HEALDSBURG >> Pitcher Logan Barrick’s first three starts of the season for the Kelseyville High School varsity baseball fall into the dominating variety.
Barrick, a senior, shut out the Healdsburg Greyhounds on five hits Wednesday while striking out 11 as the Knights won 6-0 during a non-league game at Recreation Park in Healdsburg. Barrick is now 2-0 with a no-decision and has two complete games. In 21 innings he’s allowed 16 hits, two runs (only one earned), struck out 35 and walked six.
“He’s definitely a horse,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of Barrick, who went 12-2 a year ago during a 20-3 season for the Knights. “He was cruising pretty good, a pretty stress-free outing for him.”
Barrick threw only 97 pitches as the Knights improved to 2-1-1 on the season. He’s also scheduled to make Kelseyville’s next start on March 17 against Fortuna in the opening round of the Willows Tournament.
Kelseyville stranded runners in scoring position each of the first three innings against Healdsburg, a team the Knights beat 9-5 last season in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. They finally broke through with two runs in the top of the fourth. While Barrick wouldn’t need any more support, Kelseyville tacked on four insurance runs in the fifth for a 6-0 lead.
“We scored all of our runs with two outs,” Poloni said. “We had some pretty big hits.”
Left fielder Jason Gentle, making his first start of the season, went 3-for-3 with a RBI from the sixth spot in the Kelseyville batting order. Nathan Phillips (1-for-1) drove in two runs while Junoir Gonzalez (1-for-4) and Randy Pfann (1-for-3) also knocked in runs.
“Gentle had a big day,” Poloni said. “He stepped up in his first start.”
“The middle of our lineup has got to do a better job but they’ll start hitting the ball,” Poloni said. “Once we get 2-3-4 going, we’ll be in good shape.”
