WILLITS >> Jason Gentle didn’t chalk the field on Friday before Kelseyville and Willits squared off in a North Central League I varsity baseball game, but the junior pitcher/outfielder for the Knights did just about everything else in a 5-3 victory at Willits.
The game matched the undefeated Knights (11-0 league, 19-1-1 overall) against the winless Wolverines (0-10), who came pretty close to pulling off a huge upset. That they didn’t is largely because of Gentle, who pitched five-plus innings for the victory before moving to right field in the bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 5-3, Willits loaded the bases against Gentle in the sixth, at which point assistant coach Billy Shaul, who was filling in for head coach Lou Poloni, brought in staff ace Logan Barrick to do the pitching. Gentle took over Barrick’s spot in right field.
Barrick induced an infield popup for the first out of the inning. The next Willits batter hit a shot into the right-center field gap that Gentle hauled in with a fully extended diving catch. All the Willits runners were moving on the play because they didn’t think the ball would be caught and Gentle threw back to first base to complete an inning-ending double play.
Kelseyville wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. In the bottom of the seventh, Willits gots its leadoff hitter aboard on the fifth Knights error of the game. The next batter crushed another drive into the right-center field gap and Gentle once again saved the day with a diving catch and throw to first base for a double play.
“Probably two of the best high school plays I’ve ever seen,” Shaul said of the 9-3 double plays.
Willits proved to be all kinds of trouble for the Knights, who fell behind 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning. It remained a 3-0 game until the Knights scored three times in the top of the fifth, the first two of those runs scoring on a Junior Gonzalez single. Gentle (2-for-4) knocked in the third run to tie it up
Kelseyville pushed ahead with a two-run sixth. With runners at second and third with one out, senior shortstop Kyle Ellis (4-for-4, two doubles) singled in the go-ahead run and Barrick followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3.
“There was nothing easy about this game,” Shaul said.
Barrick’s second relief appearance resulted in his second save of the season. As a starter he’s 10-0.
The Knights need to win one of their three remaining league games to guarantee themselves no worse than a share of the league title. If they win two of their final three, they’ll repeat as undisputed league champions, and if they win all three they’ll go undefeated for the second year in a row.
In other baseball action Friday:
Fort Bragg 8, Lower Lake 2
At Fort Bragg, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves jumped on Lower Lake starter Eric Graves for five runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to beat the Trojans in NCL I play.
“They were hitting Eric,” Lower Lake coach Jim Peters said. “We didn’t make any errors in the inning, they just had his number.”
Graves lasted 3 2/3 innings and yielded all eight Fort Bragg runs. Austin Oranje relieved and blanked the Timberwolves (8-2) over the final 2 1/3 innings.
Fort Bragg had a 6-0 lead before Lower Lake broke up the shutout with a run in the top of the fourth.
Antonio Padilla went 2-for-3 with a RBI for Lower Lake (2-8, 8-9) and Ethan Watson went 2-for-3. Jordan McGrath (1-for-3) drove in the Trojans’ other run.
The game was played in 25 mph winds, according to Peters.
M’town 4, St. Helena 2
At St. Helena, going under the lights at St. Helena’s homefield for the first time, the Middletown Mustangs avenged one of their two league losses with a 4-2 victory, a game that ended with the bases loaded full of Saints.
St. Helena beat Middletown 7-3 in their first league meeting on April 11 in Middletown.
The Mustangs (9-2, 10-11) have won 10 of 12 games since starting the season 0-9. Win No. 10 was not without drama as reliever Luke Holt struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh before loading the bases with three straight walks. He struck out the next batter on a full-count pitch to end the game.
Holt pitched 2 1/3 innings for the save, striking out six. Winning pitcher Thomas Cook worked the first 4 2/3 innings and allowed all four of St. Helena’s hits and both of the Saints’ runs. He struck out two and walked two.
Middletown snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth inning. Ty Chorjel led off with a single, stole second and scored when Isaiah Moore reached on an error. Ezekiel Perez followed with a RBI double to make it 3-1. Another St. Helena error accounted for the Mustangs’ third and final run of the inning.
Cameron Ketchum, Trevor LaFave and Joseph Zell also had hits in the win.
The Mustangs are home Tuesday to play Willits at 4 p.m.
