LAYTONVILLE — Talk about finishing your high school career on a high note. Upper Lake senior Diego Velasco pitched a two-hitter and struck out 15, including the side four times, as the Cougars scored nine runs in the final two innings to beat the Laytonville Warriors 11-0 in North Central League II varsity baseball action Tuesday in Laytonville.
It was the season finale for the Cougars (7-3 league, 7-4 overall).
“You know something good is going to happen every time he pitches, but you don’t expect 15 strikeouts,” Upper Lake head coach Brian Milhaupt said of Velasco. “To end your senior year with 15 strikeouts, that’s something he’s going to remember the rest of his life.”
Velasco faced 26 batters and started 24 of them with strikes, according to Milhaupt. He threw just 88 pitches overall and allowed only one runner to reach as far as third base.
“That’s a little more than 10 pitches an inning, which is unheard of in high school ball,” Milhaupt said. “He’s just an amazing athlete.”
Velasco also went 2-for-2 with a double, part of an 11-hit Upper Lake attack.
It was a scoreless game until Upper Lake broke through with two runs in the top of the fourth. The Cougars provided Velasco with some breathing room – not that he needed it — with a three-run sixth inning followed by a six-run seventh.
Will Henry twice came to the plate with the bases loaded and came through both times with singles. He finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs. Also for the Cougars, Dylan Slater hit a RBI triple during the big six-run seventh and Blaine Rhodes followed with a RBI double to the fence. Rocco Bassignani drove in a pair of runs and Cody Banks also had a RBI.
Milhaupt said his team made great strides during the COVID-19-abbreviated 2021 campaign.
“I’m just glad the kids got a chance to be out there after an entire year of not playing,” he added of the canceled 2020 season. “We played solid baseball in our last 10 games. It was a great season even though it was short.”
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Cloverdale 13, Clear Lake 2 (5 inn.)
At Lakeport, the Cloverdale Eagles scored early and often while beating the Clear Lake Cardinals in a five-inning NCL I game.
Cloverdale (8-5) scored twice in the top of first inning, added four runs in the second and broke the game wide open with a six-run third that pushed its lead to 12-1.
Clear Lake starting pitcher Justin Williams left after two innings trailing 6-1.
“We didn’t help him out much,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said of a porous Clear Lake defense that finished the game with six errors. “And Cloverdale took advantage of our mistakes.”
Clear Lake’s bats also struggled against Eagles pitching, managing just four hits, including RBI singles by Drake Smart and Ethan Maize and a double by Hank Ollenberger, who pitched the third and fourth innings. Maddox Albaum finished up in the fifth. He also had Clear Lake’s other hit.
“Cloverdale hit the ball and was ready to play,” Pepper added.
The Cardinals (6-7 league, 7-12 overall) have a chance to play the role of spoiler Friday when they host the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, who beat Middletown 5-3 on Tuesday to clinch a share of the league title. Fort Bragg (10-3) needs to beat Clear Lake to secure the undisputed title. If the Timberwolves lose, they would finish as co-champions along with the winner of the St. Helena (9-4) at Middletown (9-4) game on Friday.
“We’ll try to be spoilers if the guys want it,” Pepper said. “It depends on how much they want it.”
St. Helena 5, Kelseyville 4 (8 inn.)
At St. Helena, after scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-4, the St. Helena Saints walked off with a victory in the bottom eighth on a two-out RBI bloop single.
“We had a play at the plate, I wouldn’t say it was bang-bang, but it was close,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said.
The victory moves St. Helena (9-4) into a tie with Middletown (9-4) for second place in the NCL I standings and those two teams square off in the season finale Friday in Middletown. The winner would clinch a share of the league title if Fort Bragg (10-3) loses to Clear Lake (6-7) in Lakeport.
Unfortunately a second straight league loss, coming on the heels of a 14-2 setback last week against Middletown, knocked Kelseyville (8-5 league, 8-8 overall) out of the NCL I race.
“It was pretty cool to see them come out and play this well after the Middletown game,” Shaul said of the Knights, who snapped a 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the sixth.
Kelseyville’s three-run rally came on a bases-loaded hit batsman (Colin Jensen), a bases-loaded walk to Joey Gentle and a RBI groundout by Jake Keithly.
Kelseyville starter Jeremy Brown nearly wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth, but a two-out triple cleared the bases and tied the game. Brown had to leave the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh because he had reached the maximum pitch count (110). Zayne Barker came on in relief and ended the inning with one pitch.
The Knights had runners at first and second in the top of the eighth but couldn’t score. In the bottom half, a leadoff single and a two-out walk was followed by the game-winning bloop single into shallow center field, barely eluding both the Knights’ shortstop and center fielder.
“A walkoff is the worst feeling in the world,” Shaul said.
The Knights also lost on a walkoff in a 2-1 setback at Fort Bragg on April 16.
Barker (3-for-3) had three of Kelseyville’s five hits and Brown (2-for-3, double) had the other two.
St. Helena scored in the first inning to go up 1-0. Kelseyville tied it in the top of the third.
The Knights close out their season Friday in Lower Lake against the Trojans (1-12) at 4 p.m.
“We’re young, half of our team is freshmen and sophomores, and we’ve improved so much as a team,” Shaul said. “I’ve had a good ride with these guys.”
