WILLITS >> The streak is over.
The Willits Wolverines strung together three straight RBI hits with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat the Kelseyville Knights 4-2 in North Central League I varsity baseball action at Willits, snapping Kelseyville’s 31-game league winning streak dating back to 2016.
“Our teams have done some amazing things the last few years but that is really big,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said. “When you think about it, there’s always some buzz saw you run into during a season, so that’s hard to do.”
Kelseyville hadn’t lost a league game since its 2015 finale against Clear Lake. The Knights ran the table in 2016 and 2017, going 14-0 both years, while winning undisputed NCL I championships.
“Now we go back and try and win one in a row,” Poloni said with an eye toward Friday’s league game in Lakeport against Clear Lake.
Tuesday’s action started out well enough for the Knights as they scratched out runs in the first and second innings on sacrifice flyballs by losing pitcher Jacob Beck and Cooper Goff for a 2-0 lead. Willits got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second but couldn’t get anything else against Beck until the three-run sixth, a rally that was made possible by a two-out walk that kept the inning alive.
“That two-out walk came back to bite our butts,” Poloni said.
Kelseyville (3-1 league, 5-6 overall) managed to get one runner aboard in the top of the seventh when Goff singled with two outs, but the game ended with a comebacker to the mound.
“We hit the ball pretty good today but didn’t have a lot to show for it,” Poloni said of the Knights’ seven hits, including two each by Nathan Phillips and Junior Gonzales.
Beck went the distance on the mound for Kelseyville, striking out eight and walking four. Three of the four runs he allowed were earned.
In other NCL I baseball action Tuesday:
Middletown 13, Lower Lake 5
At Middletown, bouncing back from an ugly 17-4 non-league home loss to El Molino on Friday, the Middletown Mustangs scored eight runs in the first two innings and never looked back as they beat the Lower Lake Trojans at Wes Martin Field.
“We had a team meeting and decided there were two ways we could go after that last game,” Middletown coach Jeff Mielke said. “We went the right way. It was nice to be able to exhale after El Molino.”
Lower Lake (0-3, 3-5) did close to 8-4 with a run in the top of the third and three in the fourth on a three-run homer by Joe Boyd to center field, but the Mustangs (2-1, 8-2) answered with a run in the bottom of the inning before putting the game away with a four-run sixth.
A small strike zone made it difficult for both teams, according to Lower Lake coach Jim Peters, who said the Mustangs did a better job adjusting in the early innings.
Winning pitcher Thomas Cook worked six innings, allowing four earned runs, striking out four and walking two. Lower Lake starter Mike Taliaferro took the loss.
Isaiah Moore reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with three walks and three runs scored. Jack Bliss (2-for-3) knocked in four of Middletown’s runs while Gus Boyd (2-for-4) plated two others.
Izzac Carver went 2-for-4 for Lower Lake.
Both teams are home on Friday. Lower Lake hosts St. Helena while Middletown takes on Cloverdale.
Clear Lake 3, St. Helena 2
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals snapped a six-game slide and edged the St. Helena Saints for their first league victory.
Winning pitcher Cody Rybolt pitched 6 1/3 innings and only left the game in the top of the seventh because he had reached the maximum pitch count. Isaac Lewis retired the only two batters he faced, one on a strikeout, to record the save.
“Lewis did a good job,” Clear Lake assistant coach John Garrison said. “He came in and threw strikes.”
Tied 2-2 going to the bottom of the fourth, pinch-runner Josh Damiata advanced to third on a passed ball and continued home on a throwing error, scoring what proved to be the winning run.
St. Helena scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning on back-to-back passed balls. Clear Lake (1-3, 4-6) closed to 2-1 in the bottom half when Austin Davis walked with the bases loaded. Lewis then walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second to knot the score at 2.
“It was a very unconventional ballgame as far as how we scored runs,” Garrison said. “We did just enough to win it.”
Garrison said the Cardinals considered saving Rybolt for Friday’s home game with Kelseyville, but that both he and head coach Rick Moreno decided that their ace gave them the best chance to get them into the win column in league play after three straight losses.
“We thought about not starting him for like two seconds,” Garrison said.
Clear Lake won the game despite getting only two hits – singles by Preston Jones and Darius Ford.
Rybolt and Lewis combined on a three-hitter.
St. Vincent 4, Upper Lake 3
At Upper Lake, St. Vincent scored a run in the top of the seventh to beat Upper Lake and remain undefeated at 3-0 in the NCL II standings and 11-0 overall.
Upper Lake (0-3, 3-4) scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to pull even with St. Vincent, but the Mustangs opened the seventh with a double and two walks to load the bases. An infield popup that fell safely for a single plated what proved to be the winning run. With St. Vincent threatening to score more, the Cougars turned a 3-4-5 double play to end the inning.
Upper Lake scored two of its runs on passed balls and the other on a RBI groundout by Nathan O’Bryant. Darren Swaney, Dalton Slater and Diego Velasco had the Cougars’ only hits.
Reliever Armando Santos took the loss.
Upper Lake tries again for its first league win on Friday at home against Technology of Rohnert Park.
