MIDDLETOWN — Two varsity baseball teams that went undefeated during a coronavirus-shortened 2020 season squared off Tuesday afternoon at Wes Martin Field in MIddletown where the Colusa Redhawks broke open a tie game late and beat the host Mustangs 13-3 in non-league action.
It was the season opener for the Mustangs (0-1), who were off to a 5-0 start a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down. Colusa (2-0), a 13-1 winner against Clear Lake on Friday in its season opener, posted a 6-0 record in 2020 before play was halted.
“They’re better than anybody we played last year and we played some good big schools,” Middletown head coach Jon Hoogendoorn said. “They’re a small-school team, but they stack up with anybody.”
Middletown and Colusa were locked in a 3-3 tie after five innings even though the Mustangs’ pitchers had a hard time throwing strikes. Before it was over, five Middletown pitchers combined to walk 10 and hit eight Colusa batters.
“Our pitchers didn’t give our guys a chance to play defense,” Hoogendoorn said. “We were in it, but it got ugly at the end. Part of that was on me. I wanted pitchers who could throw strikes even if they didn’t have much velocity.”
Colusa batters took advantage by hitting a pair of seventh-inning home runs to cap a seven-run inning, that after the Redhawks scored three times in the top of the sixth to open up a 6-3 lead.
Middletown took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on the strength of a Tyler Crudo RBI double followed by a mammoth two-run homer off the bat of Will Aden. But the Mustangs had only one more hit the rest of the game, that a single by Cole Ketchum.
“I’m just frustrated,” Hoogendoorn said of the lack of production from his batters. “We put in so much time hitting, but we were not aggressive. We did not take a good approach at the plate.”
Colusa’s lineup didn’t have that problem.
“They’re entire lineup, everyone can hit,” Hoogendoorn said. “They were digging in at the plate, which made it difficult for our pitchers. They were right on top of the plate and daring us to hit them.”
Even had Colusa’s hitters made sparse contact against Middletown pitching, allowing 18 free bases to Colusa batters through walks and hit batters is a strategy that will never succeed, according to Hoogendoorn.
“Your are never going to win doing that,” Hoogendoorn said.
Colusa scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game at 3-all. Middletown actually did well to get out of the fifth inning tied, according to Hoogendoorn. Inning-ending double plays by the Mustangs’ defense — 6-4-3 in the fourth and unassisted-3 in the fifth (a line drive to the first baseman) — prevented Colusa from pushing in front.
Hoogendoorn said the Mustangs “need to raise their competition level” moving forward if they want to compete this season. “We’ll be fine. I trust where we’re at. If we don’t figure it out soon, we’re going to be in deep water with some of the teams we’ve scheduled.”
Brian Riehl started on the mound for Middletown and worked into the fourth inning. Aden, one of four Middletown relievers, took the loss.
The Mustangs are home Friday to play Clear Lake and on the road Tuesday for a rematch with Colusa. Both non-league games start at 4 p.m.
