MIDDLETOWN — Falling behind 7-0 didn’t stop the Middletown Mustangs from coming back to beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 14-7 in North Central League I varsity baseball action Friday afternoon at Wes Martin Field.
Noah Williams went 5-for-5 with a double, home run and three RBIs as the Mustangs (3-0 league, 4-6 overall) scored 14 unanswered runs to win the game and stay atop the NCL I standings. Zach Dubois and Williams hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the fifth, Dubois connecting to left-center field and Williams following with a shot to right-center to boost Middletown’s lead to 12-7.
Clear Lake (0-3, 3-6) scored all of it runs in the top of the second, the first six against starter Bryan Riel who didn’t survive the inning. Luke Hoogendoorn replaced him and while he gave up an unearned run, the senior shut down the Cardinals the rest of the way to pick up the win (he owns all three of Middletown’s league victories).
“We hit a little hiccup in the second, but they came back, they responded,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of the Mustangs, who answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
“That was really important to get those three runs,” Holt said. “It gave us some momentum.”
Middletown scored three more runs in the third to cut Clear Lake’s lead to 7-6, then pushed ahead to stay with a four-run fourth inning. And the Mustangs kept on scoring with the back-to-back homers in the fifth and two more insurance runs in the sixth.
“Middletown did a really good job of putting the ball into play,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said. “They put the bat on the ball every inning, chipped away and did what they needed to do.”
Clear Lake starting pitcher Ethan Maize left after only two innings, giving way to reliever Maddox Albaum, who took the loss.
“They changed pitchers and we made them pay,” Holt said.
Middletown amassed 18 hits divided among nine players. Micah Dymer doubled twice with two RBIs and Aiden de Jong went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Drake Smart (2-for-3) hit a two-run home run for Clear Lake to cap the Cardinals’ scoring in the second inning. Albaum went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI while Jace Beard went 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Cody Hayes also had a double.
The Mustangs are home Tuesday against Willits and on the road Friday at Kelseyville. Clear Lake hosts St. Helena on Tuesday and visits Lower Lake on Friday.
In other baseball action Friday:
Kelseyville 22, Willits 4
At Willits, after a quiet first two innings (just one hit), the Kelseyville Knights sent 20 batters to the plate during a 15-run third inning and beat the Willits Wolverines in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Kelseyville (3-0, 4-6) went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first but did begin to make some noise with the bat in the second.
“We hit the ball well,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul said. “Jake (Keithly) had a single and all three of our outs were lineouts.”
Kelseyville amassed most of its 10 hits during its 15-run third, which featured a critical early error by the Wolverines, who threw the ball away at home plate after the Knights had loaded the bases.
“They didn’t make too many errors (three), but that was a big one,” Shaul said. “We also had a couple of timely hits fall in for us.”
Tyler Bryant (3-for-5), Luke Watkins (2-for-3, double) and Joey Gentle (1-for-2, double) all had four RBIs for Kelseyville. Kyle Watkins went 1-for-4 with a RBI and scored three times.
Winning pitcher Zayne Barker worked the first four innings for the victory, striking out four and walking one. Brock Barrick finished up.
Kelseyville faces a big week ahead with home games against Fort Bragg (2-0) on Wednesday and Middletown (3-0) on Friday.
Fort Bragg 6, Lower Lake 2
At Fort Bragg, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves improved to 2-0 in league play with a win over the Lower Lake Trojans (0-3, 1-4).
Lower Lake statistics were not reported.
