in the butt,” Poloni said. “We only beat Lower Lake 2-0 the last time we played them.
“Clear Lake is going to come on Friday and try to beat the tar out of us,” Poloni added of the 4-4 Cardinals.
Poloni then went through the whole league, calling Willits and Fort Bragg underrated and St. Helena “a really good team.”
“You gotta really be on your toes,” he said.
Poloni has his doubts that any team – his and Cloverdale’s included – will go through the season undefeated. The Knights have yet to play the Eagles this season and will face them twice in the next seven league games.
“I don’t know that an undefeated team will win (the league),” he said.
As it turned out Tuesday, Lower Lake never threw a scare into anyone. Kelseyville took command of the game in the third inning, scoring six runs to make it a 10-0 game. The game was called after six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Lower Lake’s lone run, which was unearned, came in the bottom of the third to make it 10-1.
Kelseyville finally gained that 10-run cushion in the top of the sixth inning when Sambhava Baird walked and came home on Devin Dugger’s single. Dugger, replacing Logan Barrick on the mound in the final inning, closed it out by firing a third called strike past Eric Graves for the final out.
‘The game got a little out of hand score-wise,” said Poloni. “Our tempo really dropped and our fire really dropped. So we weren’t very happy about that. We just want to stray consistent and play our brand of baseball. It’s a good win that will keep us up there. It’s just that I’d like to be a little more intense.”
The Knights had 14 hits, led by Asa Peters’ 3-for-4 day. Zach Villalobos, Kyle Ellis and winning pitcher Barrick each had two hits and two RBIs.
Ethan Watson and Jordan McGrath had doubles for the Trojans, who had five hits.
