MIDDLETOWN — Cole Ketchum scored on a passed ball with one out in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Middletown Mustangs to a 5-4 extra-inning win over the Cloverdale Eagles in a North Central League I varsity baseball thriller Friday afternoon at Wes Martin Field in Middletown.
With its latest victory, Middletown (7-1 league, 8-9 overall) stays atop the NCL I standings while snapping Cloverdale’s five-game league winning streak.
“A little bit of a nail-biter, a little bit of a heart attack,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of the game’s final innings as Cloverdale scored three times in the top of the sixth to erase a 4-1 Middletown lead, then threatened in both the seventh and eighth innings before the Mustangs won it in the bottom of the eighth.
Ketchum (3-for-3, double, 3 RBIs) walked to open the bottom of the eighth, stole second and advanced to third as Aiden de Jong’s grounded out to first. Zach Dubois was then hit by a pitch and he also stole second. With Jesse Young at the plate and facing a 3-1 count, a low and outside pitch skipped past the Cloverdale catcher and bounced to the backstop as Ketchum raced home with the winning run.
Middletown starting pitcher Dax Green carried a 4-1 lead into the top of the sixth when Cloverdale bunched together four of its nine hits, three of them doubles, to pull even. A two-out, bases-loaded walk tied the score at 4-4. Reliever Luke Hoogendoorn came on at that point and needed only one pitch to the third out of the inning.
Cloverdale put two runners on with one in the seventh before Hoogendoorn, the winning pitcher, retired the next batters to get out of the inning. In the top of the eighth, Hoogendoorn hit the Eagles’ leadoff batter but struck out each of the next two hitters.
“Which were big,” Holt said of the back-to-back strikeouts.
Then things got a bit tense as Hoogendoorn issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. A line drive to left field ended the inning.
“A second heart attack,” Holt said of the top of the eighth.
Green, who missed a chunk of the season with an injury, made his first league start and pitched well until tiring in the top of the sixth. He ended up going 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks, one of which was intentional. He was staked to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Ketchum RBI single. Ketchum’s two-run double in the third made it 3-0.
Both teams scored a run in the fifth inning before Cloverdale tied it in the sixth.
Middletown plays twice on the road next week — Tuesday against Clear Lake in Lakeport and Friday at Willits.
In other baseball action Friday:
Kelseyville 7, Clear Lake 3
At Kelseyville, timely hitting by the Knights and a complete-game effort by starting pitcher Zayne Barker carried Kelseyville to a NCL I win over Clear Lake.
Kelseyville (6-3, 8-10) bunched together most of its seven hits during a four-run bottom of the second and a three-run fifth to open up a 7-0 lead. Meanwhile Barker was cruising along as he needed just 61 pitches to get through the first five innings.
“He pitched pretty well,” Clear Lake head coach Ed Pepper said. “He had us off-balance.”
“He stayed around the zone like he usually does and we were making the plays behind him,” Kelseyville head coach Billy Shaul added of a Kelseyville defense that made no errors for the second game in a row.
Luke Watkins’ RBI double kick-started Kelseyville’s four-run second that included a clutch two-out, two-run single by Jake Keithly. Watkins picked up another RBI on a fielder’s choice in the fifth and Reme Strong added a two-out, RBI single.
Clear Lake broke up Barker’s shutout in the top of the sixth on Ralphy Blancas’ two-run double, a hit that came on a 3-0 count where he didn’t have the green light to swing, according to Pepper.
“I gave him the red light,” Pepper joked.
Liam Orr (2-for-3) singled home a run in the seventh for the Cardinals (3-6, 6-9). Ethan Maize went 3-for-4 for Clear Lake and Cody Hayes went 2-for-4 with a double that bounced off the fence in center field in the top of the fourth, putting runners at second and third with no outs. Barker worked out of the jam, retiring the next three batters without a run scoring.
“That’s tough leaving guys on base and not producing in those types of situations,” Pepper said
Barker finished with six strikeouts and walked only one.
Keithly went 2-for-3 while Watkins, Strong, Max Hommer and Tyler Bryant also had hits for the Knights.
Maddox Albaum took the loss for Clear Lake, working four-plus innings before giving way to reliever Hank Ollenberger.
Upper Lake 10, Tomales 1
At Upper Lake, freshman Kyler Brothers, making only his second start of the season, worked four innings for the victory in NCL II action against the Tomales Braves.
A bit nervous in the first home start of his career, Brothers walked the first two batters he faced to open the game but came back to strike out the side. He walked two more in the second and gave up a run-scoring hit before again striking out the side.
“Being a freshman, he pitched really well for the first time at home,” Upper Lake head coach Brian Milhaupt said of Brothers, who finished with eight strikeouts and four walks. “After the second inning, he really was grooving.”
Upper Lake (3-1, 6-3) staked Brothers to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, which is all the run support he would need.
Johnny Gozony shut out Tomales on one hit over the final three innings, striking out four and walking three.
Upper Lake padded a 4-1 lead after two innings with a three-run fifth and a three-run sixth.
Will Henry, a sophomore, went 3-for-3 with a two-run double in the first to power Upper Lake’s offense. He has six hits in his last two games.
“He is definitely the spark in our offense right now,” Milhaupt said.
Dylan Slater went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Bradley Sneathen (1-for-4) had a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth.
Upper Lake is home twice next week. The Cougars host Calistoga on Tuesday and Sonoma Academy on Friday.
St. Helena 12, Lower Lake 0 (5 inn.)
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints improved to 6-1 in the NCL I standings with a five-inning victory over the Lower Lake Trojans (0-7, 1-8).
St. Helena scored nine times in the bottom of the first inning.
Lower Lake statistics were not reported.
