KELSEYVILLE >> Winning pitcher Jason Gentle helped himself with a pair of hits and a RBI, but he also received all kinds of support from his defense in the form of four double plays as the Kelseyville Knights blanked the Lower Lake Trojans 10-0 in six innings Friday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.
The win keeps Kelseyville (7-2 league, 9-7 overall) a half-game ahead of Middletown (6-2) and Fort Bragg (6-2) in the North Central League I varsity baseball standings.
“They (Trojans) put the ball into play and we made all the plays behind him (Gentle),” said Kelseyville assistant coach Billy Shaul, who was filling in for head coach Lou Poloni. “He stays in the strike zone, he didn’t have very many full counts, and that keeps our defense on its toes.”
Gentle struck out two and walked none while going the distance. He went 2-for-3 at the plate, one of three Knights to collect two hits – Cooper Goff (2-for-4) and Nathan Phillips (2-for-4, RBI) were the others.
Seven different players had hits and six had RBIs for the Knights.
Kelseyville broke open a scoreless game with three runs in the bottom of the third and it remained a 3-0 game until the Knights added three more runs in the fifth. A four-run sixth ended the game as the 10-run mercy rule came into effect.
“Going into the fifth, it was 3-0 and a good game,” Lower Lake coach Jim Peters said. “We played a lot better defensive-wise then we have in our last couple of games, but they got 11 hits and we got five, and you can’t win with that.
“We’ve just got to hit the ball better,” Peters added.
Gabe Padilla collected two of the Trojans’ hits while Austin Oranje, Bobby Cruz and Semaj Clark had the others.
Losing pitcher Mike Taliaferro worked into the sixth inning before being relieved by Oranje.
Lower Lake (1-7, 4-10) hosts Fort Bragg in a doubleheader Tuesday beginning at 2 p.m. while Kelseyville hits the road to play Cloverdale at 4 p.m.
Game notes: Along with turning four double plays, the Kelseyville defense received some solid glove work in right field from Kyle Ashworth, who robbed Lower Lake’s Joe Boyd of an extra-base hit after tracking down a deep flyball … The Knights, two-time defending league champions, are 35-2 in their last 37 league games.
