KELSEYVILLE — When your teammate throws a no-hitter the day before as Tyler Linnell did on Tuesday afternoon against Willits, it’s pretty hard to top that.
And while Jeremy Brown couldn’t duplicate that feat, the sophomore for the Kelseyville Knights certainly was in the neighborhood as he worked 6 2/3 strong innings in a 4-2 North Central League I varsity baseball victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Wednesday at Lloyd Larson Field.
“Brownie keeps doing it,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said.
The meeting of archrivals was moved up from Friday to avoid a storm system that is expected to begin impacting the area on Thursday. For a time Wednesday it looked like the game might not happen with shower activity in the immediate area, but the skies never opened up before the 4 p.m. first pitch at Lloyd Larson Field and no rain fell during the game.
“We didn’t get a drop,” Poloni said. “It was dark all day, but not a drop fell.”
It was an intriguing matchup of young starters with the sophomore Brown going head-to-head with Clear Lake freshman Drake Smart, who pitched a complete game for the Cardinals, allowing just one earned run and six hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Brown also allowed six hits and one earned run while striking out four and walking two.
“It tells you a lot about the up-and-coming players moving up in these programs,” Clear Lake assistant coach Ed Pepper said. “Both of them pitched very well.”
Kelseyville (4-1 league, 7-5 overall) built a 4-0 lead through five innings, but Clear Lake (0-4, 2-8) threw a great big scare the Knights’ way in the top of the seventh. After finally breaking onto the scoreboard with a run in the sixth against Brown, the Cardinals scored on a Preston Jones groundout in the seventh to make it 4-2. Down to their last out and with a runner at second, they extended the game on a Darius Ford infield single that put runners at the corners and brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Chris White, the No. 3 batter in the lineup.
With his normal closer – Steven Sprague – away on a vacation during spring break week, Poloni went to his bullpen for Nathan Phillips, who hasn’t pitched in more than a month because of arm problems.
“He said his arm was feeling good and that he was ready,” Poloni said.
Phillips threw three straight balls to White before striking him out on three straight fastballs.
“He threw three fastballs by him,” said Poloni, who added, “I’m two years older after that game. It got a little Cloverdaleish in that seventh inning.”
Cloverdale handed Kelseyville a bitter 4-3 loss last week in Cloverdale after scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh after two were out.
Kelseyville scored a run in the second, two in the third and one in the fifth to open up a 4-0 lead. Three of those runs were directly related to the three errors Clear Lake made during the game.
“That seems to be our MO,” Pepper said. “Errors seem to kill us … but we’re right there. If we can just clean it up a little and have a streak of good luck, we’re going to start winning some ballgames.”
Kelseyville senior shortstop Adrian Villalobos hurt the Cardinals both with his bat and glove. He went 2-for-2 at the plate with a RBI double during the Knights’ two-run third inning and his sacrifice fly in the fifth accounted for the team’s final run. In the field, he had a web gem while running down a grounder, pivoting and throwing out the runner from the edge of the outfield grass.
“He made a Sports Center play on a ball hit up the middle,” Poloni said. “There were a lot of good plays by both teams.”
Despite Clear Lake’s 0-4 start in league play, Poloni said the Cardinals are going to be a factor in the NCL I race before it’s over. “Rick (Moreno, head coach) and Ed do a good job with their guys and they’re well-coached,” Poloni said. “They’re going to beat some people before this thing is over. Anybody can beat anybody in this league this year.”
Pepper agrees.
“The team that wins this league is probably going to have four losses,” Pepper said. “I don’t see anyone blowing it out.”
“It was another good Clear Lake-Kelseyville ballgame,” Poloni added.
Cooper Goff went 2-for-3 while Brown and Chase Larsen also had hits for the Knights.
Clear Lake’s six hits went to six different players, including a Josh Damiata double that got the Cardinals rolling in the top of the seventh. Smart, Ford, Jones, Jaron Mertle and Chance Durnal also had hits.
Both teams are off until Tuesday. Kelseyville travels to Fort Bragg while Clear Lake hosts Lower Lake.
