KELSEYVILLE — A pitcher who struggled to find the strike zone at the outset of the 2019 season is finding it in a hurry these days.
Junior left-hander Tyler Linnell tossed a five-inning no-hitter on Tuesday afternoon as the Kelseyville Knights shut out the Willits Wolverines 10-0 in a North Central League I varsity baseball game at Lloyd Larson Field. Linnell, who struck out eight and walked three, faced just one batter over the minimum. While Willits managed to put four runners on base, none of them advanced past first. Two were picked off after drawing walks while another reached on catcher’s interference only to be thrown out attempting to steal.
“He’s getting better every time he goes out there,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of Linnell, who improved to 2-0 in league play for the Knights (3-1 league, 6-5 overall). “His misses are so much closer than they used to be. He had it all going today, fastball curve, changeup.”
Linnell also had the Kelseyville offense going for him. The Knights scored eight times in the bottom of the first, including a two-run double and a RBI single by Adrian Villalobos, all in the same inning. Chase Larsen doubled home two more runs and Jeremy Brown and Matt Harris added RBI singles. Most of the Knights’ runs scored with two outs.
The closest the Wolverines came to a hit was in the top of the fifth when their leadoff batter knocked a ball into the right-center field gap that Harris ran down.
“He gobbled it up,” Poloni said.
Villalobos, Brown, Harris and Matt Gomora had two hits apiece for the Knights.
Kelseyville is home again Wednesday to host Clear Lake (0-3, 2-7) at 4 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Friday but moved up because of another storm that is expected to batter the county.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Middletown 1, Lower Lake 0
At Middletown, in a pitcher’s duel between Middletown’s Jimmy Rockwell and Lower Lake’s Mike Taliaferro, Rockwell ended up with the victory as the Mustangs did just enough to come away with a win.
“I’m not sure if we let them off the hook or they let us off the hook, but we got the win and that’s all that counts,” said Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn, breathing a huge sigh of relief. “You do whatever you’ve got to do. Our hitting is going to come around. Right now our pitching is holding us up and defense is holding us up.”
The game’s lone run scored in the top of the second. Aidan Skinner was hit by a pitch to open the inning, stole second, was balked to third and scored on a groundout by Isaac Perez.
Lower Lake missed a golden opportunity to at least tie the game in the bottom of the fourth when it had runners at second and third with no outs. A shallow flyball to right field wasn’t deep enough to score the runner from third, and Rockwell struck out the next batters to end the threat.
Lower Lake coach James Jones said neither of the baserunners — Joe Boyd at third base or Bobby Cruz at second — are especially fast and he didn’t want to gamble, especially with no outs.
“It wasn’t deep enough,” he said.
Middletown nearly added to its lead in the top of the sixth, putting runners at second and third with no outs for Jon Hoogendoorn Jr., who hit a flyball to center field that Lower Lake’s Gavin Watson caught. His strong throw home beat Tyler Crudo, who tagged up on the play.
“It had to be a perfect throw and he made it,” Hoogendoorn said of Watson.
“Gavin got him by a foot,” Jones said.
Keegan Cutting worked the final two innings for Middletown to record the save. He struck out three and walked two.
Both teams finished with three hits. For Middletown, Hoogendoorn, Drake Harbison and Cameron Luis (double) each had a hit. Lower Lake’s hits went to Cruz, Watson and Boyd.
There was only one error in the game.
“There was a lot of good defense,” Jones said.
Taliaferro went the distance for Lower Lake, striking out three and walking three. Rockwell went five innings, striking out six and walking four.
There were some tense moments early in the game after Lower Lake baserunner Izzac Carver made hard contact with Middletown second baseman Harbison, bloodying his lip and nose, according to Hoogendoorn.
“Drake was there waiting with the ball and he (Carver) didn’t even slide,” Hoogendoorn said. “There was no warning, nothing.”
Benches didn’t empty although Hoogendoorn said, “It got everybody’s attention on both sides.”
Both teams are scheduled to play on Friday although rain, possibly heavy, is in the forecast. Middletown travels to Cloverdale and Lower Lake visits St. Helena.
St. Helena 8, Clear Lake 1
At St. Helena, Clear Lake pitcher Darius Ford had trouble figuring out the strike zone and the St. Helena Saints (2-1, 4-7) beat the Cardinals (0-3, 2-7) in rather matter-of-a-fact fashion, according to Clear Lake assistant coach Ed Pepper, who said his squad wasn’t exactly a ball of energy on a gray day in Napa County.
“Our whole team was just flat,” Pepper said. “We weren’t ready to play. As soon as we lost the first inning, we stopped playing.”
St. Helena scored two runs in each of the first four innings to build a 8-0 lead. Clear Lake’s lone run came in the fifth and was the result of a balk by St. Helena pitcher Caleb Granados, who went the distance.
“He threw only 94 pitches,” Pepper said of Granados. “His off-speed stuff kept us off balance.”
Ford, the first of four Clear Lake pitchers, lasted only three innings and left the game trailing 6-0. He struck out three and walked two.
“He had a hard time figuring out the umpire’s strike zone,” Pepper said.
Preston Jones (3-for-4) had half of Clear Lake’s six hits. Drake Smart, Jaron Mertle and Blair Hayes had the others.
The Cardinals are back on the road Wednesday to play Kelseyville at 4 p.m. The game has been moved up from Friday because of a forecast for rain that day.
