KELSEYVILLE >> The big dogs came a barking on Friday afternoon as the Fort Bragg Timberwolves locked up with the Kelseyville Knights in a North Central League I varsity baseball showdown at Lloyd Larson Field.
Both teams entered play atop the league standings with 4-0 records and while there is still a long way to go in the race for the NCL I title, the Knights are the only undefeated team left following their 4-0 win.
“It was an early league marquee matchup,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said. “My hope is that we get back to Fort Bragg later this season (May 9) still in the race.”
There are a handful of reasons why that should happen, beginning with Logan Barrick, Kelseyville’s staff ace and the big dog in these parts for two years running. He improved to 7-0 on the season with a four-hitter that took some doing. He threw 100 pitches, 51 in the first three innings alone and a bunch more in the top of the sixth when the Timberwolves mounted their biggest threat by loading the bases with one out. Barrick worked out of the jam by inducing a popup to second base and with a strikeout to end the inning.
“He kind of picked it up in the middle innings,” Poloni said of Barrick’s overall effectiveness against a Fort Bragg team that is very much capable of hitting the ball.
Kelseyville (5-0, 13-1-1) missed a chance to do major damage in the bottom of the first inning against the Timberwolves and starting pitcher Colton Hopper. The Knights loaded the bases with no outs and scored when Jonah Lewis was hit by a pitch, the second straight Kelseyville batter to reach base via the hit batsman. Following a strikeout, Jason Gentle singled to make it a 2-0 game but Hopper escaped further trouble by striking out each of the next two batters.
“We talked about that after the game,” Poloni said. “We’ve got to do a better job of hitting ground balls to second to get that run home.”
Kelseyville missed another chance to add to its lead in the third, putting runners at second and third with one out. Again, Hopper struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Knights added their final two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The first scored on an error and the other on a Junior Gonzalez two-out RBI single, on a full-count pitch no less.
Barrick wasn’t particularly sharp in the first three innings but Fort Bragg (4-1, 11-4) couldn’t take advantage. The senior even helped himself in the top of the second inning with a runner at first and no outs. He gloved a comebacker and initiated a 1-4-3 double play that became even bigger when the next Timberwolf batter singled.
Poloni called it “a huge win” but qualified the Knights’ performance at the same time.
“We’ve got a lot of things to get better at,” he said with an eye toward the team’s hitting with runners in scoring position and less than two outs, and the Knights’ overall hit total, which was the same as Fort Bragg’s (four).
Barrick struck out six and walked two while Hopper struck out four and walked eight in his four innings on the mound.
Kelseyville’s league winning streak now stands at 19 in a row. The Knights return to action Tuesday in Middletown (3-1) before returning home Thursday to play Cloverdale. Both games start at 4 p.m.
