FORT BRAGG — A varsity baseball battle between early season North Central League I title contenders Kelseyville and Fort Bragg went to the host Timberwoves in decisive fashion Tuesday afternoon as junior Jullian Clavelle pitched his second straight no-hitter in a 10-0 five-inning victory over the Knights on a cold and windy day on the Mendocino County coast.
Kelseyville (4-2 league, 7-6 overall) managed to get just two players on base against Clavelle, who pitched a no-hitter in his previous start against Cloverdale. Adrian Villalobos walked in the first inning and Steven Sprague walked in the fifth and managed to move around to third base before the inning ended.
“He’s solid, throws in the low 80s,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of Clavelle. “He didn’t throw a lot of breaking balls, he didn’t have to.”
Clavelle’s 10 strikeouts accounted for two-thirds of the 15 outs made by the Knights.
“We didn’t adjust to it (the strike zone) very well,” Poloni said. “We need to jump on that fastball earlier in the count like we’ve been doing. My hat’s off to him though. He pitched a great game.”
Fort Bragg (2-0, 6-4) scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning, three of them on a Garrett James home run, and never looked back. The Timberwolves added two more runs in the third, including a Andrew Johnston solo homer, another in the fourth and two in the fifth, at which point the game ended because of the 10-run rule.
Field conditions were challenging, according to Poloni, who said there was still plenty of standing water on Patton Field from recent rainfall.
“There was a lot of slipping,” Poloni said.
Kelseyville returns home Friday to play Middletown at 4 p.m.
In other varsity baseball action:
Middletown 14, Willits 0
At Middletown, the Willits Wolverines are going to win a game one of these days, but it wasn’t on Tuesday against the Middletown Mustangs at Wes Martin Field.
Middletown improved to 3-1 in the NCL I standings and 8-5 overall as starting pitcher Will Aden and relievers Isaac Perez and Justin Hollingsworth combined on a one-hitter in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Aided by six Willits errors, Middletown also helped itself with 10 hits, including a 3-for-4 day by Cameron Luis, who doubled and tripled while driving in three runs. Aidan Skinner went 2-for-3, scored twice and had a RBI, and Aden helped his own cause by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
“A couple of guys who needed to get on track are starting to get on track,” Middletown coach Jon Hoogendoorn said.
Willits didn’t get a hit until there was one out in the top of the fifth inning. Aden worked the first three innings for the victory, striking out four and walking three. Perez pitched a perfect fourth before giving way to Hollingsworth in the fifth.
Middletown scored in all four of its at-bats, pushing two runs across the plate in the first inning, five in the second, one in the third and sixth more in the fourth.
It’s the first of three games for the Mustangs this week as they host Cloverdale on Wednesday and hit the road Friday to play Kelseyville.
“We’re looking forward to the challenges ahead,” Hoogendoorn said with an eye toward the Cloverdale and Kelseyville games.
Willits is now 0-3 in league play and 0-8 overall. Willits varsity boys teams have won a grand total of one league game this season between the sports of football, basketball and baseball (they are now 1-22 overall).
Clear Lake 6, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, the Clear Lake Cardinals broke into the league win column while keeping the Lower Lake Trojans winless in NCL I play.
Originally scheduled to take place in Lakeport, the game was instead moved to Lower Lake because the Cardinals’ field is still unplayable from winter/spring rains.
Clear Lake (1-4, 3-8) received solid pitching from starter Darius Ford, who worked the first six innings for the victory. He fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Jack Mitchum singled home a run — the Trojans’ only hit. The Cardinals wasted no time taking the lead in their next at-bat, scoring twice in the top of the second for a 2-1 lead. They added two more runs in the third and single runs in the fifth and seventh innings.
Chris White had half of Clear Lake’s six hits, going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple. Preston Jones, Drake Smart and Blair Hayes had the Cardinals’ other hits.
“We kept battling and did a great job,” Clear Lake assistant coach Ed Pepper said. “It was a way better outing for our team. We put the bat on the ball and we made them pay for a couple of their errors.”
Losing pitcher Mike Taliaferro worked the first four innings before giving way to reliever Joe Boyd.
“They had one earned run off of Mike,” Lower Lake coach James Jones said.
While the Trojans (0-3, 2-5) managed just the one hit, Jones said they did a good job of putting the ball into play.
“We just hit it at people,” Jones said.
Both teams return to action Friday at 4 p.m. Clear Lake visits Fort Bragg while Lower Lake hosts Cloverdale.
St. Vincent 11, Upper Lake 1 (5 inn.)
At Petaluma, Upper Lake’s first real test in NCL II play didn’t go as well as coach Brian Milhaupt had hoped.
“We have our work cut out,” Milhaupt said. “Our team is much better than we played.”
Upper Lake (2-1, 3-4) committed three costly errors and managed only two hits in its first game back from spring break.
“They played great,” Milhaupt said of the St. Vincent Mustangs. “They brought their A game and pounded the ball.”
Benat Love’s single in the top of the second inning and Armando Santos’ singe in the top of the third were Upper Lake’s only hits. The Cougars scored their lone run in the top of the fifth to make it 9-1, but St. Vincent (5-0, 9-2) came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, at which point the game was called because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Upper Lake hosts Credo on Wednesday and Rincon Valley Christian on Friday. Both league games start at 4 p.m.
JV baseball
Clear Lake 15, Lower Lake 0 (5 inn.)
At Lower Lake, Colby Krul pitched a five-inning no-hitter and faced just two batters over the minimum as the Clear Lake Cardinals shut out Lower Lake in junior varsity baseball action.
Krul struck out seven, walked three and allowed only one Lower Lake runner to reach as far as second base. He picked off one of the three batters he walked. Another Trojan player reached base on an error when right fielder AJ Adams dropped a flyball. As the runner tried to take an extra base on the play, Adams threw him out at second.
Krul’s big day also include two hits, two RBIs and three runs.
Ethan Maize led the Cardinals at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a bases-loaded triple and four RBIs overall. Adams went 2-for-2 and walked twice, and Jonathan Werner went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Clear Lake is 2-2 in league play and 3-3 overall. The Cardinals play Fort Bragg on Friday at a location to be determined.
Middletown 9, Willits 3
At Middletown, taking advantage of 15 bases on balls and four hit batsmen, the Middletown Mustangs beat the Willits Wolverines in NCL I play.
Middletown (2-2, 6-4) also stole nine bases and turned two double plays in the victory.
Zach Pyzer pitched two innings for the victory, striking out four. Justin Urbina worked two innings in his first pitching appearance of the season and also went 1-for-2 with two walks, two stolen bases and two runs scored.
Middletown hosts Cloverdale on Wednesday and is on the road Friday against Kelseyville.
